Two intrepid voyagers embark on a journey of a lifetime! Well, uh, er, um, at least for two days!!
April 9th & 10th 2012
Marathon Key to East Cape Sable
20.25 hours underway
67 nautical miles roundtrip
We left the safety of Boot Key Harbor about 8:15am sailing through the anchorage. We headed out into the Atlantic on a heading that would take us to Moser Channel and under the world famous
7 Mile Bridge.
We played the tides perfectly and enjoyed the nature asstisted pull and push under the bridge. The winds were light yet favorable for our direct voyage to East Cape. Once under the bridge and out on the Gulf of Mexico, we settled in for a delightfully relaxing ride.
About 10 miles into the trip we spotted a commercial ballyhoo net boat. It turns out they were customers at the marina where we work. They found out it was us a few days after we got back and said "We wondered who those idiots were in the middle of Florida Bay." They just shook their heads in disbelief. I should mention they are over half of our age younger, just "kids" and still wet behind the ears, so they just don't understand the thrill of an adventure.
Did I mention we had a plentiful array of snacks. An essential ingredient in an expedition of this magnitude!
We hit beach at East Cape Sable about 6:15pm and did a quick check of our surroundings. It was crocodile nesting season and sure enough we saw tail drags and a possible nest. We set up as close to the water as possible. I was in the "Taco Salad Tent" and Mike was in the "Burrito Bivy Bag." No close encounters or sightings of the "Salty" kind, however, the next morning a kayaker who was down the beach quite aways visited us and said he saw one at sundown and sunrise. It was partially in the water and he estimated he was only able to see about 10 feet of it, the rest was submerged.
Speaking of the next morning, the noseeums had a bountiful feast!! I have never before seen so many. We were glad they were the only ones biting! Me in my bug shirt and yes it is possible to drink through the netting.
My brave voyaging friend Mike who seemed unaffected by the noseeums after he got his pants on! However, taking our morning journey to the bush with our wag bags was, shall we say, quite irritating!
We got a late start on the return voyage and peddled a lot in the beginning but found our favorable winds to carry us home safely until we again set off on some epic adventure....providing the women in our life say it is ok!!
<>< <>< <>< <><
Video of part of the trip on the way to East Cape Sable. A little boring for you to watch but totally relaxing for us while we were underway.
