Estero Bay to Naples

Day 8: March 12, 2018

Follow our progress using this link: Steve's Spot 

Today was a short but action-packed day.  We began with a beautiful sunrise and breakfast of SOS, chipped beef on toast.  Checking the weather forecast, they were calling for northwest winds building to between 15 and 20 knots.  Our guide book

At rest in Estero Bay

advised that traveling north in the Gulf in these conditions, which they added were common in the winter, would be wet and very rough.  There was also an advisory calling for large waves and high surf along the shore.

The anchorage that we chose was not well protected from northerly winds and with so much shallow water around, I didn’t see any possibilities for improvement.

Sun rise over Estero Bay

My initial thoughts were to stay in the area and look for more shelter to hunker down behind.  The guide book also stated that traveling south in these conditions could be a “spirited ride.”

Checking the charts, the city of Naples is located about 20 miles from our location and well protected anchorage appeared to be available.  The forecast called for the high winds to build after lunch, so I calculated that if we could maintain 5 knots and if we left by 8:00, we would be there by noon.  I decided to make a run for it.

Our first obstacle was the bascule bridge at Big Carlos Pass. We were fortunate to

A paiar of dolphins feeding near our boat

find a bridge tender who was on the ball and willing to open the bridge on command.  Moving out through the pass turned out to be a bit of a challenge.  The guide book states that the pass has shifting shoals and I found that the chart on my GPS/chart plotter were not accurate.  What was indicated to be deep water quickly dropped to below three feet.  Of course, we drug, but with our lift keel, we were able to slowly work our way out into the open waters of the Gulf.

Once in the Gulf, we were greeted with 3 to 4-foot waves coming from the west.  We swung the boat south and set the tiller pilot on the entrance to Gordon Pass, 19

The neighborhood

miles in the distance.  We were able to maintain an average of 5 knots but boy was it rough.  The waves hitting us from the side kept us rolling and banging the whole way.  As the trip progressed, the wind and waves continued to build, rolling between 4 and 6 feet.

The entrance to Gordon Pass follows an easterly direction and is probably 75 feet wide with shallow shoals on one side and a rock breakwater on the other.  At 12:30, I made the turn in to the pass and for 5 minutes or so, I white knuckled the boat in the strong following waves through the chute.  And then it was calm, albeit very windy.

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Once inside, we traveled a short distance to the entrance of a canal that meanders in amongst huge beautiful homes. About a quarter of a mile in the subdivision, the canal opens into a wide expanse of water that is a designated anchorage area.  We picked a spot somewhat out of the way and dropped our anchor in about 8 feet of water.  We let enough rode to ensure that the anchor would not drag and settled down to a taco (for me) and pulled pork (for Janine) lunch.  It was nice to sit calmly after the 4 hour bumpy ride.

Their Ride

As the afternoon progressed and the winds increased, I became concerned that we were too close to the lee shore and expensive boats.  In the event that our anchor decided to drag, we would have little time to prevent a crash into shore.  We pulled the anchor that had set deeply into the mud and headed up wind 50 yards or so and tried again, however, that location was not much better than the first spot. So, we pulled the anchor one last time and moved more out into the center of the impoundment.  

We were surprised by a tour boat that takes passengers cruising through these high rent neighborhoods.  I am sure the skipper of that big boat was not

completely happy with our chosen anchorage, but we felt more secure.  The GPS/chart plotter is equipped with an anchor drag alarm that will alert us if the boat begins to move out of a designated radius.

That was our day.  We dined on beef tips and mushrooms on a bed of noodles accompanied with a wonderful glass of Riesling.  For dessert we enjoyed dark chocolate bark with pretzel pieces and sea salt.

We put on our long johns in preparation for a cold night.