Everglades City to Little Shark River

Day 10: March 14, 2018
Follow our progress using this link: Steve's Spot 

We awoke early and prepared sausage gravy on toast to get us started.  Our goal for the day is to make a 40-mile dash down into the Everglades National Park where we will drop our anchor in the Little Shark River.

On Watch

We were able to get underway into the cool morning air at around 7:30. The breeze had already begun to move so the chill factor needed to be dealt with.  We have enough warm clothing to be comfortable.

We motored the 5-mile channel back to the Gulf where we were met with a moderate NNW wind blowing.  We raised the sails and set our tiller pilot on a southerly course.  We had a nice 35-mile sail down wind. 

Second Wind in the morning light

Early on, it was obvious that we had too much sail up so I decided to reef the main but in the process, reefing system broke and so we doused the main. We continued to cruise along at between 4 and 5 knots on the jib alone. 

Later in the day, the winds lightened up a bit and shifted more to the west so that we were able to again raise the main and pick up an additional knot or two of headway. Traveling directly down wind, the 3 to 4-foot waves chasing us along

Black Vulchers

made for a somewhat squirrely ride but fortunately neither are afflicted with motion sickness so we chalked it up as a really good day.

We arrived at the Little Shark River at around 4:00 and traveled about 2 miles up stream to a narrow side tributary into which we swung and dropped our anchor for the night.  This is a really beautiful area. 

We decided to enjoy an appetizer to our evening meal and chose a nice dill cheese

Sardines, Wine and Cheese

and sardines.  Now these are special sardines.  Upon arriving at our boat in Fort Myers, my cousin, Sue presented us with a wonderful house gift.  She is amazing.  She would spare no expense to be a proper guest on our boat.  As soon as she came on board, she presented us with 2, not one but two packets of peanut butter crackers; one for Janine and one for me.  And, beyond that she gave us a gourmet can of sardines. I will say that they were appreciated.  Along with the cheese and sardines, we opened and enjoyed a glass of Rex Goliath, 47 lb. Rooster Merlot.

We also broke out our little grill and prepared a wonderful T-bone steak along with which

And a nice steak

we added mashed potatoes.  It was a great ending to a fine day.