Check Off

Russian Cut, N25 50 W81 26
January 13, 2006

A few years ago Libby and I took a Florida Vacation. We had a long
weekend, flew to West Palm and rented a car. We had no goal other than
that we had never explored southern Florida before. The high point of
our trip was when we came to Everglades City. We took a ride on a
tourist tour boat. The boat took us from the lagoon out several miles
to the sea, then back again. The ride was delightful. We could see
the nature change from fresh water to salt water. Dolphins followed us
part of the day. It was a great day and we loved the nature. Along
the channel I saw a sailboat anchored and the crew was swimming. I
recall thinking, "I want to do that with my own boat." Well here we
are, almost in that identical spot.

The departure from Little Shark river was a white knuckles trip. It was
low tide when we left and at the entrance to the river the depth sounder
said 5.5 feet. We need 5.5 feet. We put putted very slowly more than
a mile with that depth, certain that at any minute we would be aground.
But we didn't go aground. Thank goodness.

There were three fishing boats right at the river entrance, and as we
drove by one of them caught an enormous fish. Darn. We are too
inexperienced as fishermen to know where to go. I guess looking for
other fishermen is a good first approximation.

There was very little wind today so we had to motor and sail most of the
day. It was hot and humid. I broke out the sun shower for the first
time. It heated the water to 104 F (39C) and the shower felt very
good.

We had to get here before dark to set anchors and prepare for some rough
weather. They're forecasting a gale from tonight through Sunday. We'll
be fine though. We're anchored in a very well sheltered place. But I
guess we'll not move from this spot tomorrow.

Coral Island
Indian Key, N25 49 W81 28
January 15, 2006

The gale came and went. We just sat it out. The initial hours of the
gale were nasty. A powerful gust up to 40 knots would go by, followed
by nearly zero wind between the gusts. Those conditions would have
made any sailboat or power boat very hard to handle. I was glad we were
at anchor.

I confess however to a poor job of seamanship in anchoring Friday night.
We went much too close to shore, attempting to gain more shelter from
three directions. Then I put out two anchors. That wasn't necessary.
When we woke up Saturday morning, it was low tide and we were aground.
It was because there was 4 feet of tide and we were too close to shore.
When the tide came up and we floated off, I put out a third anchor from
the stern to prevent us from swinging even closer to shore if the wind
turned around. Today, Sunday, I had to use the dinghy to pull up all
three of those anchors and wait for the tide to rise before we could
leave. I'm ashamed of the bad job I did.

By noon we were out at the furthest island out toward the Gulf Of
Mexico, Indian Key. Our guide books recommend this key for it's
isolation, nice beaches, and near waters surrounded by coral. We've
been waiting for coral. We anchored offshore and took the dinghy in to
the beach, carrying our swimming and snorkeling gear. Everything was as
advertised except that the waters are all murky. The gale yesterday
must have stirred up the bottom. Therefore we couldn't snorkel to see
the coral. Darn.

Still we had a great day. We walked all around the island. We found a
great collection of curiosities and critters and plants. There were
many exotic plants. Mangroves, palms, vines, cacti, and things that
look like onions. We even had a slight misadventure. We decided to cut
overland from one side of the island to the other. The distance was
really short, just a couple of hundred meters. When we got to the
middle the ground turned to stinky mud. It was like quicksand and it
was pretty disgusting. Nevertheless, we slogged through to the other
side. When we got there we went swimming to get that stinking stuff off
of us. We laughed about it.

Tonight we're remaining at anchor off the key. It is not without
trepidation because the only other time we anchored at sea was that
awful night off Saint Augustine last March when we broke the anchor
roller. This time however, we're anchored in 9 feet of water rather
than 80 feet, and the winds tonight are forecast for 5 knots instead of
the 45 knots we had in Saint Augustine. We should be OK but being
exposed out here takes getting used to.