The Cruise - Week 4 January 19 - 25, 2015

Monday, January 19, 2015, 22nd Day

Departed Marco Island Anchorage   1205

Arrived Rose Marina                         1300
Marco Island

Total day’s run 4 statute miles (3.5 nm), 656 miles total.

Its hard to believe that we left Beaufort three weeks ago today.  It seems like a year...the days run together.  I also rode in a car for the first time in three weeks!

After another trip to Winn Dixie this morning, we moved from the anchorage in Smokehouse Bay, just around the corner to Rose Marina.  We needed to take showers, do laundry, get water and generally get ready for the Everglades.  Although we may be at a marina tomorrow, it may not have full services and does not have water.

After tomorrow, we may be without internet and cell phone coverage for several days, maybe into early next week.   The weather has been fine but the best part of today was the shower.  Dubhe has some primitive showering facilities, but it does not compare to an all the hot water you want, shower. Tonight went out to eat dinner with a couple who live three houses down from us on Harbor Island. They are renting a condo here for a couple of months so we gave them a call.

Tomorrow our plan is to go about 25 miles to Everglades City.

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Departed Rose Marina, Marco Island                   0900

Arrived Russell Pass Anchorage                          1330

Everglades National Park

Total day’s run 26 statute miles (23 nm), 682 miles total.

The Everglades.  Nancy's favorite, white pelicans

Great cruising day today.  We are anchored in an area which is the antithesis of where we were a couple of days ago.  In Smokehouse Bay, we were surrounded by condos and million dollar homes.  Here, we are surrounded by mangrove islands without a light or manmade structure in sight.  It is so quiet and has done good for my soul. 

We had kind of a tough start, running aground about 20 minutes after we left, primarily because a marker was missing, but I could have (should have) seen it coming.  However, I had planned the trip through this very narrow area during a rising tide so we were only stuck for about 30 minutes.  After this tight area, we made a 10 mile offshore leg in the Gulf and wound up in this gorgeous anchorage. 

Trying to figure out when to move, and where and when to stay has been difficult and it has become our main daily occupation to plan and decide.  It now appears that we are so far ahead that we are having trouble deciding where to hold up.  We wanted to have some time to wait for weather toward the end of January, but now we have only three more, one day legs but 12 days until we can “check in” to our slip in Marathon.  We are now near Everglades City and plan to go into “town” tomorrow to stay at the old rod and gun club dock, then back out here to stage for our longest offshore leg (32 nm) to the Little Shark River.  Of course weather also plays heavily into this.  Another cold front is forecasted to arrive on Saturday so we want to make Little Shark River before then.  We’ll see. 

 

This place is so beautiful and peaceful that it is impossible to describe.  I spent a good part of the afternoon reading.  To get an idea of where we are, here are our coordinates which can be plugged into Google Earth: 

Lat: 25^o50.333’ N   Lon: 081^o26.266’

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Departed Russell Pass Anchorage 1215

Arrived Everglades City 1315
Rod and Gun Club

Total day’s run 6 statute miles (5 nm), 688 miles total.

This morning we slept in, had pancakes and bacon for breakfast in our beautiful anchorage, then headed to Everglades City.  This is a very interesting place, initially planned and started by Barron Collier but today it is a headquarters for the Everglades Park Service and a small fishing town.  We are staying overnight at the docks for the Rod and Gun Club which was started in 1864 before Collier showed up.  It is a large classic building with an interior of dark wood paneling and tons of stuffed fish and wildlife.  Lots of famous people including Ernest Hemingway, Teddy Roosevelt, and John Wayne have visited here.  We had dinner of grouper which was good but I wish they had more business.  Nothing much exciting is happening since we are idling away days so we can get on to Marathon.

Tomorrow, we go back to our Russell Pass Anchorage so we can get an early start to Little Shark River on Friday.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Everglades City, Rod and Gun Club

This will likely be the last post for several days as we will be in remote areas without cell phone coverage.

I am making an early post today because I have power and a connection.  Later today, near high tide, we will run the 5 nm back out to our Russell Pass anchorage to be closer to Indian Pass where we will leave in the morning for the Little Shark River.  Although we are ahead of “schedule” (one should never have a schedule when cruising), we will depart at first light for Little Shark River.  The weather looks good tomorrow with a good breeze on the nose (SW 10-15 kt), but a front is predicted to come through Saturday so we want to be snugly anchored in the Little Shark River by then.  We have our longest “offshore” leg tomorrow of about 32 nm (37 miles).  Although I say offshore, we will likely not be more than 3-4 miles off, but running down the coast in open water.  Even a moderate wind can kick up a nasty chop under these conditions so I would not be going if the forecast were over 15 kt…and it could change. 

If you know me, you know that I am not one who tolerates waiting, so this hanging around for the time to get to Marathon and for the tide today is killing me.  I want to GO!  The problem is that Marathon is so packed with cruisers now that there is virtually no where to stay until our slip opens up, and anchorages are very crowded.  Nancy and I have discussed our ahead of schedule dilemma and wish we had stayed longer at LaBelle, Fort Myers, and Fort Myers Beach, but at this point it is just a lesson learned for the next time. 

Dubhe in Everglades City, chomping at the bit to GO!

After the Little Shark River, we are planning to stop at Flamingo, FL for a few days and go to Marathon from there, but this is all subject to change, primarily due to weather.  If I can get Verizon service in Flamingo, I will make a post but if not, it may be Marathon before I can get back to this.   

Friday, January 23, 2015

Departed Russell Pass 0650

Arrived Little Shark River 1400
Anchorage 4 nm from the mouth

Total day’s run 47 statute miles (41 nm), 735 miles total.

As I write this, we are anchored in a portion of the Little Shark River, Everglades.  This is truly an amazing place, but will write more about it as I have time to explore in the days to come, which look like there may be many.  We have no cell phone service and of course, no other internet access so I plan to record each day and post them when I get to a connection.

Today has been an experience.  I mentioned that SSE wind 10-15 was my maximum and it turned out to be quite a ride.  Seas were forecast to be 2 feet, but the second half of our 33 nm offshore leg, the waves were more like 3-4 but they were steep and close together so Dubhe would rise on one and punch into the next, loosing much of her speed and create a shower of salt water.  We were pretty beat when we arrived at the mouth of the Little Shark River, but then we entered a whole different world.  Beautiful, remote, quiet, words cannot describe it.  The “river” is a maze of interconnected creeks and islands.

Unfortunately, much of the bottom of the river and its “tributaries” seem to be hard, which I assume is limestone.  We had a time getting the anchor to set properly but we are safe for now.  Tomorrow, we will need to move to another location to get protection from the predicted 20+ knot north wind that is to come with this front.  Since we have no phone service, our only weather information comes from NOAA weather radio.  In order to get the local marine forecast, you have to listen to a long program of information that is not necessary…I really don’t care what the temperature in Miami is and I expect most other people listening don’t care either.  We are a little discourage because it looks like we could be here a long time, maybe a week.  There may be a short weather window on Sunday…we’ll see what NOAA weather radio says in the morning.


Saturday, January 24, 2015

Anchored in the Little Shark River

We are stuck!  There are nearly 30 miles of open water between us and any other safe port and we have two back to back cold fronts coming through.  If there is any wind over 15 kt or just about anything with a westerly component, we will probably not move.  Based on the weather reports now, we may be here until at least Wednesday. (37 nm to Marathon 27 nm to Flamingo and 30+ back to Everglades City, but we are NOT going backwards).  This is a beautiful place with lots to explore and I have tackle and a Florida fishing license.  The downside is that we are completely disconnected from the rest of the world.  We all like to talk about not having cell phones and internet, but when you don’t have a way to communicate AT ALL with your family and you can’t get the weather or radar, or just surf to entertain, you begin to realize how important it is.  I love my devices and it just pisses me off when I know rain is coming and I can’t get the radar, and I can’t check the market whenever I want to!!  This will be a good experience for us…maybe we need it.

So what do we do on an anchored 30’ boat? I plan to fish and explore with the dingy when the weather improves a little.  You will probably see longer blog posts (but my computer charger seems to take a lot of power), we read (brought plenty of books), and talk (to each other) a lot.  One thing we will not run out of is food so we eat, which brings up another thing to do and that is exercise.  I hope to start a program today using calisthenics and a rubber band exerciser a friend gave us…we’ll see how that works.

Anchoring is an art as much as a science and I consider myself pretty good at it either way.  Yesterday upon arrival, we tried two locations but the anchor would not set due to the hard bottom, then we found where although the bottom was hard, I felt that we had a good hookup.  The problem was that there was a very strong current, and of course every few hours it changed direction.  Long keel boats, especially those with a lot of windage like Dubhe do crazy things when they are anchored with an opposing wind and current.  When the current and wind are from the same direction, she lies to the anchor quietly, but when the current changes she will “sail” up to and beyond the anchor, then turn sideways to the current and be carried back in the other direction.  Sometimes she will sail around the anchor, other times she will ride to windward of the anchor.  Using all chain certainly helps this condition but this morning Dubhe wrapped herself around the anchor and made me quite uncomfortable, so we moved.  We rode around the neighborhood looking for areas which were protected from the wind with less current.  We found a place that perfectly fit those requirements, but when I tried to anchor…rock.  I made a second attempt and the Rocna anchor grabbed but I expect it is hooked in a piece of rock.  However, after an hour with little wind and virtually no current, Dubhe has barely tugged on the anchor.

We saw two manatees together just behind Dubhe.




Sunday, January 25, 2015

Anchored in the Little Shark River

This afternoon is beautiful, sunny and mild, and the wind has died.  We had “baths”, shaved, and took care of some other chores.  Now we are waiting for cocktail hour (1700) and for the strong front that is supposed to come through tomorrow with winds to 25 kt (almost 30 mph).

I was up this morning at 0600 listening to the weather radio.  Today was supposed to have North wind 10-15 kt but seas from the past couple of days would be 4+ feet on our quarter (behind and to the side, kind of like her “hind quarter”).  Tomorrow the strong frontal system comes through.  We had a tough decision…make a break for Flamingo today and wait out the worse weather there, or stay here…which we did.  We wanted to spend more time in the Little Shark River and did not want to get stuck in a marginal marina in Flamingo.  Plus the seas would be difficult today.  I sure hope we get good weather by Wednesday or Thursday.  If not, we will be here for a week and will likely head directly for Marathon, skipping Flamingo, when we get a chance.

The anchor and chain were making a hell of a noise this morning, grinding and thumping on the bottom.  I think the chain had become wrapped around a piece of rock…in any case we needed to have a better place for the coming wind.  So, we took a ride through the neighborhood, up the Little Shark River another 4 miles for a total of 7 miles from the mouth.  The scenery is beautiful; all mangrove islands, so there are no beaches or places to get off the boat.  In one open place, (Oyster Bay) looking out over the water and the islands is such a sight, it’s impossible to describe, and I never could have imagined how impressive it is.  We have seen a lot of birdlife, dolphins, and at least 8 or 10 manatees.

As we rode around, we would stop and check out potential anchorages.  I tried all nearby that are recommended and several others.  I must have tried to anchor at least six times before I found one where the anchor set to my satisfaction.  How well I sleep is a direct function of how well I think we are anchored!

My only real anxiety is not being able to communicate to our family, our delay and that they may not hear from us until late this week.  The only other people we have seen today were two young men fishing.  I waved at them and they came over…two nice young men about the age of Brendan and Kevin.  I gave them numbers and asked them to call Brendan or Kevin and let them know we are safe but delayed by the weather.  They were camping at a primitive campsite in the Everglades but said they would call when they headed home tomorrow.

I am overwhelmed by the remoteness of this area…it has an almost eerie or lonesome feeling...we are so far away from the rest of the world, detached.  There were two sailboats much larger than Dubhe anchored in the river last night but they left early this morning.  Tonight I can feel how alone we are.  However, as night fell, we had the lights on in Dubhe and as we were preparing supper, I had that intensely “cozy” feeling of being having all we need on this stout little boat in the wilderness.