Boca Gande to weathered in

The weather forecast did not disappoint on Friday. I pulled out of Gasparilla Marina about 7:30 with the excitement of knowing that today I would be sailing and out on the open water.  But first I have about four more hours on the Intra-Costal Waterway. The good news is no more lift bridges (well at least not until I get around to Miami).

The weather is getting warmer and the sea state is excellent for some open water sailing.  The trip down to the Sanibel Island Causeway Bridge seemed like a long one. I caught my first glimpse of the bridge about 10:00, but the chart plotter showed I wouldn’t be to the bridge until 1:00. The ICW runs parallel to the bridge for about 10 miles, at times it even seems to go away from the bridge. I followed he ICW to the main ship channel. There is a lot of shallow water in this area. I headed toward the Sanibel Island Causeway Bridge and passed under it out into open water, well sort of open, there is still some shallow water outside of the marked channel.

I unfurled the headsail and sailing on a broad reach, I set our course for the Gordon Pass Inlet at Naples. Today the waves and the swells were coming behind me and gently pushing me along. Lesson Plan was able to maintain her seed over 8 MPH, even hitting 8.5 at times. It was a beautiful day for sailing.

We reached the inlet about 4:30. The swells that I was enjoying as they were pushing me along are now a cause for concern. As the swells crashed over the sandbar near the entrance, it creates large rolling waves, I am talking 5 ft rollers. Fortunately, they are nicely space but just to add to the drama a bit, there is a floating green marker 40 yrds inside of the standing green marker, so rollers and an inlet channel that is less than half its normal with.  I square up and head in. I turn to the left and then to the right as I go up and down in the swells. I am making it along nicely, when I look ahead and see another sailboat starting out of the channel. So now I need to move over toward the ROCK lined break wall to allow room for them to pass (I was taking my half out in the middle).  About the time I reached them, I also reached the end of the swells.

I proceeded on to an anchorage I picked out a before I left Boca Grande. Based on the weather forecast I planned to anchor here for one night and move on to Everglades City the next day, trying to stay ahead of a cold front that was coming.  I woke up to rain the next morning. I looked at the weather and found that the cold front had arrived, and it would be raining for the next two days. I decided to move to the Naples City Marina. If it is going to be raining and cold, I want to be plugged in, so I have heat. Do the Loop they said, you will also be in warm weather.

The up side of the “forced” stay in Naples is that I was able to meet up with a sailing mate from Kentucky, Bill Miller. We had a great visit on Sunday in the pouring rain. I ended up staying until Tuesday morning, so we were able to go to dinner again on Monday. It is always great to see friends along the way.

Lesson Learned: The gentle swells that help push you along, can cause some turmoil later in the trip.

I was able to get out and take some pictures on Monday