MIDORI ADVENTURES

Another quiet night at anchor with light winds out of the NNE. I set the SPOT off for 45 minutes in order to make sure it could send a signal to any passing satellite. Otherwise, no cell signal whatsoever…… no phone, no internet.

We have about 65 nautical miles to go today, but we know that Florida Bay will be scattered with thousands of crab and lobster pot markers. For that reason, we have delayed our departure until daylight. It is 7:20 a.m.

We have learned to put the mainsail up when we are still at anchor and pointing into the wind. With me at the helm, and Captain Brian out front using the windlass to bring in the anchor, I can “fall off” the wind when the anchor is free and start following the route. Once underway, the self tacking jib can be unfurled very quickly. With the engines running at 3800 RPM’s, we are motor sailing at 6.8 knots. We start off within the marked boundary of the Everglades National Park, where crabbing is not allowed, however, within an hour, we encounter our first string of crab pots!

We are heading almost due south today, with a shadow of land on our port side, travelling past Ponce de Leon Bay and the entrance to Little Shark River which is a popular anchorage providing good all round protection. We will be passing Northwest Cape; Middle Cape and East Cape Sable before starting across Florida Bay.

We spot one sailboat way ahead of us and see a couple of motor yachts, but over the course of the next few hours we see several “Crabbers” way ahead of us zigzagging their way back and forth across the water.

The next seven hours is spent watching for crab pots! Both of us. One of us at the starboard helm and the other on the port side. We can spell each other off at the helm, but in order to make better time, we keep both sails up and it can be a little harder to spot the pots behind the jib sail. We have a following sea and are maintaining speeds of 5.7 - 5.9 which is good, considering how often we have to change course to go around a crab pot. It’s a beautiful sunny day, but with the glimmer on the water, it can be hard to see some of the lighter coloured pots. Although we’ve done this several times and are accustomed to the stress, it is extremely tiring. On a lighter note, we do see flying fish, dolphins and a sea turtle along the way!

We are just passing East Cape Sable and reach the mark for Bullard’s Bank at around 4:00 p.m. The crab pots seem to have disappeared, and hey, looking south, way off in the distance, we can see towers and buildings and trees and there, off to the right is the Seven Mile Bridge!

It takes us another hour and a quarter to get to the bridge. It is now 5:15 p.m. Are we going to make it into Boot Key Harbour before the office closes? It’s going to take us another 30 minutes to cross the bay and get to the entrance to the harbour. And look, there is a rainbow arching over the harbour! That means good luck doesn’t it? We get to green marker # 1 and Captain Brian tries to call the office by VHF radio. He gets no response. He tries again, and no response. I then try to phone them and get no answer……and again….no answer. Nope, we’re too late. The office is closed. And then the wind picks up and it starts to rain! We are in a bit of a panic, but soon realize this will blow over quickly. We go into the anchorage just past “the bridge to nowhere”, find a spot and anchor for the night. We’re here, we’re safe, the rain has stopped and Captain Brian actually comes in from the deck with a smile on his face. Seems he really enjoyed the warm shower! We’ll call the office first thing tomorrow morning.

We are anchored by 6:06 p.m. , having travelled 66.1 nautical miles in 10 hrs. and 40 minutes with a maximum speed of 8.2 knots.

Stay tuned,

First Mate Lynn