Cape Sable 2

So we left the Keys and sailed to mainland Florida - Cape Sable, just on the edge of the Everglades.  Here's how Kendra described it:

"Cape Sable was a nice quiet anchorage, just a short dinghy ride away from the beach and an abundance of vegetation.  We arrived just before sunset, long enough to drop a few hooks in the water, (two anchors and one fishing line!)"

We arrived in the evening, having made the passage from the Keys in one long day.  Exhausted, we secured the boat, made dinner, and watched a movie before both of us fell asleep reading.  We do that alot - we are zipping through books at a mad rate!

The next morning we decided to take a ride in the dinghy up into the creeks and tidal channels that supply the Everglades. Wow!  It's another world in there... all birds and trees and water and tidal mud flats.  We were in a main channel and decided to get a little closer to the wildlife and so took a small side channel - a tidal creek- about 15 feet wide with overhanging trees with big roots that make up the banks.  Fish were jumping, but not biting on anything that I threw out there.  About five minutes in, we see movement on one of the banks up ahead about 30 feet as a very large saltwater crocodile slithered down into the water with a splash and disappeared.  Ooooh...  we both froze and then looked at each other trying to gauge each other's level of alarm.  Uh... yeah it was creepy.  I think I said "holy [bleep], that was [bleep bleep] crocodile!  And we are in this little 8' rubber dinghy that sits about 8" off of the water.  We know that crocs rarely attack humans -especially in a boat, but, well... there's pretty much no one around if something went wrong.  But, as it quiets down our adventurous nature asserts itself and, bolstering up our courage, we decide to continue on -very slowly and very carefully.  About 10 seconds later, another very large croc jumps off of the bank just in front of us -about 10 feet away!  Holy [bleep!]  It made a huge splash!  And anybody that says that humans have evolved past their baser instincts has never encountered a wild crocodile in the everglades, because as that croc hit the water, my heart started pounding all bravado or thoughts about more exploring went overboard.  I fired up that outboard (one crank - come on!  Start!  Two cranks -yeah!) and we tore out of there like... well... like we were being chased by giant saltwater crocodiles.  Instinct.

We spent the next couple of hours collecting shells and exploring the beach out by the boat.  Much safer.  I even found a large conch with my feet as I was wading in the water.  It was still alive.  We keep talking about how neat it would be if we could supplement our diet with seafood that we catch, so we decided to take it back to the boat and cook it and eat it.  Yes... eat it.  We have since discussed various methods of accomplishing this  -cooking and eating a big snail... but we have yet to find the courage to do more than put it in a bucket of seawater and watch it move around.

In the interest of making our way up the West coast of Florida, we decided to use the last few hours of daylight to make some headway.  About an hour into it, a storm starts creeping up behind us and the wind starts kicking up a fury.  At our last stop, the weather was so calm that we just anchored off the beach and were just fine.  But the seas were getting very rough and would make for a miserable night of pitching and rolling and getting up to check the anchors.  Been there - not fun.  So we looked at the chart and saw that there is an inlet called Shark River just to the north of us.  It's almost dark, but we decide to make for the safety of Shark River.  As we near the mouth of the river and drop the sails to motor in, its full-on dark and the temperature has dropped and it started raining.  Kendra is up on the bow fiddling with the anchors and spotlighting channel markers and I'm trying to read my chart to squeeze us in without running aground and to top it off, a 50 mph wind gust comes blasting across the boat tipping us sideways.  And then... serenity.  Shark river is a perfect anchorage...  as we made our way in, the waters calmed the wind and rain was dampened by high banks and dense trees. Voila!   We dropped anchors there in a bend in the river and finished off our long day with dinner and a movie and much needed rest.

Shark River radar image from our anchorage:

2011 Thus Far

[Kendra]

Leaving the Florida Keys today. Sad. ..So sad. Good news is that I have a job waiting for me in Naples which is located on the west coast of southern Florida. Not the ideal spot we were looking for, but the opportunity to refill the "island fund" is a bit overwhelming. We are anxious to do some more work on the boat to get her ready. And, of course, there is no upgrade or repair done to a boat that doesn't cost $$$$. So today we are leaving Matacumbe Bight anchoring and sailing west!

Just to catch everyone up on the new year thus far:

Matt and I sailed all day December 31. We Left our nice quiet anchorage in between Big Crawl and Little Crawl Keys at about 1000. We got out of the VERY shallow and winding channel at about 1430. Needless to say, but I will anyway, we were not happy campers. And our plans for spending the night in Islamorada pretty much went out the window. The next best anchorage we knew of was Long Key, so that's where we went. Unfortunately, there is not a lot that goes on in the little town of Layton, even on New Years Eve. After such a rough sailing day, with 20-25 knot winds and 4-5 foot swells, we were too pooped to party anyway. Just glad I had a bottle of champagne on board for the toast at midnight!

The next day was beautiful and "smooth sailing". Long Key to Lower Matacumbe on the Hawk Channel side only took a few hours. The anchorage we read about in Whale Harbor wasn't what we thought and had a wicked current. So we put out two anchors and went into town for a little night life. I guess everyone was hungover from NYE, because it was literally a "little" night life. The next day we relocated, had a peaceful night, and woke up on the sand. With a tide differential of 2 feet, it happens a lot around here! We resupplied at Whale Harbor Marina, where the fit was tight but the attendant was super friendly. Then off to Alligator Reef!

Approaching Alligator Reef at night is a little daunting. The light tower is something to behold, whether by the light of day or by the light of your trusty flashlight. Fact: Mooring balls are not easy to find in the dark. We ended up on the one closest to the lighthouse, which made for a fabulous view in the morning. The night, however, left something to be desired. The boat rocked and rolled all night! I never did find a comfy spot to sleep. As expected, the morning was scenic and the day sail was fair.

This brings us to yesterday. With the hopes of landing a temporary travel assignment, and realizing it would probably be on the west coast of Florida, we headed back the way we came toward Long Key and Channel Five. After crossing to the bay side we anchored in Lower Matacumbe Bight just outside of a private channel that cuts through two mangrove islands. We took the channel to the other side looking for a pizza place that was no longer there, but what we found was better. The Hungry Tarpon Restaurant and Bar had a place for our dinghy, cold beer, great food and shops. The best part was feeding the fish, (or pelican if he got to you first!) For $2 you get a bucket of small fish to hand feed to HUGE tarpon that have been coming to this same spot since 1976. If you go, take my advice: guard your beer and your bucket, and it's a good idea to have at least one person with a paddle in hand to chase the sneaky pelicans away.

For those who follow:

Though I'm not big on New Year's resolutions, I am resolved to keep a better handle on this blog. Now and then I will take us back in time for a story that needs to be told. I hope you all keep up with us as we move on to a new chapter - Naples!