Heading back up the Intracoastal toward Sarasota 3/16 through 3/19, 2015

March 16, 2014, leaving Fort Myers

We left our month long home in Fort Myers about 7:30 AM, just before sunrise. It seemed odd, watching the water way in reverse as we headed down The Miserable Mile.  This is an area of the inter coastal that is very narrow, and on a weekend, is filled with fast going powerboats, often passing on both sides of our little boat, so wakes are a constant challenge. At least on a Monday, most of the weekend traffic had headed off the waters and back home, so a photo of this bait shop, out on the water, was possible!

Bait on the River...Kathy could live here,
except for the worms

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Low winds and temperatures in the 80’s were promised today, so we left the dock and headed up to Cayo Costa Island/State Park, looking forward to finally using our dingy to investigate the island. Before leaving Fort Myers, Tim had inflated the dingy, and it was stowed on the front cabin of the boat… quite an obstacle for seeing the waterway ahead! 

Tim had to stand to see over it, and at Kathy’s turn at the helm, she needed to stack 3 boat cushions and kneel on them to see over the dingy,

We made it to Cayo Costa without a hitch.  Navigated the shallow waters, and anchored in under 7 feet of water in Pelican Bay on the leeward side of the island

The island itself can only be reached by boat.  It is a Florida State Park, and the gulf side has white beaches for all of the 8 miles. Tim has often commented that Florida has some of the most beautiful state parks in the country, and this gem seems to prove his theory.

Tim figured out how to get the dinghy off the boat and into the water…right side up, then us onto the dinghy from Sea Fever, and set the course for the island.

Tim navigated our route through the shoals and anchored boats, and coursed our way to the spit of beach just off the main dock, pulled the dinghy in and tied up.  There is a van shuttle that takes folks to the gulf side of the island, so we hopped aboard and headed to the sandy beach.

The water from the gulf was beautiful, but it was crowded.  Ferries from all over take folks to the dock, and then pick them up at an appointed time to ferry them back to their beginnings.



Folks on the beach at Cayo Costa




Kathy loving the ocean



 It was hot, so ice cream seemed like the treat of the day, and some was purchased, as well as a tee shirt for Tim. As we sat on the pier, we eavesdropped on the Park Rangers and the state park volunteers.  Listened to their boating stories, their fish stories, and the one that got away!  At some point, Kathy commented that, in all the time we had been in Florida, we had not seen a manatee.

The Ranger directed us to a small bay about half a mile down the shore. Sure enough, there were manatees swirling and turning.  We tried to get some pictures, but seemed to come up only with pictures of water or sky.  Perhaps tomorrow we will be able to capture some pictures.

Headed back to the boat, tethered the dinghy to the boat and made dinner, looking forward to Wednesday’s adventures.

And the quiet laps of the water, and the lack of motors running soothed us to sleep.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Up for breakfast, and wondered what the day would bring. Kathy rued not having bought a Cayo Costa tee shirt, so we headed our dinghy back into the island to purchase one. Oars and lines became our foe, because as Kathy bounded out of the dinghy to pull it ashore, her foot caught in the oar, and she landed on the sand and the water.  Wet, but okay.  Made for kind of a soggy rest of the day.

After our purchases, we headed over to the Manatee cove.  It must have been wake up time for these mammoth animals because we could see their air bubbles break the surface, and hear them as they splashed. 

Manatees are mammals, and how they stay below the water for that long is beyond us.

We tried to keep our dinghy out of their way, and Tim was ready with the camera. Mostly what one sees is just the nose of the manatee as it surfaces for air. 




Manatee nose looking at us in our dingy

Kayak with Manatees

 As we headed home to Sea Fever, Tim caught some pictures of her on the hook.  Pretty lass, that boat.



Sea Fever waiting for our return from Cayo Costa

After watching others haul their dingys onto their boat, we followed suit and discovered that we had a pretty good system set up, and the dingy was stowed on the top of the cabin again, still inflated, but out of the water.

Because of the urban setting in Fort Myers, sunsets were hard to view through all the buildings.  Not so in pristine Cayo Costa. We grabbed a cocktail and enjoyed a most beautiful sunset.

Romantic sunset in Cayo Costa

Off tomorrow to further north.

Thursday, March 19, 2015, On to Venice, Florida

On our journey from Fort Myers to Venice, our little boat (along with a few other vessels) literally stopped traffic.  6 bridges were hailed, passage requested, traffic was stopped and the bridges were lifted.  Some of them were on request, some of them on a specific timetable.  It made estimating travel time a challenge.  But we made good time, and docked in Venice mid afternoon.

On our way south, we had stayed at Fisherman’s Wharf in Venice, Florida…no 30 amp power hookup had been available, so we had no heat, and no way to charge our store of computers, phones, and Verizon Hot Spot!  We were pleasantly surprised on the trip north to have 30 amp service, have a decent slip, and have the dock master give the boat a pump out.

Kathy mentioned to Tim that we were certainly getting to be lazy cruisers as we headed across the parking lot to have dinner at the newly renovated Marker 4 restaurant AT 5:00 PM! Or are we just turning into Cruisin' Senior Citizens?  Kathy prefers to think that 8 hours on the water allows us to eat any darn time we feel like it.

Dinner was good, Kathy let slip that Tim had NOT celebrated his birthday on the 15^th, so sure enough, a large piece of Key Lime Pie arrived for dessert, complete with candles and a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday” from the table next to ours!

We returned to the boat, and looked forward to our journey to Sarasota, and Marina Jacks.