Yesterday morning, Alaina, Scott & I left our home dock at 9:30 AM and headed north. We enjoyed a magnificent beam reach most of the way up the coast of Sanibel, Captiva, Upper Captiva and Cayo Costa. We averaged 6.5 to 7 knots most of the way in 15 to 20 knot winds. We motored in to Boca Grande Pass and backtracked down the ICW to Useppa Island. We anchored near several other sailboats off the West side of Useppa and made the short dinghy trip across to Cabbage Key. There we enjoyed a hike around the island and a climb to the top of their water tower. Then we ate cheeseburgers in paradise at the famous Cabbage Key Inn (where Jimmy Buffet was inspired to write the song on the same subject)
Today, we got a much earlier start and after some trouble with squealing fan belt, we motorsailed back to the Gulf. We took a little shortcut from the pass to the Gulf just off the South end of Boca Grande. We never got a favorable breeze today so we ended up motoring most of the way to Venice and the rest of the way to Sarasota.