Thursday, 2/17/2022
The morning dawned bright and hazy in the Marco Island
harbor. With a forecast of wind higher than we prefer, we decided to move in
order to be ready for a day of light wind and flat seas on Friday which will be
a difficult day, even with flat seas.
Leaving at low tide in an unfamiliar inlet is always a bit
nerve wracking. Today, even staying in the middle of the marked channel, we hit
the bottom. Ughhh!
Samba ground to an unceremonious halt --quickly. Our biggest
concern was for our props which had just been straightened and balanced! We let
her sit for a minute and slowly bumped her through the sand and into what
appeared to be the channel. Fortunately, we made it – woo hoo. Once we get to the clear waters of the
Bahamas, Jim will inspect the props for any damage.
This is the first time we were able to spend any time on the
bow. In spite of the chilly weather, it was really nice to be out there.
Our 57-mile day, though long, was uneventful. Fortunately,
the wind was on the low end of the forecast – thank you Lord!
Our anchorage was at the Little Shark River, deep in the
Everglades. This is a known safe anchorage and there were 2 other boats in the
anchorage when we arrived mid-afternoon.
Jim tried his luck fishing with a variety of lures but,
alas, the fish weren’t very interested. A couple of hits but that was it.
Before the sun had set, there were a total of 10 boats in
the anchorage. However, it is large enough that we really didn’t mind the
neighbors.
This is the day we dread!
It’s a 70-mile day with literally thousands of crab pots to
contend with and a day with NO water under the keel! More on that in a bit.
Fortunately, the wind was light and variable, per the forecast
– PTL!
What a beautiful day to be on the water – thank you Lord!
Then came the crab pots – everywhere. If you zoom in, you can see what we saw.
This requires an extraordinary amount of diligence to make
sure we don’t snag any of the lines. If they get wrapped around our drive
shafts, it can cause all kinds of damage. Likely, Jim would have to jump in and
cut them off!
We also saw a number of crabbers out tending their lines. Here is one of them in the distance.
This marker is one of 2 that identify the “ship channel”, a
narrow channel of sort of deeper water in a verrry shallow ocean.
For quite some time, we saw as little as 1 foot of water
below our keel – a verry stressful journey! Here you can see our instruments
reading 1.2 feet of depth.
Notice the mud trail behind us!
Ever see a group of Anhingas enjoying the morning together?
We hadn’t.
Ahhh, we finally made it to the Channel 5 bridge in the
Keys. We can’t wait to get into deeper and cleaner water.
We made it to Rodriguez Key, just offshore from Key Largo
where we spent the evening decompressing!
If it wasn’t for having to get COVID tests prior to leaving
for the Bahamas, we would have left first thing Saturday morning as it is the
last low wind day for a WEEK!
We tried everything we could to get a rapid test upon
arrival at Key Largo but no luck! Just too late in the day.
The good news is that we were able to find a slip to hunker
down in for a week in Key Largo. Jim spent the entire afternoon while we were
in Marco Island calling marinas. After calling literally every marina in the
middle and upper Keys, he found 1 that had 1 slip that had just opened up so we
reserved it.
We had to wait the night at Rodriguez Key because we can
only enter the marina at high tide. There isn’t enough water in the entrance
for us to get in any other time – more white-knuckling to be sure!
It's a tiny little marina tucked in the middle of a bunch of
motor homes that are all parked on a gravel driveway. It’s really rough with
nasty bathrooms and no other amenities. However, it is safe and so, I guess
that is where we will wait for the next opportunity to jump over to the
Bahamas.
Wish us luck as we monitor the fickle weather patterns.
