An Attempt to Leave

Day 14: Sunday, March 6, 2016

We both arose early this morning in preparation for an early departure.  We ate a light breakfast of Cheerios and oatmeal and tidied the cabin by 6:30 and were pulling the anchors at 6:45. 

Our goal for the day was to make the 39 mile trek down to Long Key.  Long Key is the closest of the string of Florida Keys to southern tip of mainland Florida.  The

An everglade sunrise

first 20 miles or so would be close to the western side of the mainland and then about 20 miles of open water. 

The potential issue at hand is that we awoke this morning to a stiff breeze blowing from the north.  We have had no reliable weather forecast for several days and this came as a surprise.  Also, the tide was rapidly falling and the current in our mooring area was really rushing.  Luckily, it was flowing in the direction of our initial travel so once we got the anchor up and the boat heading in

Heading for the Gulf at in the morning at low tide

the right direction, we would had a swift ride out to the main river. 

We finally got the anchor pulled and in the process of turning around, we ran into a mud shoal and stuck. We had our centerboard down so we easily got underway by just raising the board.

We had a wonderful, albeit a chilly ride out to the Gulf.  Along the way, we saw numerous shore birds feed in the mud banks and flats.  We passed 5 or 6 other vessels who had pulled into this area for the night. 

Once out in the open waters, we were met with significant waves and the boat was rolling and pounding with water periodically breaking over the bow.  I attempted to head the boat into the wind so that I could raise the sails but had a hard time keeping her on course.  After about 5 minutes or so, I decided that although the boat would handle this, we were not willing to subject ourselves to 7 or 8 hours of this

pounding.  So, we turned around and pulled into a large mooring area just inside of the Little Shark River.

In that area, there were 3 boats moored so we found a spot at the east end and dropped our hook.  Although the wind continued to howl, the water was calm in the little bay so we spent the remainder of the morning and into the middle of the afternoon lounging and reading.  That is not all bad for a sunny vacation day.

At around 3:00, we got into Damn Dink Too for another exploration trip.  Not far from where we were anchored we found a creek that we followed probably a quarter mile back into the dense mangrove.  These places are really interesting.  From there, we headed up the Little Shark in search of more creeks.  We noticed another boat anchored probably a mile up the river so I decided to head toward his and see if we could get an update on the weather. 

The boat was a 35 foot Tartan sailed by a single hander from Vermont.  He had a

An unconcerned pelican

taller mast than we so he was able to get a strong radio signal and weather forecasts.  We hung onto the side of his boat for probably a half an hour talking about all sorts of subjects.  We found him to be a really interesting fellow. 

While we were talking, another boat appeared heading down stream and I realized that it was a Seaward 26 exactly like ours.  I flagged him down and we talked briefly and agreed to meet in the mooring area a bit later.

Back at the anchorage, we motored up alongside and invited him over to our boat for a glass of wine and some cheese.  He agreed but asked if we could transport him.  His dinghy was deflated on his foredeck and he didn’t want to air it up.  I took Janine back to Second Wind then returned to pick up Keith.

Aboard our boat, we spent the next couple of hours swapping stories and comparing notes about our boats and experiences.  Janine served Rex Goliath Merlot, Tillamook Cheese, and Kipper Snacks for pleasure of all of us. He is an interesting retired attorney who loves to sail but unfortunately does not have a willing partner like Janine who will follow his passions.  We both really enjoyed the gathering.

I took him back at around 6:00 and prepared a mac and cheese and hamburger along with corn dinner.  The weather for tomorrow looks to be a bit bumpy but we feel that the rest of the week will be worse so we will again attempt to head south tomorrow.