November 11, Thursday:
At left, a little summer cottage with some southern charm.
Covered 70 statute miles today including 47 on the Okeechobee Water Way and 23 on the West Coast ICW which restarts at 0 SM at the Fort Myers exit of the OWW. Winds were north east at around 10-15 and we were able to motor sail in the waterway most of the way. Starting out heading south west until we exited at Fort Meyers then North West. This is pretty section of the waterway with lots of waterfront homes. In Coral Gables there are lots of canals with waterfront homes able to keep their boats right in their back yard.
We finally found a marina, the Fort Meyers Yacht Basin, with diesel and so we fueled up topped off water etc. For 5 bucks we were able to use the shower facilities. They even had some cold beer, which we were running low on (whew, close call).
After passing thru what is termed the miserable mile ( due to the extremely narrow channel shallow water everywhere and lots of traffic) we were able to head north (a novelty).
As we passed Captiva Pass the sun was setting and we slowed down to be able to see the sun set over the ocean (and potentially see the mystical green flash, rarely visible as the sun takes it last dip over the horizon) it was a very nice sunset, but alas not green flash this time.
We arrived at Useppa Island, which is only a few miles from Boca Grande Inlet, at the mouth of Port Charlotte. Our anchoring guide only covers the East Coast so we were on our own picking out a good anchorage. As it turns out we must of picked well as there were 6 other boats already anchored in the lee of the island when we arrived. We had to anchor just outside a cable area, where anchoring is not allowed, and squeezed between the channel of the ICW and the very shallow near shore. We anchored in 8 feet of water, but apparently we were so close to the shoal that in the AM our centerboard was rubbing bottom as we moved closer to shore and weighed anchor.
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