Fort Myers Beach to Marco Island

The last couple of days have been interesting. We've had a couple of minor boat issues and it's been a bit slow getting into the groove of things onboard. I always have to relearn at least 50% of the technical stuff I need to know on the boat if it's been awhile since I've used the equipment. Wayne and I also need to get into a rhythm, which takes a few days. Routines, communication, and priorities need to be worked out. Sailing stuff comes first, of course, but we are south of Marco Island and will soon be without cell phone service for a day and a half and I want to get this posted to the blog before that happens.

We moored at Fort Myers Beach around 5:00 p.m. on Monday. Several of the others were headed in to check out a sand castle building competition and the local restaurants, but we felt the need to just relax on the boat for the evening after so much busyness of late. We invited the folks from Aurora, North Star, and Valhalla over for drinks and appetizers, then settled in early.

Tuesday morning started out fine until Wayne appeared from the cabin with the dreaded spinnaker. Now, we really haven't had many problems with the spinnaker (more accurately, gennnaker) on this boat, but I still suffer from post traumatic stress related to spinnaker issues on Wind Dancer. So whenever Wayne decides to put it up, I groan. Yesterday he asked me, "Why do you always groan when I want to fly the gennaker?" Well, I didn't have to answer the question because we wrestled with the darn thing for at least an hour. Wayne forgot to secure the sock before we hoisted it and lines got tangled up, which led to a series of other issues. Our gennaker is 1400 square feet and no fun to wrestle with in the wind.

As we approached our anchorage in Smokehouse Bay on Marco Island, a guy in a dinghy came up to us and gave us directions to help avoid the shallow water in the center. I saw the name Imagine on the dinghy, but the guy did not look like Don and I couldn't convince myself that it was him. Maybe it was the hat or maybe his beard was different, I don't know. The funny thing is that he did the same thing when Aurora came in to anchor, and they didn't recognize him either! Unfortunately, Don is having serious back issues, so he and Anita are headed back to Punta Gorda.

After anchoring, Dennis, Shirla, Wayne, and I hopped in our dinghies and went ashore. We learned that there's a dinghy dock right behind the Winn Dixie store (brilliant!), so Shirla and I picked up a few things, then went for a walk while Dennis headed down to West Marine.

We joined Sherry and Louis (new Mariners, s/v Valhalla), Don and Anita, and Dennis and Shirla aboard Aurora for snacks, then Wayne and I went ashore for ice cream and to harass the rest of our group, who were docked at a local yacht club and dining at a nearby restaurant. 

This morning started out not so well. Our anchor chain was caked with mud, which would not have been a big problem, except the washdown pump wasn't working. Wayne tried everything to get it going, but to no avail. He finally resorted to using a bucket, which he lowered down with a rope to scoop up water, and slowly and tediously washed down the anchor chain with bucketful after bucketful of water as I brought it in with the windlass. We got underway an hour and a half late.

Emma can find a cozy spot anywhere.
See her in the bottom right corner?

Now we're enjoying a nice sail, with ESE winds at 10-12 knots and 1-2 foot waves. Our ETA at Little Shark River for tonight's anchorage is 6:00.