Sailing Voyage
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This is an account of a 27
day vacation to the Florida Keys from Gulfport aboard "More Life" in December
of 1997 and January 1998. This was during an unusually stormy El Nino winter!
After a full day of loading and stowing provisions on the boat,
we left on December 11. We had moved aboard the boat the night before for an
early start, and as the wind was not very strong, we motored to Longboat Key.
The anchorage at Longboat Key is so close to the Gulf on a quiet night you can
hear the waves break on the beach across the island. The water is clear
because Longboat Pass is just a short distance away. There are two very nice
restaurants on the cove, and small islands that shield it from Big Sarasota
Bay making it a great place to weather a storm. While walking around the
island, we found a small but well stocked grocery store, so we were able to
buy some supplies we had forgotten, mainly a salt shaker.
We left
Longboat Key after 3 nights and 2 days at anchor, and had a thrilling downwind
sail across Big Sarasota Bay to the Ringling Causeway. With the strong north
winds pushing us, "More Life" surged at top speed, crossing the length of the
bay at better than hull design speed, an unusual occurrence that illustrated
the great power of the sails. The bow wave was so strong a couple dolphins
rode it for a few minutes, leaping from the water just a few feet from the
bow. I pointed out the Ringling Mansion on the east shore of the bay, it is a
grand excess of Moorish architecture. After the Ringling Bridge we motored
south down the Intercoastal Waterway for the next 3 days. The weather was
still 13 foot seas out in the Gulf, and the north wind was chilly. Although
the wind was going our way, we didn't sail much, as we had drawbridges to
contend with until Boca Grande. We stopped at the free city docks in Venice,
tucked into the mangroves at Boca Grande, and anchored in the wide open lee of
York Island with Sanibel Island to the south across Pine Island Sound. As we
approached the last bridge we hit eight and a half knots with an outgoing
tide, then we were out in the Gulf, sailing for Naples.
In Naples we
did laundry, shopped, and filled up the fuel and water, then left about 3 in
the afternoon. We caught sunset out on the Gulf west of Marco Island, and
settled down into motor-sailing our overnight passage to Key West. I was not
able to sleep, and Bob slept only an hour or so. The wind picked up during the
night, with the clear sky the magic of being far from land at night was still
there. The stars danced in the rigging, the beacons blinked on the horizon,
and the dim light on the compass would not dilute the darkness. Bob had never
done an overnight passage before, and it had been years for me, they are so
special, sleep was out of the question. The GPS directed us right to the
middle of the northwest channel leading to Key West at dawn, and we approached
the anchorage a bit after 9 am. We were exhausted and wanted only to set the
anchor and sleep, to do that we had to drop anchor. The holding ground around
Key West is terrible, and despite dropping anchor a dozen times in 4 different
locations, the hook refused to set. At last the anchor finally grabbed the
bottom, and we slept the rest of the day and all the night. As the anchorage
is wide open to the west and the north, the wrecked sailboats on the rocky
shore are reminders that any marina is a safer place to be in a storm. Luck
held and we had great weather during our stay in Key West.
Key West is
a tropical city, more reminiscent of a third world country than of the USA.
The streets are crowded, busy, and most houses are small shotgun affairs on
tiny lots. We finally got the tropical warmth I had been craving, and both of
us wore a light sheen of sweat the whole time we were there. I rented a
bicycle and circled the island on it, Bob wandered through the shops on Duval
Street. Bob finally got his southernmost rocks to complete his collection of
rocks from the 4 compass extremes of the lower 48 states, and I bought some
rainbow flags for the boat.
As gay tourists and a gay couple we had to do the night life while we were
there, the bars are open very late, so the crowd is late (and we were early).
Once the crowd showed up, they were mostly drunken locals, I had my ear bent
by one.
We left Key West on a gorgeous Christmas morning, stopped at
the marina to fuel up and make phone calls, then motored away from the island.
Once we were far enough south to clear the reefs, we set sail and made for
Newfound Harbor by Big Pine Key. It was just inside Palm Island, a very pretty
key that lives up to its name, covered with palm trees. After a quiet night
away from the city, we sailed another day to Marathon on Vaca Key, and
anchored in crowded Boot Key Harbor. We only planned to be there one day, but
bad weather set in, and since it is a very safe and protected harbor, we
waited a few days to head north. That gave us time for household shopping and
doing the laundry. While we were there I met an old friend from Manitou
Springs, Lynn Loftus, and her boyfriend Tom Cook, who used to live in my
apartment complex. For two years she has been living aboard "Evil Alice," a
small houseboat in the harbor. We had anchored near Captain Marti Brown on
"The Other Woman" and she came over for dinner one night. She had been there
since November 15, working on her water maker and preparing for the right
weather to sail solo to the Bahamas. "The Other Woman" is an Allmand 31 like
"More Life" and her lesbian captain also flies the rainbow
flag.
Finally on New Year's Eve day the wind died down to near nothing,
so we left at dawn to motor under the Seven-Mile bridge and head north across
Florida Bay to Cape Sable and the Little Shark River in the Everglades.
Florida Bay is very shallow and littered with many crab traps. When we were
about 6 miles north of the bridge the boat slowed down. I dove over the side
and found the problem, a crab trap float had caught in the rudder. I cut us
loose, and we made the rest of the way without mishap. It was our longest day,
we were trying to avoid another over nighter, so we logged over 50 nautical
miles that day to sleep in Little Shark River. It is a protected anchorage in
the Everglades, with no roads or even really dry ground around, but miles of
mangrove estuaries to explore in the dinghy. That night was a truly
spectacular sunset. As we were miles from civilization, there was no one to
celebrate the New Year that night, we slept through it. The only thing that
woke me was the gentle changing of the tide, I poked my head up through a
hatch to observe the anchor well set though the boat pointed the opposite
direction as the tide ebbed.
New Year's Day the
Florida Bay was choppy, so we motor-sailed to the channel into Everglades City
and anchored at Russell Bay in the 10,000 Islands. There are only two places
in the Everglades where a sailboat of our draft can get in, and we did both.
The next day the wind was strong out of the east, so we sailed toward Coon Key
Light. We were at low tide; the combination of the new moon, the strong east
winds, and the super high barometric pressure acted together to create a
mother of all low tides! Where the chart said we should have 5 feet at average
low tide, we were aground drawing 3 feet 10 inches. Not a big problem, we
raised sails to heel us over so we drew less, and that gained us a hundred
yards, then we REALLY went aground! I had studied the tide charts and knew
time was on our side, if there is a best time to go aground it was then at the
lowest tide. Within an hour we floated free to a deeper channel. All the
locals said that this low tide was lower than they had seen in a decade, the
cut behind Marco Island is not normally that shallow.
At Marco Island we wanted deeper water so we sailed in the Gulf to Gordon Pass
(entrance to Naples) and went just inside to sleep after a long day. Early the
next morning we made the long sail to Boca Grande, normally a 2 day trip, but
we went outside in the Gulf with favorable winds and were able to sail most of
the day. We needed a break, so when we anchored in Pelican Bay by Cayo Costa,
we took a day off from sailing and walked the beach of the beautiful state
park there. The beach is pristine and one of the best shelling beaches in the
state, the park has tried to preserve the island as all the west coast barrier
islands were before development, no paved roads, no hotels, condos, or T-shirt
shops.
Our sail to Venice was near perfect, the wind was right, the
day was warm, and when we got to the free city dock it was empty. As we were
ready to be home, we motored back into the Gulf, when the afternoon sea
breezes kicked up, we heeled over till the rails were in the water on an
almost smooth sea, it was sail power at its best. Bob was braced in a wide
stance at the wheel with a big grin on his face as we flew past Egmont Key, at
that pace we made Gulfport well before sunset. A fitting finale to our longest
sailing voyage together.
We spent 27 days aboard "More Life", at anchor
every night but 2 at the free Venice City Dock, no nights in expensive
marinas. Three quarters of the trip was out in the Gulf of Mexico or Atlantic,
we logged over 400 nautical miles. Bob did his first overnight blue water
passage, for both of us it was our longest trip yet on "More Life". We came
back tanned, salty, and wanting to do more, Bob much more experienced. It was
a great voyage!