Up A Lazy River

LaBelle, Florida
NoLL

Our friend Andre was right. The trip up the Caloosahatchee River is wonderful and relaxing.

Instead of our normal travel mode -- anchor up at dawn and sail till sunset -- we were able to be lazy because we only had 15 miles to travel. We slept late, drank extra cups of coffee and listened to Car Talk on the radio before leaving. Then we motored up the river at half throttle since there was no hurry.

The day couldn't have been nicer. It warmed up to about 72 (20C). The sky was blue, no clouds. We watched the river banks move slowly by. At times we had lemon groves on our left and tobacco fields on the right. At least they looked like the tobacco fields in Connecticut, covered with muslin cloth to protect the crop from the sun and to hold in moisture. After 4 hours of that, we arrived in LaBelle.

There are several free places to stay here. We tied up Mediterranean style at the city dock. It was the first time we did Mediterranean style in Tarwathie. That means dropping an anchor 100 feet out in to the river and then moving in bow first or stern first. We had to do it bow first because of the self steering gear we have in the stern, yet we don't have a stern anchor to make it easy. We managed anyhow. I remembered the routine from sailing experiences in Sweden. The Swedes always use Mediterranean style to get ashore. Therefore, they don't need dinghies.

I'll write more tomorrow about the Old Florida town of LaBelle and I'll post some pictures.