Everglades City to Lostmans River

Day 9: March 8, 2013

Note:  My sailing buddy, Dwight Saunders has provided a link to good online website for Florida Charts: 

http://www.nauticalflorida.com/nautical-charts.html

We had a wonderfully peaceful night’s sleep.  Well, that was until the commercial fishing vessels with their huge diesel engines came roaring down the river starting at around 4:00.  The motors weren’t so bad, it was the wake that bounced our boat against the wooden pilings and also bounced Dink into the side of the boat.  The river is only about 150 feet wide where we were moored so the wake had nowhere to dissipate.  I counted 6 of them passing.  Truly it was a peaceful night especially when you compare it to the previous night in the harbor in Marco Island. 

I got up around 5:00, made a pot of coffee and went to work on the blogs.    We had decided to treat ourselves to a Rod and Gun Club breakfast so while Janine was getting ready, I headed for the showers.  One really does appreciate warm water running over one’s body when what we have been to used was a cold water sponge bath on the boat in the mornings. 

Dressed for Florida in March

Breakfast was somewhat of an adventure.  When we got in the restaurant, we could find no hostess to seat us so I went into the kitchen and a Cuban cook directed us to a small lounge/bar room off the pool where breakfast was to be served.  She brought us menus and offered coffee, which we accepted.  I found sausage gravy and biscuits and quickly made my decision.  I usually make that selection so that I can compare it with the gold standard set by Ray Allison at the Junction City American Legion.  Janine ordered French toast.  Upon arrival, my plate was nicely presented with a very light gravy that was thin and studded with a few islands of sausage.  The first bite surprised me , a cold tasty mouth full of gravy.  I went back to the kitchen and offered that the cook stick it in the microwave, which she obliged.  On a scale of 1 to 10 with Ray’s being 11, hers rated about 2. 

As we were finishing our meal, another couple came in.  I had talked to them the last evening.  They were heading for the Keys to try to find a sailboat to buy.  They were experienced sailors and had recently sold their boat.  I overheard their conversation (we were the only ones in the dining area) as they made their selection of sausage gravy and biscuits.  I waited until it was delivered and his first words when he took a bite were that the gravy was cold.  I offered that the cook would warm it in the microwave for them.  The Rod and Gun Club is a really nice place but I am afraid that its future is a bit bleak, with the type of service and offerings that they provide.

We do have time to read while sailing

Back at the boat, Janine headed for the shower and I spent time finishing up the blogs and getting them published.  At one point I went on deck and just as I did, a manatee surfaced within 6 feet of the boat.  I could see its head and strange broad flat tail.  I continued watching it as it moved up the river surfacing every 100 yards or so.  Upon Janine’s return, we cast off our lines and headed back out the river towards the Gulf.  There was no wind and the river was glassy.  The tide was rising so the water was flooding into the river at an amazing rate providing significant current for our passage. 

Out in the Gulf, we headed south.  We checked the charts for places to spend the night and those that were recommended were either too close or too far. We decided to do some “Guck Holing” where you adventure into some place that is not published as a good anchorage hoping to find solitude.  We picked out a likely spot about 25 miles down the coast.  It had a winding shallow entrance but we figured that, with our centerboard up, we could sneak back behind a peninsula  for the night. 

The trip down to First Bay in Lostmans River was an ideal ride.  We started motoring but by noon, we had a light breeze so we raised the sails and spent the rest of the afternoon in a broad reach (wind coming from the rear quarter of the boat and the fastest point of sail) with all sails flying. It was a perfect ride traveling between 5 and 6mph.

Grounded in Lostmans River

At about 3:30, we turned east for the 3.5 mile passage from the Gulf to our destination.  The last mile or so turned out to be a narrow winding channel that was reported to be about 3.9 feet deep at the shallowest points.  From the boat, it appeared that we were just a mile off shore in open water so we were using our GPS to follow the track.  The tide was out so the water level was nearly as low as it gets.  In the areas were the water was charted to be 5.9, our depth sounder indicated 9 feet so we were confident that we could slide in without difficulty.  When we got to the narrowest part of the trip the depth was 9 feet and then we were grounded.  The wind was behind us and we really didn’t have any idea where the deeper water was so I pulled the Dink alongside in preparation for taking the anchor back behind the boat to hold us in this location when the tide began to come back in.  As I was getting into the boat, a “huge” shark swam within 10 feet of the boat.  I estimate that it was 6 feet long.  I decided at that point that I didn’t want to be out in these waters.  I spoke with a gentleman several days later and he mentioned that there were many sharks migrating righht now.

I took the anchor out about 60 feet past the stern of the boat, set it and returned to raise the rudder and centerboard.  My assumption was that the boat would pivot around and head back toward the way we had come.  It didn’t spin.  I decided to try to start the motor and back towards the anchor not realizing that the reason the boat wouldn’t spin was that that the anchor rode was caught on the motor.  I fired up the motor and it immediately died with the anchor rode in wrapped around the prop. 

So, back into the dinghy, I moved around to the motor, and working with my arms under water (like shark bait) I finally untangled the prop.  It was no easy task, taking me probably 20 minutes to get it free.  Janine and I raised the motor out of the water and the boat immediately spun around as planned.

Waiting for the tide to come in!

Our plan was to wait until the tide began coming back in so as to provide us with adequate depth to get back out of here.  The high tide, 4 feet above chart datum, was to occur at midnight but we would pick up 2 additional feet of water at about 8:00 so we settled in for the wait.  We grilled hamburgers and accompanied them with a bland rice concoction that we bought.

At 8:00, in the dark, we tilted the motor back into the water raised the anchor and started back towards deeper water, following our GPS track created as we came in earlier.  Luckily, the GPS records the path that it follows anytime it is turned on so we knew where we had come earlier.  The problem is that the readings on the monitor are delayed by 4 or 5 seconds so by the time you are where the GPS says you are, you are somewhere else.  It took a while to figure that all out but in time, we were able to stay very close to the original pathway. 

When we finally arrived in deeper water (8 feet), we dropped the anchor and prepared for the night.  We were really anchored in the open waters of the Gulf and the boat was subject to the waves that were coming in from afar. To make a long story about a very long bumpy, rolly, creaky, bangy night short, this was absolutely the roughest night we have ever spent on the boat. I slept very little trying to evaluate the myriad of sounds that were eminating from our boat.  BUT, as before, the boat brought us through the night really no worse for wear except missing our night’s sleep.