On to Marco Island

 In my last entry,  I wrote about our delayed  departure from the Punta Gorda area. On January 18th we lifted the anchor in Pelican Bay and headed south motoring on the ICW.  

We only planned to go 18 miles to St. James City and anchor for the night. We did get the Genoa up for part of the trip to add some push, but mostly it was a slow trip with a surprising amount of  boat traffic for a week day. Just as we were approaching our anchorage I got a look at a bridge that our navigation software had me going underneath the next morning.  I checked, and it was way too short for our mast. We quickly rerouted and went another 5 miles to an anchorage we used back in 2019. That left us with an easy exit to open water the next morning. 

The sunset view from our anchorage near the bridge at Ft. Myers Beach.

The next day was January 19th, our 42nd wedding anniversary.  We were up well before sunrise and left when we could barely see. We headed out to open water and were greeted with 20 knots on the beam. It was a wild ride to start the day, but we knew the forecast was for the wind to clock around to the south later in the day. The forecast also called for 10 knots, but SHIFT loves 20 knots and we were moving briskly at well over 7 knots. 

The sunrise over Ft. Myers Beach. Winds were stronger than expected.

Fast Sailing

Good speed in 14 knots of wind makes for a fun sail

We had a great sail until we were 10 miles from Marco Island.  Then the wind did turn and we had to motor to the inlet and then up the channels to Smokehouse Bay. We got the hook down and for the first time in a while I felt like I could relax in this very protected bay.

We got in the dinghy down and went to an early dinner to celebrate our anniversary at Mango's right along the water. We then went to the dock at the Winn Dixie grocery store. We spent about $250 on this first trip and went back to the boat to put it all away.

Dinghy dock at Winn Dixie grocery store. This was day one.

The next day we went again and spend another $228. It feels great to have food again.

Day 2

While we were sailing to Marco, I had heard a radio call from a friend. It was not too me, but it sounded like they had a mechanical problem. I sent them a text and was surprised to hear back that Sally and Conrad were in Marco Island at another anchorage. They were indeed having an alternator problem. I  suggested they move to Smokehouse Bay. They arrived in the afternoon and we quickly removed the problem unit. We then spent a very pleasant evening sharing a bottle of wine and telling stories of cruising. They rented a car the next day and took the alternator to a shop in Ft. Myers.  They got it fixed on the spot, but it was still not charging. They had someone come to the boat after we left the following day.

This is Smokehouse Bay. The sailboat in this picture is the Island Packet named: "Final Packet" owned by our friends, Conrad and Sally.

I will write about the next leg of our journey south in my next entry. This was another case of things not going as planned.