Day 106-107 – 1/16-17/24

Starting location: Anchored between Manasota Key and Peterson Island, FL.

Weather: low 60s am, low 70s pm. A little lightning and thunder in the morning. Rain on and off from drizzle to heavy. Fog in afternoon, burned off by evening. Increased wind overnight. – Tuesday 1/16. Mid 50s am, mid 60s pm. Mostly sunny but breezy, decreasing wind by evening. – Wednesday 1/17.

Ending location: Marina at ‘Tween Waters Island Resort and Spa, Captiva Island, FL. Off GICW MM 11.

Statute miles: Approximately 45

General summary: Slept well at anchorage as there was little wind Monday night and we could hear waves softly breaking in the Gulf just outside the spit of land to our West. Just as we finished our morning routine and stowed the dinghy, it started to rain hard with some lightning and thunder. We were as much exposed and at risk staying put as we were moving on, so pulled anchor and started motoring to our next spot. This time there were fewer bridges and no wake zones, so we made fast progress and the storm moved to our North, replaced by fog. We do have radar, but didn’t need it as the channel was narrow (therefore boats could only approach from directly in front of or behind us) and we could see well enough. Some wide-ish water but chop wasn’t bad.

Anchored near the end of Sanibel Island in a cove near J N Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge with the hope of staying 1-2 nights and hiking trails in the refuge. Well, this just wasn’t meant to be. First of all, our dinghy motor wouldn’t turn on. Looks like the connections have some corrosion from salt water exposure – hopefully this can be cleaned and we can get it working again. Just didn’t have the supplies to do that at the moment. Too far to row to the trailhead and we would have been be fighting wind on the way there and current on the way back. There was also supposed to be a narrow sandy beach right in front of us that we could row to for Cocoa’s needs, but this had apparently been completely wiped away by Hurricane Ian in September 2022. (“Hurricane”). The eye had hit near Cayo Costa Island and severely damaged the whole area from Fort Myers to Naples. We searched by binoculars and then I rowed close enough to see there were absolutely no areas between the dense mangroves that would work. There were no other good anchorages nearby for wind protection and shore access, so I started calling around about a marina slip. The problem is many marinas here are permanently closed or still recovering so there are fewer than in the past and they are in demand. I left many messages and finally reached one that could take us. We had to backtrack 7 miles and motored through a scarily narrow passage (but with good depth, it turned out). Got gas and tied off at slip.

This resort appeared to be cosmetically recovering and all services were available. Best of all, they had a heated pool and hot tub! Did Gulf beach walks and saw lots of beautiful shells. Continued to make plans for getting to the Keys.

What broke: Torqueedo electric dinghy motor.

What was fixed: Starboard (green) running light. Was just some corrosion on the bulb.

Boater information: Call about marinas in advance of traveling to Captiva Island and Ft. Myers area for now (or any area hit by a hurricane the year or two prior). Anchorages with no beaches or quite exposed.

We absolutely loved ‘Tween Waters. Not a whole lot of room for bigger boats on the sideways transient dock (four, 35-55 feet in length, fit in while we were there). They have a few open finger piers for shorter boats and were able to squeeze us in one of those. Best to come in as close to slack tide as possible as finger piers are very close to shore and little room to maneuver. Marina has it all and then some – gas, water, power, newly renovated bathrooms and showers, laundry, pool (1 adult, 1 family, and smaller kiddie pool), hot tub x2, spa, gym, fish cleaning tables, and several restaurants. Bike, kayak, SUP, and canoe rentals steps from dock. Can arrange boat excursions for fishing, shrimping, dolphin watching, etc. Gulf beach access is right across the street and dogs are allowed! They have several buildings with hotel-style rooms and little one bedroom cottages with screened-in porches.