Fort Myers to Boca Grande - February 4-9

February 4, 2016

Fort Myers to Bimini Bay.  Beautiful morning, just right for sitting outside in the cockpit drinking coffee.  The weekend is coming and it is the big art festival in Fort Myers.  We hate to leave such a comfortable place, but cruising is not about comfort (hahaha)!  After today, we will be going to places we have not been before.  Nancy said that it seems like we are just beginning our cruise as the past three weeks have just been getting here.  Departed about 8:45 with sunny skies, warm, and a breeze.  A front with rain and high wind is predicted for tonight so we want to be in a protected anchorage.  Our destination is Bimini Bay which we chose because of the protection and there is easy access to several stores nearby.  Bimini Bay is an open dredged out area among the labyrinth of canals in Cape Coral.  This is a place that could not be built today because it has completely changed the natural geography.  Take a look on Google Earth.  The anchorage seemed crowded to me; 16 boats when we arrived (we were 17) but five more came in after us.  When we arrived, the wind was about 15 from the south, but we knew that would change.  A frontal system that brought 2” of rain to Beaufort yesterday passed through from about 9:00 pm to midnight with rain and high wind gusts.  After midnight the wind settled to about 20 from the north. 

Bimini Basin - Green line shows our track from Ft. Myers

Bimini Basin Anchorage - Dubhe is the small boat in the center

February 5, 2016

It was a long night.  Although I always know we are secure, when the wind roars through the rigging, I do not sleep well, and in this anchorage, I had to keep an eye out for other boats swinging or dragging.  But all went well.  It is sunny and windy, but quite cool this morning.  Much too cool for a comfortable dingy ride or other outside activities.  I ran my generator for about 4 hours.  I don’t know what I am going to do, but our inefficient refrigerator and limited battery capacity requires a lot to keep it going.  If we are not running the engine at least 2-3 hours a day, we need to run the generator.  When we get to some places where we spend several days at anchor, this will not do.  Otherwise, just another today is just another "stay day".  We took a long walk in the afternoon and stopped at the grocery store again and to bed early.

Canal going into Bimini Basin

February 6, 2016

Departed Bimini Basin at 7:20 after about 15 minutes of washing down the anchor and chain.  The anchor had been buried in a good clayey bottom and wasn’t going anywhere.  We originally planned to go only to Captiva Island, but because of the weather forecast and better protection at Cayo Costa State Park we decided to go on to Pelican Bay at Cayo Costa, just south of Boca Grande.  We were anchored by 12:15 and hoped to go ashore but wind and rain started not long after we arrived; much earlier than predicted.  By dark, the wind was up to 20+ and although we have good protection, it will be a long night.  Today, we basically turned right (north) where we turned left (south) last year, so from here out we are cruising new waters.

Pelican Bay, Cayo Costa (nest photo is looking back the other way)

White pelicans always get Nancy's attention.
Note white caps just outside our protected anchorage.

February 7, 2016

Well I was not disappointed…it was a long night.  It is hard to sleep when wind gusts keep knocking Dubhe around and screaming through the rigging.  We are safe, but with this wind, there is no chance of launching the dingy and going ashore.  Will probably read and catch up on sleep today.  The forecast for Monday night and Tuesday are even worse with sustained winds of 30 mph and higher gusts; an official gale warning.  We have friends we met last year when held up in the Little Shark River, who are in this area and we have been trying to arrange a rendezvous but the weather has made that difficult too.  Tomorrow morning there is a short period of lighter wind predicted.  If the forecast is correct, we will leave early and go to Gasparilla Marina in Placida, Florida.  We wanted to go to Punta Gorda but no slips available.  It’s time to make a marina stop anyway for hot showers, water, and pump out.  Since this marina has nothing nearby, we plan to rent a car to see our friends and do some more sightseeing.

Screen shot of my phone - note time

February 8, 2016

Quiet night and I slept great.  We listened to some of the Super Bowl on the radio but went to bed early anyway…just as well.  We departed our Cayo Costa anchorage about 7:30 with nearly calm wind.  Our short trip across Charlotte Harbor was uneventful and we arrived at the Gasparilla Marina about 9:30. This is a beautiful marina, fine facilities, and everyone has been courteous and helpful.  After fantastic hot showers, we picked up our rental car.  I had been trying to get a very special extension cord that I have only see at Lowes so off we went to Lowes in Venice, Florida.  We also did a little sightseeing around Venice which is a typical old Florida town of rich Yankees, but pretty and a very Italian influence.  We had to hurry though because we were to meet our friends Caroline and Dom (Dominique) at another marina near ours.  We spent happy hour and the evening with them and had a wonderful time.  They are English, spending about 6 months each year at their home in Marathon and the other time in England.  They travel back and forth to England via repositioning cruises.  We have a lot in common and love spending time with them. 

Welcome to Venice, Florida - sign of the times!

Dom on board "Poppy"

February 9, 2016

The wind did blow as predicted last night but Dubhe is secured in the very well protected marina so I slept well, waking a few times to hear the wind and go right back to sleep. We had a slow morning and even had hot showers!  We picked up Dom and Caroline and went to Boca Grande for lunch and to see the sights.  

(I don't normally do this but here goes: Boca Grande - been there done that, don't ever need to do it again.  It is pretentious, expensive, and a waste of time in my opinion.  It costed $6 just to drive over the bridge onto the island and I paid $42 for a bad lunch.)

However, we had a wonderful time because we were with two great people we are blessed to call friends.  They have a standing invitation to our home in Beaufort and the same for us in England.  We will see them again; we just don't know when or where.

The weather is still driving our decisions about where we go, but now there is a bridge closed just north of us that will keep us from moving on toward Sarasota until at least next Monday.  So we are trying to decide whether to go back to Cayo Costa or to Punta Gorda until then.  Our decision will be based on the weather and we may not know where we are going when we leave in the morning, until we get out into Charlotte Harbor and see how rough it is (not if it is rough, but how rough).

Dom and Caroline - wonderful people, great friends.

Today is Shrove Tuesday.  We will have pancakes for supper.  Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, my personal favorite church service, but it looks like I will not get to one.  Ok I don't do this very often either but here goes (again).  A downside of cruising is that it is that I cannot get to my church that I love and it is difficult to get to any church for services.  I know many say that you can be a Christian and not go to church and that is true.  But if you do not have that community, that family called a church, you are missing out on much of what being a Christian means.  I miss it.