MIDORI ADVENTURES

We’re ready to go this morning. It’s time to start the motors and let them run for 10 minutes. It is still dark at 6:45 a.m. When turning the key in the ignition, Brian sees a spark from the starboard engine “compartment”. After several attempts, the engine will not start. Oh No! (He ran both engines yesterday with no problems.)

It always amazes me how he can trouble shoot so well. He saw a spark…..where did the spark come from? “Lynn, get the flashlight out and shine it on the wires and see if you can identify where it is coming from, while I try to start the engine.” There, I see it. I see exactly where it is coming from. Within ten minutes he has cleaned the corrosion from a terminal and tightened it up and we are off! That is why our departure is at 7:15 a.m. instead of 7:00.

We motor out of Boot Key Harbour, under the Seven Mile Bridge and into Florida Bay. The air is still a bit cool, but the the sky is clear and the wind is just as predicted - light, out of the NE. It’s going to be a wonderful day! Shortly, we have both sails up and are motor- sailing at 5.6 knots.

It is not until we pass Bullard’s Bank that the lobster pots begin to show up. Crab season is coming to an end, so we have been told that most of the pots have been pulled out.
Even so, we ran over the line of one stray pot floating around. Brian had to kill the engine and take a look at the prop to make sure the line wasn’t wrapped around it.

The day continues uneventfully, with the occasional dolphin, flying fish and one sea turtle.

At around 4:00 p.m. the wind picks up and is shifting to the W. We are a few miles offshore, passing Little Shark River, a popular anchorage. We want to go as far as we can before sunset. Our destination is Indian Key in the Ten Thousand Islands.

We are still a couple of miles from our anchorage when the sun starts to go down, but we are following and old track and can see no other boats at anchor. We arrive and drop the anchor at 7:55 p.m.

We have covered 74.3 nautical miles in 12 1/4 hrs with an average speed of 6.1 and a maximum of 6.9.

Stay tuned,

First Mate Lynn and,
Captain Brian