Sailing to the Florida Keys VII

December 6, 2011

Leaving St. James City
Destination:  Ft. Myers Beach

This morning we took our time getting ready to head out to Ft. Myers Beach.  We weren’t in too much of a hurry because it wasn’t going to be a long sail.  We had estimated that it would take us roughly 3-4 hours to travel the 10 nautical miles to Ft. Myers Beach.

The day was gorgeous, the sun shining on the water and as always a couple of dolphins swimming close to the boat keeping us company as we got underway. 

We soon found out that the winds weren’t favoring us, once again and we’d have to motor sail for most of the way.  We weren’t too disappointed because it was not too long of a journey, but I was a bit anxious because we were to travel through an area that sailors call “The miserable mile”.  It is thus named because it is a very narrow waterway with shoals on both sides.  No one can sail through here and must keep a very close eye on GPS to make sure that you are not going to go to either side and run aground.  Although, it is termed THE miserable mile…it really is more like 3 miles!  But, us being the “expert” sailors that we’ve become…made it through just FINE!! J

Before we left Palmetto, FL, Keith did all the research on where we would be stopping for the night, how many nautical miles it would take to get there and calculating the time that it would take us to get there.  For Ft. Myers Beach he found a mooring field.  This was the first time that we would be anchoring at one, since we’d only anchored at a floating dock or with our own anchor.  The mooring field is a large area where there are huge floating balls.  These balls are anchored with either a screw or cement onto the bay/river beds.  These balls have a long rope with a smaller floating ball…and a loop at the end of the rope.  All Keith had to do was get the end of the loop on the rope and secure it on a cleat on our boat and we were hooked!  Pretty simple!

After anchoring we got ready to get in the dinghy and go ashore, as we usually do to take Maxi out to potty…and this time we also had to stop by Matanzas Inn to pay them $13 for anchoring in their mooring field for a day. 

Once this was taken care of, we went on a short walk to look around at the area and to stretch our legs.  Ft. Myers Beach is a cute town, lots of tourists, restaurants and many shops all within walking distance of the beach and the bay in which we’d anchored.  It was quite a warm day….many people out walking in their bathing suits and splashing around in the water. 

I’ve mentioned before in other posts that Maxi has become quite the salt dog…he really has grown to love the beach!  As we are walking he is pulling and pulling us toward the beach…he wanted to go play on the sand and splash in the water while chasing birds!!  Anytime he has been at the beach that is what he does…chase any and all birds that land.  Pretty soon after a good while chasing the birds there is not one bird left on the beach…they all fly away! LOL!  But this one time we did not go to the beach, instead we headed back to the dinghy and the boat to make dinner and relax for the evening.

Tomorrow would be another day and since we have to charge our batteries up, we’ve decided to go about a half mile down in the bay to Moss Marina and pay for a slip for the night.  We would also be taking the opportunity to fill up the water tank and wash the deck and use the marina’s laundry to get some clothes washed! 

Stay with us……….:)

El

Maximus the pirate dog with a peg leg!

Captain Jack Sparrow!!