Heading to Tarpon Point Marina, 2-12-2015

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Coffee and tea warmed us, but the cabin was a silent one as we sipped.  The wind was still strong.  Tim started the conversation with “I am weary, and I am disappointed.”

Tears welled up in Kathy’s eyes as she answered, “So am I”. As gorgeous as the islands are, and as much as we wanted to explore, we are tired of roughing it. Tired of being cold. Been there, done that. We decided to pull anchors, and head to Tarpon Point Marina in Cape Coral, Florida, a distance of about 27 miles.  We would be traveling the ICWW (Intracoastal Water Way) with glimpses of the Gulf.

Again we were struck with the housing density.  Home after home after home, interspersed with restaurants that had dockage for boats.

Of course, as soon as we were underway, the sun came out. It still wasn’t warm, and both us were sporting turtlenecks, fleece and long pants.

This section of the ICWW is called the Miserable Mile.  It is a mile long narrow channel, with cross currents, and outside the channel it is very shallow. And very well-traveled. As a result, it is extremely difficult to maintain an accurate heading in the calmest conditions.

It is the land of big power boats.  Boating courtesy suggests that larger recreational vehicles slow down when they pass, either by overtaking, or passing.  In addition, the rules of the waterway suggest that overtaking boats hail your vessel on the marine radio to let you know that they are there, that they will be overtaking you, and suggesting on which side of our boat they will be passing.

Boat courtesy also suggests that when passing or overtaking, the bigger, faster recreational boat slows down. No boats did any of the above.  We had boats overtaking us on one side, passing us on the other, while we just tried to turn into 4 foot wakes.  We were glad to get to Tarpon Point Marina and dock Sea Fever.

Tarpon Point Marina is part of a luxury waterfront resort, with a huge Westin on one side, and skyscraper condos on the other.  There are also some planned unit developments within the gated community. It was interesting to note, that while the marina is very large, and does have slips for transients (us), they do not allow people to live aboard their boats.



Sea Fever at Tarpon Point Marina...with the condos in the background

We stopped at the fuel dock to check in and top off our tanks, and then headed to the slip. 

As we were docking, a guy named Mark came up to us and asked us how old our boat was, was it at least 25 years old?  We replied in the affirmative.  Turns out this guy knew Tim from years ago, when Sea Fever was in charter for a few years.  He remembered Tim, and the boat. Another small world experience.

After 3 nights of either little sleep, cold conditions, or both, we headed up to Pinchers Restaurant which has all day happy hour, ordered our two for one wine, and had a satisfying dinner.  As so many of these posts end, we went back to the boat, and went to sleep.