Our one-way journey started Wednesday morning. Fair weather and light chop in the bay made for a good first day.
The anchorage we had picked out for the night in Lemon bay was exposed to the east, so with higher east winds forecast during the night, we decided to go to Gasparilla Marina for a transit/overnight slip. This is when things started to go bad.
It was a narrow fairway to our assigned slip in the very back of the marina; however I was able to get in without a lot of excitement. The electric hookup did not work - nor the wifi. The dock hand tried to fix it, and even offered us another slip (when I asked for proof of power there was none) so an hour later (hot and sweaty) De Anne and I took showers at the marina cruiser's lounge. When I rejoined De Anne in the lounge she was talking to the security guard. The marina staff had been looking for us and wanted to make things right. We moved the boat to the fuel dock and all problems were solved.
On Thursday the higher winds caused quite a fetch (wind blown waves) requiring the use of the windshield wipers as saltwater spray cascaded over the bow. After passing Charlotte Bay we were behind mangrove islands which cut down the fetch considerably.
Entering the Caloosahatchee river is a very narrow passage about a mile long and a hundred feet wide. This is the choke point for all the boats from all the river towns and cities wanting to go to the gulf or bay. It is akin to a downtown Atlanta or Houston freeway suddenly becoming a two lane road.
We managed to find the marina and our slip, and once again I did not hurt the wax job that De Anne spent so much time applying.
Proof of life in Fort Myers:
