Enjoying Indian River Pass

We arrived at Indian Key Pass on November 22. I was expecting to see a number of other boats in the anchorage, but were delighted when we arrived to find we would have the place all to ourselves. This inlet from the gulf has a well marked channel. We were advised by other boaters to not stay in the main channel. We came in a a few hundred yards to the west of the main channel. This allowed us to be protected from the wakes of boats that were going in and out of the channel by Indian Key. Everglades channel winds up to Everglades City and is used by fisherman and tour boats heading in and out to the gulf. It was such a nice place that we decided to stay two nights.

When we awoke the first morning, we thought about getting the dingy down to explore the islands around us. After breakfast, we decided to just be lazy and stay on the boat to fish. I was on the bow fishing, when I looked up and was very excited to see a Roseate Spoonbill flying overhead. I think this is the first time I had seen one in the wild. Unfortunately, I was unable to take any pictures of this beautiful pink bird. I spent the rest of the day fishing and taking pictures of the wildlife and other activity that surrounded us.

A Brown Pelican in flight

A group of White Pelicans cruising along

We saw this group of Boy Scouts cruise by on a canoe trip. They looked like they were having fun. 

At one point in the day this tour boat came by. I am sure they were looking for dolphins and other wildlife. We saw many dolphins throughout the day. 

I fished all day and caught about 10 fish. Most of them were Gaftop Sail Catfish and none I deemed edible by us. It was still a very enjoyable and restful day. We finished the day with another nice sunset.

A Pelican and a kid on a jet ski came by at sunset. I hope the kid made it back to his family. 

Our perfectly calm anchorage changed dramatically during the night. The wind picked up and shifted to the Southwest. That brought some swell in from the gulf and we spent the night riding a "hobby horse" rocking motion. This made our early waking time easy. In my next entry, I will tell you where we went from Indian Key Pass and how our day went. I will tell you now, unlike this entry, it was pretty exciting.