South to the Keys!

*   Fort Myers to Marathon   *

It was time to move on and continue our Great Loop journey. According to the US Coast Guard we are “pleasure boaters”. To us that means we want to make this trip pleasurable, which equates to sailing in smooth seas.

This would be Tasha and Remy’s first offshore, big water, cruising experience. Choosing a good weather window was priority one. As we all know, forecasts aren’t always right and the water can change in an instant, so we enlisted the assistance of several weather apps, one mariner forecaster, and fellow boaters to back up our findings.

We began following the weather south about 10 days prior to our reservations in Marathon. A few early weather reports indicated that travel would be hazardous or at least less pleasurable at the time of our intended travel.

Continued observation of reports all seemed to indicate the need to alter our plans and leave a couple of days earlier than planned and needed two good days for travel. We found our window where winds were predicted to be 5 – 10 mph and seas less than two feet with a period of 2 – 3 seconds. Not totally flat but pretty darn close.

The cruise to Marco Island is just over 55 miles and, on the outside, (not in the intracoastal). Except for the crossing, we have cruised inside the intracoastal waterway throughout Florida. Since we would be motoring on the outside, in the gulf, winds and waves play a big part in not only choosing our travel days but making it comfortable for the whole crew. 

Our second day to Marathon is almost 100 miles and is much like the crossing of the gulf from the panhandle to the west coast of Florida. We will leave sight of land for a good part of the day and cruise in open water. On this leg there is nowhere to tuck in should wind and waves get dicey. It is shorter than the crossing and all daylight hours, but all precaution and preparation like the crossing still go into play.

With our weather days chosen, the captain prepared the boat. He performed a thorough engine check the day prior looking for anything that seemed abnormal, checking, and topping fluids. The first mate should have prepared our ditch bag though didn’t get very far in that endeavor. A ditch bag is a water resistant, floating bag in which we should place all of our essentials should we have to abandon ship. This would include safety gear (EPIRB, flare kits, handheld radio with extra batteries, flashlights, glow sticks and a First Aid kit), water, medications, important papers and ID’s, computer backup thumb drives, anything we would need should we have to abandon ship and perhaps never see our vessel again.

Tasha did get out our life jackets (including Remy’s) and made them easily accessible. We filed a float plan with our youngest and gave him the parameters of when to call in the coast guard. We discussed various scenarios and revisited our emergency protocols as one cannot be too prepared. Luckily we did not need to deploy any emergency procedures and are here to tell you about our travels.                  

We rose early, David much earlier than Tasha to prepare for departure. Dave did a final engine check, made sure all navigational tools were loaded and ready and Tasha took Remy on a long walk. She loves being a dock queen and we needed to get her back into her cruising ritual.

Our dock mates, new and old friends from four boats surrounded our boat prior to 8 am as we prepared for departure. They assisted with power cords, the boarding stairs, tossing our lines, photos, and warm farewells with the hopes of seeing each other again along the loop. Remy’s friend Tank came for the goodbyes. It is wonderful the connections you feel to other cruisers and loopers. It can be hard to say goodbye, and we hope we will see them all again. Though the excitement for the new, new waters, new marinas, new adventures, new Americana, and new connections runs deep in our cruising blood and it is time to continue our journey. We only have two days of cruising until we dock again for a month, rounding out our winter siesta / layover.

We were off the dock at 8:15 am. Low tide. The captain announced that we had about 1.8 feet under the keel. We trusted that was about right as our diver was standing on the bottom with his arms out of the water when he cleaned our boat at low tide. He had to wait a while to get underneath the Now or Never. Dave was able to masterfully maneuver us off the dock and we were on our way.

The Caloosahatchee was calm in the Fort Myers downtown area and then we hit the miserable mile. It was only about a mile today; on our arrival it was more like five. It must have been too early for most of the crazies; however, we are still alarmed by the lack of courtesy from boaters in Florida. Large and small boats alike, passing just feet off your side, many small boats closer than many we dock next to in a slip. It ca be scary at times.

Remy eagerly assumed her position in the co-captain bench. We were so glad to see this as we just started this routine as we hit the gulf in Mobile Bay. It keeps her in the shade, with a breeze, not under foot on the aft deck, and seemingly very happy. She is also johnny on the spot when it comes to lunch time. A bite for the captain, a bite for the first dog, and so on it goes.

We left the brackish water of the Caloosahatchee and entered the blue green waters by Sanibel Bridge. We had slight swells that hit us on our port beam. Not flat, but not uncomfortable. The water and waves would remain the same for our entire five-hour cruise.

We passed the Sanibel Lighthouse, Fort Myers Beach, and many other recognizable places from our time spent here with Tasha’s Dad, Kurt. As we left Estero Island behind, we encountered new sights with Bonita Springs and Naples. And the dolphins came to play and escort us on our journey. We never tire of pictures of Remy, dolphins, and sunsets. We are sure you are getting used to them from us.

We are in all unknown waters to us and will be for the foreseeable future. It’s exciting and causes a bit of angst for the captain. David spends hours, studying, and plotting our journey so we cruise safely. There are just so many factors. Wind, waves, frequency of waves, depth, channel markers, manatee zones, no wake zones, bridges, and crab traps, yes, this was the journey with a million frickin’ crap trap floats! While our autopilot will keep us on course, it was imperative we keep a vigilant watch for crab trap floats, which at times were everywhere.   

We arrived at Factory Bay Marian on Marco Island in just over six hours. We were a bit tired, from this being our first cruising day in two months and unfortunately we did not explore the area as we wanted to turn in early for the big voyage the next day. We did notice a boat two down from us with the port of call being Indian Lake, Ohio.

This is where it all started for Tasha. She was 11 years old when her Dad purchased the families first boat. It was a kids dream, freedom to explore prior to driving a car. Tasha would pick up her friends and the three most visited places were McDonalds, Taco Bell, and the donut stand all on the water. Summers were grand. Lurking for a while, waiting for the owners to come out on the aft deck, amd when the guy appeared, Tasha struck up a conversation with him. Not only did Tasha know his name once heard, but Jim also remembered her Dad and that he sold her Dad that first boat forty some years ago! He and his wife have completed the loop and now call Marco Island their home port but hope to cruise Canada should the borders be open this summer. We may see them again along the East Coast. He started it all for Tasha and boating! Our small world theme continues.

The Factory Bay staff also gave us parameters for walking Remy. They indicated to stay on this side of the palm tree line as you’ll have 500 eyes watching you from the condo’s. But which row of palms? We got out of there before we got the reprimand!

While most loopers would make the trip from Marco Island to Marathon is a multiple day trip with perhaps a stop in the Everglades or Shark River anchorages we knew we needed to make the trip in a day to be in a marina for Remy. According to our navigational software the trip from our dock in Factory Bay Marina to the Marlin Bay Resort & Marina in Marathon was 97.1 miles. Other parameters included only being able to run during daylight because of the crab trap floats and that the marina would only accept us prior to 5 pm. With day light being at 6:50 am we knew we only had ten and a quarter hour of daylight available. Doing the simple math 100 miles, ten hours, means 10 miles per hour would get us there if there were no complications. In boating, like most things, complications often arise and as such there was some tension upon us to succeed.

We left our dock at 6:39 am which was a few minutes before sunrise. Our plan was to follow our “bread crumbs” out of the shallow harbor and be in the gulf by daybreak (bread crumbs are a nautical term for a visible trail on your chart plotter display showing where you have been). Things worked out well as we entered the gulf following a few other boats with the same idea in mind.

We knew that we would/should try to get ahead of schedule so that we had some time to spare should something happen to delay our trip. Delays are common and could be mechanical troubles with your boat, perhaps rendering aid to others in a similar situation, or a host of other things that could and does happen. We pulled out of the pass into the gulf and set the throttles for 18 miles per hour. We typically cruise in the 8.5 – 10 miles per hour range for comfort and economy. At 8.5 miles per hour, we can achieve 2 miles per gallon.

However, to maintain the 18 mph we need to turn about 2700 rpms which means we are burning 19 gallons an hour per engine. With two engines that means 38 gallons an hour. With marine diesel now costing $4.50 plus a gallon and going up daily we don’t want to have to burn any more than necessary. Though sometimes you just do. At 7:30 am we backed it down to 10 miles per hour at kept it there for most of the remaining trip.

The previously mentioned crab trap floats were more of a problem than anticipated even having been warned about them (crab trap floats, often referred to as crab pots are small floats that are attached by rope to metal or wood traps that sit on the ocean floor). The danger is that these are quite difficult to see and if you run over one it will likely bring your trip to a halt as the rope wraps around your shaft and propeller. With luck you can have someone jump overboard with a knife and cut them out. But at times there is severe damage to props, shafts, bearings, struts, or tabs). These traps are dropped throughout this portion of the gulf and follow no logical pattern known to us. We were constantly on guard watching for these hazards. It reminded the captain of all those hours of high-speed emergency vehicle training that he had each year as a police officer where he had to negotia

Our course kept us about 18 miles off the western shore of Florida as we proceeded with roughly a 165-degree course. The seas were comfortable with 1–2-foot waves and winds averaging about 12 knots and predicted to decrease over the afternoon. We watched the dolphins pass ahead of us and we enjoyed the warm temperatures and beautiful waters. Yes, life was good!

At about 11:00 am we noticed a haziness starting to form out southwest. Over time that turned to a thick cloud bank. By 12:15 pm the clouds were thickening even more and seemed to extend to the water surface with rain falling at about 10 miles out.

The wind direction shifted, and the waves became confused and appeared to come from different directions and although still not dangerously high for a boat the size of Now or Never it did make it less comfortable. The winds continued to clock around and were now coming from behind us which does a couple of things. First, the steady breeze through the bridge diminished as we were no longer moving into the wind and what breeze there was came from behind us along with our diesel exhaust.

Mild following seas developed which causes vessels to rock and sway. With a combination of no fresh air, exhaust odor, and a rocking motion, the first mate began to not feel her best, and laid down (fell asleep) which took her out of the crab float watching activity. And Remy was of no assistance either. This left the captain on his own.

By 12:30 pm, radar was showing two cells about 6 miles southwest of our location and appearing to be heading our way. At some point (he says in the name of safety) the captain made the decision to again increase speed to 18-19 miles per hour in hopes of beating the storm or at least to create additional time if we needed to slow down to negotiate a storm. More police driving, woo hoo!

By 1:45 pm the Now or Never was back to a normal cruising speed as the storm had passed and the clear skies resumed. In fact, it was so nice he decided to reduce speed to roughly 8 miles per hour for the rest of the cruise to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Tasha woke in time to take it all in.

It was a magical moment when we headed toward land, we could see the Keys extending in both directions ahead of us. It has been 40+ years since either of us have visited the far south (think it has changed?). The air was light and breezy, the water a beautiful teal, and island birds abound.

We were in our dock with engines off at 3:51 pm.  We had made it! Teal waters and palm trees at our beautiful resort. Yes, we think we are going to like it here. Paradise.

Cheers! D, T & R

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