We left Crow's Nest Marina about 6:45 AM as we knew we'd have a long day ahead of us. It was a good day - lots of beautiful scenery but HEAVY boat traffic coming into Ft. Myers. It was like a freeway for boats - unbelievable! The only incident we had was when someone called us on the VHF and said our anchor had fallen! Right in the middle of that boat freeway. Mike handed the wheel to me and he ran down to watch as I brought it up with the windlass and also tried to keep us from hitting anyone which was a feat. We had a lot of rude boaters pass us during the day without slowing down causing the boat to toss around everywhere and we think that's what caused the anchor to jar loose. Mike said that happened to him in the gulf because the boat was being pounded by waves. Anyway, that behind us, we headed for the Ft. Myers Municipal Marina and arrived about 4:00.
We went to church this morning and rode our bikes about 4 miles to West Marine. The ride was along this beautiful street lined with large palm trees planted by Thomas Edison who had his winter home here as did Henry Ford. Since it's Mother's Day, I was given the go ahead to shop a little and really enjoyed it since I am the super shopper and haven't had my fix lately. We rode back and stopped at CVS to fill a couple prescriptions and decided to buy a few staples and looked like the Beverly Hillbillies riding back with bags everywhere.
We had intended to leave this evening toward the first lock across Lake Okeechobee but we were told here that we'd better call the lockmaster. We're very disappointed because he told us we'd better go around because the water is just too shallow. This is going to set us back 4-5 days because we were hoping to be in Stuart to leave the boat while we fly to Norfolk to attend the AGLCA Rendezvous May 14-18. Not sure what is going to happen. Stay tuned......
Beginning in the Spring of 2011, this is a story of a journey in our 36' Heritage East Trawler as we cruise The Great Loop, a circumnavigation of Eastern North America, along the shoreline of the United States and Canada - truly a trip of a lifetime.
If I were you I'd leave the boat in Ft. Myers and rent a car. Spend the week site seeing on the way to Virginia. You don't want to get in a hurry going down to the Keys. If the weather is bad is will be horrible and there aren't a lot of options on places to stop.
ReplyDelete