Naples to Fort Myers and the End of the Trip

Day 24: March 28, 2018

Today, we traveled the last leg of our journey.  We arose at our usual time and enjoyed the last of our bacon in combination with the last of our eggs and some

What can I say?

toast.  The forecast called for more wind, however, somewhat less that what we experienced yesterday.

We were on our way by about 7:30 heading out into calm waters of the river that flows through Naples.  We left the protected waters through the same Gordon Pass that we so violently entered about 3 weeks ago.  

Gordon Pass is wide open and well marked with channel markers.  I centered the boat in the channel and noted the position of the markers. As I usually do, I set the tiller pilot (auto pilot) and set about plugging in the course.

that we will follow on the first leg of the trip.  I am not sure how it happened but as I was setting the course, the boat drifted over and struck the channel marker on the port side of the boat.  It was a glancing blow but significantly damaged the rub-rail and scratched the side of the hull.  It did not penetrate the hull but did cause cosmetic damage to the boat.  We were truly lucky that it didn’t hit head on or snag the rigging taking down the mast.  It did not affect the sailing or handling of the boat.  I am sad because the boat was pristine and now marred.

Sanibel Island Light in the distsance

We continued on out into the Gulf, turned northwest and headed for Fort Myers. The predicted winds in the mid to upper teens did not materialize. We had a nice breeze of about 10 to 12 knots off of our starboard rear quarter so we raised the sails and were able to maintain 5 knots average all the way to the Caloosahatchee River.

On our way down, we took two days to travel from Fort Myers to Naples, however, we took an inside route winding through Fort Myers Beach area and various islands. However, this time, we stayed out in the Gulf and were able the make it all of the way to Fort Myers Yacht Basin by about 4:15.  I am amazed how far inland

What appears to be a fisherman's waterhole

we had to travel to reach the

city of Fort Myers.  When we left the Gulf and started up the Caloosahatchee River, we traveled over 15 miles to our final destination at the marina. And, like the route between Marco Island and Naples, it is crowded with boaters all traveling at high rates of speed.  The difference is that the area is not as

confined and has a wider channel.

Upon arrival at the marina, we were helped into an inside slip by a couple of dock hands.  The wind finally had decided to live up to the prediction and was clocking gusts up to 20 knots.  Luckily, although windy, the waters in the marina were calm so the landing was uneventful.  

It was a tough day.  After resting a bit, we decided to get the truck and have it ready for an early morning retrieval of the boat.  As you may recall from an earlier posting, parking in this town is really restricted, however, the fine folks at the marina arranged a double parking space on the street that would accommodate both our truck and trailer. 

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Back at the boat, we didn’t feel like cooking or heading to a restaurant, so we heated a can of New England clam chowder and I accompanied my bowl with a spam/mayo/tortilla rollup, Janine had Gouda cheese and crackers.  After supper we pulled the sails off the boat and carried them to the truck.  We also deflated Damn Dink Too and packaged her. That is one of those jobs that one realizes has been left to the last minute after a tiring disassembly and loading of the boat. It is good to have it out of the way.

The chart plotter has an odometer that records miles covered and although I failed to check it at the very last moment, we know that we covered around 575 nautical miles on this trip which converts to about 660 statute miles.  It was a good trip over all.

As you might imagine, at 9:00, we were quite ready for bed.

This will probably be the last edition of the blog.  We hope to have an uneventful trip back to Ohio and an exciting reunion would our great dog, Zoe.

Everglades City to Naples

Day 23: March 27, 2018

With much contemplation and studying of both the navigational charts and the wind apps, I finally made the decision to head out today.  The wind app that I use

Second Wind resting in this pristine marina

has predictions from four different sources and they varied significantly.  I could not get any advice as to which one was the most accurate.  One said that there would be winds of 20 knots with gusts up to 30.  Another said that they would be around 15 to 18 knots with gusts in the mid 20s.  The all agreed that the wind would be clocking from the east.

The route that we were looking at put us in open water for about 10 miles and the remainder of the trip would be via inland passages.  The 10 miles, of course, was the area of most concern.  I figured that if we could make 5 knots per hour in

speed, that would put us in the open waters for about 2 hours.  Also, we would be traveling fairly close to shore where the wind has little fetch, that distance over which wind travels building waves.  Now down here, fairly close is sometimes over 2 miles because of shallow water.  And some sizable waves can build in 2 miles of fetch.

After a breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast, we cast off our lines and headed the 5 miles out the Everglade City Channel to the Gulf.  The channel was quite smooth being narrow and passing through the mangroves of the Everglades.  Once out in

A long line waiting for dinner at the Dock Restaurant

the open waters, the wind was blowing at 15 to 16 knots off of our starboard rear quarter.  The waves were coming at us from that direction were quite manageable and relatively comfortable.  

After a half an hour or so, I decided to unfurl a small bit of jib to help increase our speed which had been averaging 5 knots.  With the jib about half way out, our speed climbed to over 6 knots.  It was fun and exhilarating and quite do-able.  I then decided to shut off the engine, unfurl the sail all the way. Man, was that fun!  The wind had increased to 18 knots and gusting up to 22 knots.  We were averaging around 6 knots and on one gust, we saw 7.2 knots.  That may not seem fast to those who are used to

A bit of glitz in Old Naples

traveling 75 mph down an expressway, however, on a small bobbing sailboat, we were flying.  That is the fastest I have ever seen the boat go except for once when I was flying down a tidal flood at over 9 knots.

We were able to keep the sails up all the way through the open waters and then through the inland waters to the city harbor of Marco Island.  We were going to stop and get some fuel at a marina in Marco Island but with the very strong winds blowing directly into the marina, I figured that it was a tragedy waiting to happen.

How they grow trees in Naples FL

The passage between Marco Island and downtown Naples was jam packed with boaters most of which were on rental craft available to the spring brake revelers. Those wild ones, combined with the high winds made the last miles of today’s trip quite rocky.  

I had originally planned to drop anchor in the midst of the exclusive subdivision where we stayed on our trip south, but, although I trust my anchor at high level, I didn’t want to test it in the confines of these mansions in this wind.  So, I called the Naples City Marina and this really nice accommodating lady assured me that they had a slip for us.  Upon arrival, the wind was still

The 7.2 is boat speed in 7 feet of water at mile 493 on this trip.

blowing at 20 knots and getting into the slip was a challenge. Luckily, a young dock hand was there to lend a hand and prevented my ugly landing from being a disaster.

There are still remnants of the hurricane

This marina is absolutely brand new!  It is the nicest one we have stayed at.  Everything is new.  Interestingly, however, since it is a public city dock there are no restrictions on people coming out and milling

around the boats.  That went on until after we went to be.  

We ate dinner at the Dock Restaurant which is located, as you might imagine, at the end of the walkway leading to the marina. After dinner we walked into downtown Old Naples where the glitz of this city is most obvious.  One thing that amazed us was that while we walked the ¾ mile trek to town and back we watched at least 15 executive type jets coming in on final approach to the local airport.  We couldn’t help wonder who these people are and if they were coming in from the office.