Our sail from Key West to Charlotte Harbor reminded us what cruising and ocean passages are all about. We left Key West for the 24 hr passage with a forecast for light winds dying during the afternoon and evening.We got to experience lovely sailing conditions in light favorable winds for the morning, then a few hours of motoring in no wind, then the wind steadily built for the next 18 hrs forcing us to reef down once, twice, and three times. We were glad to be in our trusty Island Packet with staysail and deep reefed furling main. The ride in the shallow Florida west coast seas was not comfortable especially when the stray thunderstorm passed directly overhead giving us a good soaking, but morning found us approaching Charlotte Harbor Bay and our protected destination with sunny skies and modest winds.Our first destination (after anchoring and catching up on sleep after our 30 hour passage) was Cabbage Key, reportedly home of the best cheeseburger in Florida, according to Jimmy Buffet. I can confirm the cheeseburger was excellent. Sue had blackened mahi with yellow rice and black beans which was also excellent. Prices were actually reasonable for such a popular place. We arrived by dinghy just behind the ferry bringing a hundred or so diners so we took an hour to hike around the island trails before lunch.
The main attraction of the Cabbage Key restaurant (other than cheeseburgers) is the dollar bill lounge and dining area. Patrons are invited to sign and tape a dollar bill to the ceiling or wall - if you can find a space. The dollars are reportedly retrieved once a year and proceeds donated to charities. The story is the tradition was started by fisherman who would sign and post a dollar in times of good catches so they would have money to buy a beer during the bad times. Looks like only good times for the restaurant.
We added a dollar from Tides Inn on a pillar close to the ceiling.
Cabbage Key is also famous for its population of tortoises. They roam around the island, several just outside the restaurant where their burrows are located. They have been named after the Ninja Turtles.
From Cabbage Key, it was off to Pelican Bay, just inside Charlotte Harbor Bay and protected by the barrier island Cayo Costa which is just north of Captiva Island, just north of Sannibel Island. Like many great anchorage spots in Florida, the charts say you can't get in Pelican Bay with a draft deeper than 4 ft. We had been told by our cruiser friends Conrad and Sally, from It's About Time, that this was not true, especially on a high tide,we would see 6 ft. With entrance waypoints emailed to us and entered in the chartplotter, we made our approach on a rising tide. The entrance was 6 ft as advertised although we did see a 5 ft hump inside the anchorage. The deep water entrance channel passes just a boat length (50 ft) or so off the shoreline.
Once inside, Pelican Bay is a great place to camp out for a month or so. It is protected from wave action from almost all sides and, unlike Miami or Key West, there are no power boats or ski-doos speeding through the anchorage. And there are lots of natural sites with fauna and flora to check out.
Sue was finally able to break out her lounging chair and safely sit and relax.
Here's the life of a cruiser - that we finally reached after two months of transit. Amazing how those memories of uncomfortable ocean passages just pass away (when the sun is out, wind is down and it is 75 degrees).
From the anchorage its a very short dinghy ride to the State Park dock, then a 15 minute walk over to the ocean beach. Our friends, Sally and Conrad, took the ferry from Fisherman's Village down to the park and met us to go shelling on the beach. Sally showed Sue some of the best spots. There were lots of clam shells and reportedly many other more exotic shells after strong storms.
Another short dinghy ride from the anchorage leads to a small inlet where several families of manatees hang out. We visited this spot a couple times and got some good views of the manatees frolicking - at least as much as a 1000 lb manatee can frolick. We would row ourselves near the manatees at a safe distance and watch them swim by the dinghy (hoping they never decided to "frolick" with our dinghy.
Another dinghy ride takes you to the skinny spit of land along the entrance channel. On the weekend, this sandy spit filled up with pleasure boaters, but during the week mornings we had it to ourselves. Sue found shells, starfish, sea urchins and a good size hermit crab camped out in a medium periwinkle shell. Rivah got to exercise her legs chasing her ball.
Much to soon it was time to move on from Pelican Bay, but we will surely plan to revisit this marvelous place. But it was time to move on to Punta Gorda and spend some time with friends.
