7:48 PM
Keith Gilman
Destination: Boca Grande / Cayo Costa Coastal Key
Nautical Miles: 29
Estimated Time:
10 hours at 3 Knots
7 hours at 4 Knots
6 hours at 5 Knots
Well, this morning we woke up at 5:45 am wanting to get an extra early start on our long day of sailing. Keith and I were ready pretty quick but Maxi had other ideas. We took him out to do his business knowing all too well that it would be a long sailing trip for all of us, but he did not want to cooperate! We walked him a good half hour and all he did was number 1. Of course, at first he looked at us as if we were crazy wanting him to get up so early and expect him to go potty…LOL!!
He usually doesn’t wake up till about 10 am …so this was extra, EXTRA early!!! Instead of leaving the marina at 6:30 am , we left at 7 am . Which wasn’t a bad start since the sun was barely rising.
The second slip in which we parked the boat was pretty tight, as I’d mentioned before. The channel was small and we had motor boats on each side. I was kind of worried about how I would be pulling out of that slip this morning since I am the one always at the helm when we leave because Keith is the one that takes the lines off the dock and then jumps into the boat. Again, it helps that I have such an intelligent man by my side. He told me that he would take off the lines, hold on to the line that was holding the bow to do the dock then kick the stern away from the dock and walk the boat around with the bow facing the entrance. If he wouldn’t have done that I would have had to go forward and reverse, forward and reverse and still be in danger of hitting one of the other motor boats. Keith plan worked exactly as he’d said. We pulled out of that slip in about 5 minutes!! Awesome guy that, Keith!!
The Crow’s Nest Marina is pretty close to the mouth of the Venice Inlet so it didn’t take us long to get out into the Gulf. We put the sails up and away we went. The day was beautiful, although a bit chilly. Our sails were full, the Gulf was not rolling and the sun shining on the water was making it sparkle like diamonds! A gorgeous day to be sailing!
I was at the helm from 7 am to 9 am and it was a beautiful drive. No wind gusts to speak of, just smooth sailing and going anywhere from 5.5 Knots to 6.2 Knots which is relatively fast. The boat was heeling nicely but we were jumping waves, which makes it bad when going that fast! Keith took the helm at 9 am and drove the boat till about 10:30 am when we began getting pretty bad wind gusts. When we get bad wind gusts, I have to take the helm, which sucks for me, because Keith has to jump all over the boat and adjust, trim or let out the sails, depending on which way the wind is coming from. I am not scared at all but I do tense up and that makes my arms hurt because I have to use a lot of strength to maneuver the boat to the left or right. My neck and shoulders also begin to hurt from being so tense and my lower back. But, I don’t complain! I know that Keith and I both have to do what we need to in order to keep us safe and upright in our sailboat!! Other then strong wind gusts our sail down the gulf to Boca Grande was beautiful, although, like I said a bit tense at times.
We made it down to Boca Grande at 2 pm . That is, we got to about a mile out of Boca Grande at 2 pm . It took us about an hour and a half to get INTO Boca Grande because of the wind. The wind was coming straight at us so we had to keep tacking, which is making a zig zag turning the sails first to the left when going to the left then we’d turn the sails to the right and sail to the right. We kept doing this for quite awhile. By this time I was beginning to feel the aches and pains of yesterday’s 6 mile grocery hike and the tenseness of today’s sail. I was ready to stop for the day.
We decided to anchor in Punta Blanca Island Cayo Costa State Park
As soon as we anchored we went ahead and took Maxi to a very small patch of beach to potty. He was very excited about being on land once again and no sooner had he done his business, he began running in the water and trying to chase flying birds! Silly puppy!!
Once we got back on the boat I went below to relax and Keith stayed topside to do some fishing. He didn’t do too badly; he caught some “lady” fish a couple of catfish, all using hotdog as bait! LOL! Fish seem to like hotdogs; so far we’ve caught fish using that as bait.
For dinner Keith grilled some ribs. After dinner we watched the movie “Water for Elephants”, very good movie!!
After our long day of sailing down the Gulf we were pretty exhausted so we decided to take Maxi out one more time before going to bed.
It was a beautiful night! A little warm but overall, quiet and very peaceful. All of us got a good nights rest!!
Follow us on our Grand Adventure seeking New Horizons!!
El
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| Leaving Cayo Costa State Park / Punta Blanca Island |
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| Sailing through Pine Island Sound |
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| Anchored at St. James City |
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