March 20

Because we needed water and electricity and all marinas in Key West were full, we ended up in Stock Island, not a very nice marina (although Key West prices), but that can happen. At least we got to borrow a bike and Jacques went to West Marine to buy a new water pump, the old one was so noisy, the whole boat resonated when using it. I got to borrow the same bike to do some shopping.

On Tuesday we left for Ramrod Key after we cleaned the boat, was very necessary, it was a short trip where we anchored at the SW side of the island and next day we made the hop to Bahia Honda. We had been there once before, it is a national park with a wonderful beach, I think it would be a good stop with Paul, Karyn and the kids. It was a wild night on the anchor, high winds and thunderstorms in the distance, but in the morning it was all over. We took the dinghy to shore and made walk over the island. There is an old railway bridge, now used for walking and fishing and when I looked down I saw two sea turtles swimming just below the water, great!

On Thursday we left for Boot Key, it was great sailing, two mono-hulls had left just ahead of us and it became very soon a race between the second boat and the Lady Hawk. After the second tack we went to second place and in the end Jacques was steering by hand to try to get as high on the wind as Lady Hawk could to maintain our lead. We would have won but we anchored outside Boot Key and they went inside, but it was a very fun sailing day. We stayed two days on the boat, just being lazy and Jacques started to read! It was the book about “Marley and me” and he enjoyed it very much (thanks to Helena who gave me the book when I visited them Last September).

Ria

March 14

After Joel’s arrival our stay at the mooring ended and we were on the road again, was a good feeling. The first day we had hardly any wind and went to Marco Island, anchored just south of the entrance. Joel and Jacques went for a swim and afterwards we went to search for a restaurant. We had a little difficulty to find a place for the dinghy, where we also could climb on the wall. With some help we found a spot where we could crawl over some rocks to get ashore. We had to wait about half an hour for dinner, so we decided to walk a little bit around and found a fantastic little Italian restaurant, was really a coincidence, we had there a wonderful dinner.

Next day we looked at the charts and decided to go to Little Shark River. We tried sailing but the wind again was slow and we made it to the river, just before it was completely dark.

The next morning we took a dinghy ride up the river, where we found two more boats anchored just around the corner, it was one of the nicest anchorages we had, saw lots of dolphins jumping and diving for their breakfast, really spectacular.

Next morning we left for Boot Key, we had great winds and made 8 knots, wonderful day of sailing, the only small negative thing was that we had picked up a crab buoy and Joel had to take an unplanned swim to check everything out.

We anchored outside the Harbor and Joel went for a dive on Thursday. In the evening we went with the dinghy to pick up Joel and to go to West Marine and have dinner in a very nice place Joel had heard about during the diving trip. On our walk we met another Fountain Pajot catamaran Antigua, we will try to keep contact, there are only about 55 Antiguas made.

On Friday we sailed outside the reef to Key West (to get some Atlantic feeling), the sail was very good but the waves were very high, not a comfortable ride, in the evening we anchored west of Fleming Island and went ashore to get the feel of Key West and watch a wonderful sunset.

Now Joel has left this morning and we tried to do some shopping, but the prices within walking distance were crazy, so we only took water and will find another place to shop tomorrow.

Ria

March 7

Tom took the good weather with him, we had very strong west winds and it was also colder this week. While we are waiting for Joel we did some trips with the bus to Summerlin Square, for a visit to (of course) West Marine, Walgreens did groceries etc.

I went for a hair cut; we did laundry, visited the library and had one more time dinner at Bonita Bill’s. Tomorrow Joel is coming, the weather does not look good for a direct trip to Key West, but we will see. An uneventful week.

Ria

March 1

We had a wonderful week with Tom, really nice weather, we installed handrails on the back of the boat, we needed someone smaller to get into the stern compartment and Tom was the one. We changed oil in the two engines and showed Tom Estero Island Beach. He felt very young, because there are a lot, I mean really a lot of snowbirds here in Florida. Nearly every third car is from one of the snow states, with Minnesota on top.

Monday we moved to the mooring field, we immediately got visits from two former Dutch Guys, and one told us about a small restaurant on the water “Bonita Bill’s”. It was a really nice place, which we would never have discovered on our own. Tuesday we had a nice sail to Big Carlos Pass, where we anchored of Coon Key. We were landed in dolphin heaven; they were everywhere, jumping as if they were in a show, so great!!!!!!!!!



Tom and Jacques went for a dinghy ride to show Tom how fast it could go, really fast, and discovered around the corner some stores, from where they took some beer home. The next morning we sailed to Sanibel Island and we tried out the spinnaker for the first time. Tom and I went to the beach to do some shelling, he found a very nice one that was still alive, so back on board we cooked it and opened up very nicely.



Back at the mooring we checked out all the side channels, because one of them should have a dingy place and a short walk to food store and library. Luckily there was already a little boat otherwise we would have missed it. You tie to a mangrove and try to step on the mangrove and not next to it, like I did when we came back and smashed our fresh strawberries.

The dinghy and I are still not very good buddy’s, I have blue spots everywhere from getting in and out of the thing, which is by the way called “Alex”, because he was a master in handling that boat. We also took a trip up the Caloosahatchee River which would lead us into downtown Fort Meyers, but the traffic on the water was so busy, that half way we stopped on the water to have lunch and went back to the mooring. As a treat we went to our favorite Bonita Bill’s instead. There was a karaoke event and we enjoyed some really good singers (and of course also some very bad ones).

The time has been flying and today we had to say goodbye to Tom, who had to take a taxi because his flight was very early.

Ria