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| No Crab Traps! |
The SW coast of Florida has a little bit of everything for
the adventurous cruiser. When we sailed out of Boot Key Harbor to start our venture
up the southwest coast of Florida we expected our first adventure would be
dodging crab pods. But to our surprise NO CRAB TRAPS! If you have ever been across the Florida Bay you
know it can be a web of traps to weave through. But we sailed along enjoying a
beautiful day pod free. We stopped the
first night in the Little Shark River nestled in the Everglades National Park
and when we pulled in and dropped the hook the only company we had were the
crocs and the no-see-ums. It’s a dark remote anchorage up a small dark remote river
in the Everglades with no cell service so it’s a perfect place to “get away
from it all”. There are not many of these truly remote anchorages left so we
enjoy stopping here to remember what it use to be like when we cruised the
islands off the coast of Southern California back in the early days. It is also
a true test of our nerves.
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| Hurricane Hunter |
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| We got inside the Hurricane Hunter |
Our next stop over was beautiful Naples where we spent a few
nights on the mooring balls in the City Marina.
In May and June in Florida you need to be anchored up before 3 p.m. because
it usually storms in the evenings if not sooner. So we watched the weather closely all the way
up from the Little Shark River and made it in just in time. We just hooked up to our mooring ball when
the storm clouds let loose and blew through.
We were crossing our finger every time the lighting flashed in the sky
because we’ve heard this time of year several boats we knew got struck by
lightning. We really enjoyed our time
in Naples. You could walk everywhere
from the harbor. We walked all the way down
to the pier and enjoy the best pizza we have had in a long time at Napoli on
the Bay Pizza. After a couple of days
exploring Naples we sailed up the coast to Fort Meyers Beach.
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| Sunset Fort Meyers Beach |
Matanzas Harbor Municipal Mooring Field is where we picked
up a mooring ball at pretty good prices of $15 a day right between San Carlos
and Ester Islands. It is a little
crowded with boats and people but we did enjoyed the many happy hours at the
local bars. After a few days we sailed
on to an anchorage we found last year, Pelican Bay in the Caya Costa State
Park. Caya Costa is only accessible by
private boat or ferry so it’s quite and we really enjoy the beautiful remote beaches
but we need to keep moving up to St. Petersburg. The dog days of Florida summer
have stated early and the storms are more frequent so the sooner we get to our
summer home in St Petersburg the better.
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| Add caption |
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| Cool old swing bridge |
Our last stop before St. Petersburg was in Sarasota. We were
hoping to stay there awhile and wait for our friends Terese and Rick to come
back to Marina Jacks from Marathon but we heard from them and they were delayed
with some engine trouble. Last year we
drove through Sarasota in our car and visited but it was really great to
experience it on our boat this time and to stay at the fabulous Marina Jack. Rick you were right the Marina is first class
and the Wi-Fi was the best. They sure got that right. They have tons of restaurants and nightlife within
walking distance of the marina so we had a hard time choosing what to do in the
evening. HAHA. We really enjoyed ourselves there and we even caught an
afternoon movie.
Finally we took the GICW the rest of the way up to St. Petersburg via Tampa Bay. It was a beautiful day and when we sailed under the beautiful Sunshine Skyway Bridge spanning over Tampa Bay it was so much more impressive than when we drove over it earlier this year.
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| Skyway Bridge |
Sailing into any harbor is a special experience but when the harbor is your final destination after 8 months of sailing down the east coast of Florida, through the many spectacular islands of the Bahamas, the wild Florida Keys and up the SW coast it has a very special feeling that only the adventurist can experience.
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| St. Petersburg Pier |
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| Dali Museum in St. Petersburg |
Dali is amazing up close and far
away same painting what do you see?
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| Concert in the park at St. Petersburg |
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| Night Riots and Awolnation |
Now we start all that R & R (replace and repair) before we drive back to Kansas City to visit family and friends. Until our next blog hope you all have a fantastic and safe summer. Until next season!
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| GO ROYALS! |
