When we got up Wednesday morning it was indeed foggy but with daylight it became apparent that visibility was not so bad but it still delayed our departure until about 7 so enough daylight was available. We knew that once we got to sea we would be fine but it was getting down the 3 and 1/2 mile channel and out the pass before we would be safe. So we left our Naples slip in dead calm and motored slowly down the channel as we went from mark to mark ensuring we did not get out of the channel because low tide was fast approaching.
We made offshore and motored along as the morning sun slowly burned away the haze. From Naples there is an inside route available by following Gulf Intracoastal Waterway that really picks up in San Carlos Bay south of Fort Myers and goes up through Pine Island Sound and into Charlotte Harbor. Although our preference is always for deeper water, the fog made the slightly shorter inside passage even more undesirable. Land is the enemy of boats so the safest thing is to stay in deep waterso we motored directly to the waters by Sanibel and Captiva Islands where land began to finally emerge from the mist.
We made good progress dodging crab pots and unseen boats in water that was rather choppy for the absence of wind. At one point on AIS we saw the Key West Express heading directly at us going 32 kts on its trip from Ft Myers to Key West. At about 1 mile away they began to turn behind us and we never saw them. Several other boats passed in the fog. So nice to have electronics.
As the fog lifted we could see more of the shore with the homes and resorts on these beautiful islands.
Then just after noon time we came up to Boca Grande pass into Charlotte Harbor. At this point the wind began to come up but still behind us as we rode the incoming tide and quickly added over a knot of speed through the pass. With the wind building and we could now comfortably estimate our arrival time we pulled out our sails to see how much of the remaining 18 miles we could sail. We look forward to a time when we can just rely on our sails and go at whatever speed and wherever we get to will be our destination. A schedule is an enemy of sailing and even if it is to make it to a destination before dark or before the crew goes home it often mandates reversion to means of other power.
We quickly got up to over 8 kts sailing in the wind that had built up to the middle teens traveling smoothly with the current in a waveless sea. Sailing is so magical when the ride is smooth. One thing I always enjoy after we have the sails trimmed well and with the boat on auto is to go to the bow and watch the slicing of the water under the keel with the perfect symmetry of the bow waves, the evenly trimmed sails and of course the feeling of knowing the boat is moving well without any mechanical device largely through our own skills. A well trimmed, well engineered sailboat slicing through the water is as fine an instrument as any artisan ever produced. Sailing under a bright sun sky through deep azure water resolves any doubt about why we came this way. It provides a deep satisfaction and experience that only comes from doing it. People see pictures, read stories or hear songs about it but there is no substitute for being there doing it.
On our passage from Napleswe left the fog and for a short period experienced the joy we always aspire to. When we turned up the Bay and the wind fell behind us we again had to resort to power to get us to the Marina.We found our way in through narrow channels and got safely tied to the dock at the Punta Gorda Isles Yacht Club where we will spend the next week or so and ready ourselves for the trip to the Bahamas.
After arriving we were greeted by our friends Tom McGarry and Cathy Bleakly and my college classmate Jack Andreas and his wife Dora with whom we willshare some good times while here. Much more to follow about those.
