MIDORI ADVENTURES

We are anchored just north of Indian Key pass which is the entranceway to Everglades City. So, at 4:30 a.m. we hear the rumble, rumble of a diesel engine as a commercial fishing boat heads from Everglades City to the pass and feel its wake after it passes out into the Gulf. This occurs a few more times.

We raise the anchor and are underway by 7:14 a.m. The wind is forecast to be ESE at 5 knots this morning and it is very calm, so we motor to Coon Key Pass, the entrance to the Big Marco River that separates Marco Island from the mainland. It is about 9:14 and we are on a rising tide. Our speed picks up to 6 knots as we pass Goodland, the small fishing village where we got "stuck" a couple of years ago with a problem engine.

We have been texting with Mike and Tammy on TAURAUX, who, along with Uta and Bob on IMAGINE and Carolyn and Lloyd on AMELIA ROSE, have sailed down to Marco from Fort Myers Beach and are anchored in Factory Bay. They are planning on meeting up with Rosie and Al on NAUTILUS. We are invited to stop and join them all, but we are at the end of our season and running out of time. We push on to Fort Myers Beach.

We reach Capris Pass and enter the Gulf of Mexico at 10:50 a.m. (photo) It is relatively calm when we start out, but as predicted, by early afternoon the wind picks up out of the NW, so that the last three hours of our trip are fairly bouncy with 3 - 4 ft. waves on our port front quarter as we continue to maneuver around the lobster pots! Again, we are motor sailing, but Captain Brian is quite pleased with how MIDORI is "pointing". We are close-hauled with the wind on our nose.

We arrive at Fort Myers Beach and pick up mooring ball #43 at 4:40 p.m. having covered 57 nautical miles in 9 1/2 hrs, with a maximum speed of 7.3 knots and an average speed of 5.9 knots.

Stay tuned,


First Mate Lynn and
Captain Brian