We decided to leave lovely Naples a day early because of the monsoonal rains that had begun to beset the area. We spent the weekend with Kevin and Sharon at their condo in Bonita Springs. I can honestly say that when you travel by water you can easily lose your land bearings. Bonita Springs is somewhere north of Naples and south of Fort Myers. With K&S we went to Ft. Myers Beach (glad we didn’t stay there - it would have been very similar to Clearwater Beach Marina) and toured Sanibel and Captiva Islands. It was 1987 when we last visited those islands and while a new concrete bridge replaced the wooden bridge, but some icons remained the same - like the Mucky Duck! It was good to see our longtime friends and get caught up on things. While in the greater Naples / Bonita Springs area it rained for three days, and the forecast wasn’t looking too good for a scheduled Thursday departure.


I decided our travel window looked sufficient to head out today. At 0700 hrs NOAA was predicting heavy rain with lighting by 0900 hrs at Naples. Conditions south to Marathon looked reasonably clear except for a head-on south wind.


We were under power at 0730 hrs, pumped out, and we’re headed for the inlet by 0800 hrs. The waypoints were set to stay about 12 miles offshore and clear of the shallow water just west of Marco Island, then make a straight-in approach to Marathon and Faro Blanco. Everything went according to plan although the head wind and ensuing wave action was stronger and higher than forecasted or anticipated. It was tough to run at 2720 RPM, ~ 23 MPH or 21 knots. Fuel burn was in excess of 35 gal / hr (very high). I slowed to 1600 RPM (~10 MPH) and fuel burn dropped considerably but time of travel increased dramatically.


We were able to avoid two large storms to our west, one before we had Naples in our rear-view mirror, the second near Marco Island. We received light rain, heavier seas (3 ft +) and a steady head on wind. Fortunately, both storms were tracking to the north and we evaded them with sufficient distance and avoided any real consequence. In these sea conditions the boat was running wet. Sea spray was coming onto and over the boat frequently. I needed to run with all three windshield wipers working.


By the time we made it into Florida Bay sea conditions had begun to abate; SOG (speed over ground) increased to near 25 mph and the wet ride became dry again. The tricky pass I previously mentioned did not come to bear. Our heading was nearly direct (155’) to the marina. I did not need to use the ICW and (luckily) did not need to keep an eye for the pass since our travel was more westerly than previously anticipated.


Faro Blanco Marina and Resort is just east of the Seven Mile Bridge. This is a beautiful setting with a lot of top-notch activity nearby including a swimming pool, restaurants, and shopping.


We had dinner tonight at the Lighthouse Grill and had a wonderful meal. It will be an early night tonight. The Admiral is already asleep on the sofa as I write these notes. Don’t know yet what we’ll do tomorrow but weather permitting I would like to snorkel in the Keys. Water temp is ~80’. I’ll post a bunch of pictures.


BTW - I can receive only one TV station here. It’s a Spanish language station with the guy who wears a pink Afro wig! Thank goodness we have good WiFi connection!