Back at Burnt Store - Cruising is over for a while ...

Anchor away at Ding Darling at 7 AM for 5 hours of mostly motoring (AKA "motor sailing") on a very pleasant morning through what are becoming familar waters to Burnt Store Marina. We will spend this week cleaning up the boat and securing it for the summer before driving to Texas next weekend.

We are somewhat sad that our cruise is over == but at the same time == glad to be back especially now that thunder storms prowl the evenings and the thermostat is on high.

Our cruising in Florida is over, for a while at least. Time to go home and reflect on our journeys. We definitely want to come back in October to cruise with the Punta Gorda Sailing Club to northern destinations (St. Petersberg, Tarpon Springs, etc.). We hope the summer weather is kind to our boat, Eagle's Wings, and that hurricanes stay far far away from Punta Gorda.

Hope everyone has enjoyed our blog. Send us an email if you have at saileagleswings@yahoo.com ! Cheers from the crew of Eagle's Wings!

Ding Darling

Today we mostly motored from Naples as the winds mostly nonexsistent or light from the northeast to anchor off the Ding Darling National Refuge at 2 PM. Tommorrow we should be back at Burnt Store.

To learn about Ding Darling click http://www.fws.gov/dingdarling/VisitorInformation.html

Naples

We motor sailed to Naples today taking a slip at the city marina. Tommorrow, we plan an early departure to Fort Myers and or beyond depending on the weather.

Marathon - Marco Island

While waiting out the weather in Marathon, we breakfasted at the Stuffed Pig. The restaurant is decorated to the absolute max with porky paraphernalia. I had the Pig's Breakfast; Joanne had a somewhat leaner selection. We also had a fine dinner at the Marathon Yacht Club and cooked out one night on their grill. Cruisers on Maxine, a Gulfstar 37' sailboat with home port of Tarpon Springs, who also have a cat aboard shared stories about loberstering in the keys in years past. Once they caught 145 lobsters in one night! They will be at the Iles Yacht Club later this week to enjoy a life in Punta Gorda, a place to which they hope to relocate.

We cast off our dock lines at 6:20 AM May 21 headed for Little Shark River. Two If By Sea left at 6 AM from Burdines Marina located on the far side of Vaca Key, caught up and eventually passed us. We anchored in Little Shark River with half a dozen other boats.

Manatee, a trawler, a Cruisernchored in front of us. It sported an amazing industrial strength dinghy. You have to see it to believe it!
There's Ed in the dinghys on the way to chat with David in Two if By Sea.
The dinghy loaded with fuel weighs 1100 pounds. It can be bolted to Manatee's stern and push her at five knots if needed.

Before heading to Little Shark River, we had our heads filled with mosquito horror stories. Won't insect repellent work, we asked? "Dinners on boys, come and get it" exclaimed our friends. We bought mosquito repellent anyway; we also had noseeum screen for our hatches. No mosquitoes! We did pickup a few deer flies that joined us beginning a few miles off the coast. These flies bite if they get the chance but our fly swatter get the better of most of them.


At 3 AM , I awoke and watched far off lighting flicker all across the western sky. I thought to myself that the low pressure system that was moving off Florida to the northwest was bringing more storms to the coast. We delayed our 6 AM departure to evaluate the stormy situation. By 7 AM, we concluded that a good sized rain shower has passed mostly to the northeast and that the sky was clearing out over the water.

We motored sailed at over 6 kts most of the way to Marco. Two if By Sea took a short cut through the Cape Romano Shoals; I elected to go around and arrived a little behind at Factory Bay to complete the 58 nm trip. After a little anchoring dance, we found a spot, showered and then celebrated with pina coladas.



Coming into Marco, I just had to photograph Never Again being towed in by Boat US.

The bottom of Factory Bay seems to be of the same consistency as that of Offats Bayou, very soft mud. This mud smells bad too! Anyway, we slowly dragged anchor and had to reset twice during the night. In the morning we decided to head up the coast a few miles to Naples. Two if By Sea plans to spend the night at the Ding Darling anchorage north of Fort Myers before returning to Burnt Store. Cantagree, also anchored in Factory Bay, headed to a marina up the Caloosahatchee River.

Waiting out the Weather -Marathon May 19

Eagle's Wings and Two If By Sea headed for Marathon about 7 AM on May 18 motor sailing all the way at 6+ kts. See Two If By Sea up ahead of us sailing under a rainbow down the ICW on the inside route on the way to Marathon.

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We took a slip at the Marathon Yacht Club while Two If By Sea decided on Burdine's Marina located on the Boot Key Channel. Cantagree started later and anchored out near the old Fero Blanco Marina which has now closed and abandoned by the greedy condo developers.

If you are following the weather, you know a giant low pressure system is circulating over much of Florida dumping much needed rain. Our slip faces due north directly into the entrance channel to Florida Bay. Looking out on the bay in the evening, we could see a black wall of clouds to the north. About 8:45 PM, the wind shifted to the North at 15-16 kts and quickly jumped to as high as 36 kts before settling down to the mid twenties. We listened to the wind and rain while we rocked safely in our slip.

We now plan to leave for Little Shark River Thursday morning and then move on to Marco on Friday with Two If By Sea. Cantagree plans to leave early Wednesday morning for a direct passage to Marco. We have really enjoyed our time in the keys but now we are looking forward to being back in Punta Gorda.

For another view please click on http://www.sailblogs.com/member/twoifbysea/

Lignumvitae Key

Eagle's Wings weighed anchor early to motor sail down to Ligumvitae from Tarpon Basin. Along the way, we stopped at Plantation Key Yacht Harbor for fuel, water, pumpout and trash disposal - the essential stuff required for a cruising boat.









We picked up one of three mooring balls provided by the park on the west side of the island. The park dock is located on the east side. Storm clouds filled the southern sky so I checked weather radar on the internet before agreeing to venture out in the dinghy. All the storms were moving off to the west -- so into the dinghy we went - - for a wet ride as we had to hurry to make the 2 PM tour. Our dinghy provides a wet ride when it goes up on a plane to run fast.







Ligumvitae Key is a state park with restricted access. That means that you can't wander around the island on your own. The tour, which costs $1 per person, is the only way to see the island. Joanne & I were the only tourees as it turned out for park ranger, Lance Romance, to guide around. (Don't you just love his name?) So, we got a personal tour! You can read about Ligumvitae Key State Botanical Park at:


http://www.floridastateparks.org/lignumvitaekey/


http://www.keyshistory.org/lvk.html


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lignum_vitae









Ligumvitae Key is famous for mosquitoes, but the first significant rain required to hatch the little devils, occured just yesterday so the mosquitoes won't be feeding on the tourists for about a week. Joanne & I were happy to miss them.

To view larger versions of our pictures, just double click on them.

Today we motorsailed down the ICW and took a dock slip at the Marathon Yacht Club because we are expecting rainy weather for a few days. Our current plan is to wait for the weather to clear and take off across Florida Bay towards Punta Gorda on Thursday.

Thunder, Lightning & Shore Leave

Last Night, thunder storms moved across Key Largo dropping rain upon us and lighting up the sky. The sky remained partly cloudy or partly sunny depending on your point of view from sunup to sundown even though the forecast called for a 40% chance of rain.

For shore leave, we dinghied to the new Monore County dock; noone told us we couldn't. The dock is part of a little park at the county adminstration building. From we walked about a half a mile to a shopping center where Joanne treated herself to a pedicure. We all enjoyed lunch at Arbys before walking back to the dock.

We played a round of Pegs and Jokers on Two if By Sea in the late afternoon before getting ready for an early departure tommorrow. Our destination: Lignmvitae Key with a fuel/water/pumpout stop at Plantation Key Marina on the way.

Monroe County Dock Along US 1
Tarpon Basin