Fort Myers Beach And Passage To Marathon.

After transiting the Okeechobee Waterway, we stopped in Fort Myers Beach (16-18 Dec) and stayed at the Matanzas Pass Mooring Field. Sharon expertly grabbed our mooring ball, lucky 13. After we finished our post-cruise 'chores', we dropped the dinghy and headed over to see our friends, Tony and Michelle, on Patricia Marie. We met Tony and Michelle at a Thanksgiving potluck dinner in St. Augustine last year and have been good friends ever since.

We spent a couple of hours in their cockpit, drinking margaritas and catching up. We made some tentative plans for the following day and Sharon and I took off to get some dinner. We tied up to a dinghy dock and went next door to Nervous Nellie's for dinner. We ate outside and dinner and the service was excellent.

Dinghy ride around the harbor

Low bridge at the dinghy dock -- except for Sharon

The next day we connected with Tony and Michelle around 1130. They were doing laundry and taking turns showering. Michelle put the clean clothes in their dinghy and we hit the town. We spent much of the afternoon walking the beach. The sand is so soft and white!!! We did a little bar hopping including the rooftop restaurant at Lani Kai's and had lunch at The Doghouse. Fort Myers Beach is our kind of town!

View from Lani Kai Rooftop Restaurant

There was another couple, Jim and Missy, on a trawler on a mooring ball right next to us. They are friends with Tony and Michelle and another couple, Derek and Dianne (we met them earlier this year), who had arrived in the mooring field late Thursday afternoon. All four of the guys are retired Navy and we spent the evening hanging out on On Course, Jim and Missy's boat.

Friday morning we were summoned to Patricia Marie for bloody Mary's. It was only in the upper 60s and a little chilly for us Floridians. After an hour or so, we drove our dinghies to the dinghy dock and walked around town before meeting the other two couples for drinks and then back to Nervous Nellie's for dinner. It was a fun two days and nice to take a break from cruising.

Dinner at Nervous Nellie's

Sharon and Michelle are like two peas-in-a-pod

Saturday morning we were up at 0530 and underway in the pitch dark by 0600. Sharon was a big help with additional 'night vision' eyes. All was fine until a fishing boat with about a 10 million candle power headlight came up on us. So much for our night vision! Fortunately he passed us (slowly) as we exited the tight channel.

We had a beautiful sunrise but the farther offshore we got, the waves increased and conditions became uncomfortable. Sooo... I turned us toward the shore for better protection. Luckily that worked and we had a much calmer trip to Marco Island. Once we passed Marco Island and the high rises disappeared below the horizon, there was no land in sight for hours. I love being the only boat with no land in sight!! We were about 13 miles offshore. We were determined to make it to Little Shark River to anchor for the night in protected waters. The lower western coast of Florida offers little in the way of anchorages beyond Marco Island plus the water is really shallow along the coast. We had the current the entire trip (very unusual) and decided to go just four miles farther south and anchor off Cape Sable (Everglades) -- pretty much the southwestern most point of Florida. We got there 10 minutes before sunset. It was a long passage (which is why we got such an early start) and our longest ever on our boat but we were determined to take advantage of a good two-day weather window.

Marco Island

We were about 13 miles offshore at our farthest point from the coast.

It was a very exposed anchorage, a little 'rolly' and unfortunately, we didn't get a good sunset. There is a beautiful white sand beach a short dinghy ride away with some people camping. It was too late in the day to dinghy over -- maybe next year on our return trip north.

The following morning we semi took our time getting underway since we were going to Marathon and it was only a four hour trip. I went to start the engine and I heard the starter momentarily engage and then nothing. Oh crap. That never happened before! So I tried starting the engine again. Same thing. Tried a third time. Same thing. The night before we were able to get cell service with a phone on the fly bridge. Sunday morning, there was zero cell service. Nothing beats being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no cell service. I checked the starting battery and it was fully charged. I tried two more times and finally, varoom!, the engine started. Whew.

Naturally, I could not recreate the problem when we were safely in a slip. My suspicion is the automatic magnetic switch (fancy name for solenoid) is starting to go. Just to play things safe, we'll probably replace the starter, AMS and starting battery (six years old -- didn't I just replace that!?!) once we are in Stock Island for two-three months. The starter and AMS will go into spare parts storage.

Other than dodging lobster/stone crab traps the entire trip, it was nice and uneventful to Marathon. I swear those floats are magnetic to our boat! We are now at Marathon Marina where we stayed for a week in January this year. It's a nice marina and we like it here. The boaters on either side of us grabbed lines and helped us tie up and get settled in. "Patty" even brought us over a plate of cookies. 

View from our slip. It just doesn't get any better.

Cruisers helping cruisers. Patty's homemade chocolate chip cookies!

So after a month of almost solid 'delivery speed' cruising, we are finally in the Keys where we will chill and enjoy the winter. It feels nice to relax, lay by the pool and listen to the breeze blowing through the palm trees. After Christmas we will run to Stock Island (Key West North) where we will be staying for the next two-three months. We have been blessed with seeing family and friends along the way, minor problems and overall good weather.