Ft. Meyers to Treasure Island

This is never a happy sight, your boat being towed!! We had just left Captiva YC and were almost to the ICW when our engine made this horrible squalling sound. David determined it was our fresh waterpump and we needed help asap. I was able to sail up to the ICW and back towards help while he called for a tow and arranged for a part to be waiting for us. Capt. Ed was a very friendly guy and got us up this impossibly narrow, shallow canal to a shop we would never have found otherwise. The mechanic (they don't let you do your own work) was also a nice guy and had us back up and running in only two hours. The tow was almost $700 but thanks to our Boat US membership didn't cost us anything. The pump is another story. We don't think we'll have to sell any major organs when we get home but might have to part with some toes. We pressed on and made our original destination of cabbage key just before dusk.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the end of our woes. Water is seeping into the cabin from our fresh water tank. We're not sure exactly what or where the problem lies but there isn't much we can do about it until we're home so we've pushed up our time schedule to get back. We went from cabbage key to Sarasota Yacht Club and from there to our current location, Treasure Island YC. We really miss not being able to stop at Bradenton YC. We had been looking forward to that since we left there. We did meet a nice trio of people at Sarasato though. The couple, John and Caroline had just come back from Bradenton and had also met Mike and Phyllis and we all agreed they were great folks with a great dog. The third member of the trio, Marge, had quite a story. She is a "seasoned" women with lots of experiences. She had been a teacher at the University of New Mexico for many years. She moved to Florida and fell in love with sailing. In fact, she was the first female sailing charter captain licensed in the BVI. We had a lovely time sitting on the patio swapping stories.

We'll sit here another day getting the boat as ready as we can for the next gulf crossing. The current plan is sometime on Sunday morning departure with a sometime Tuesday landfall at St. Andrews YC. From there we'll get back to Ft. Walton and try to figure out our water problems.

This little cafe is a slice of old time Florida. It was directly across the canal from the boat repair facility.

These cloud and sunset shots were all taken at our anchorage from behind Cabbage Key. We didn't get any rain ourselves but we could see it falling all around us.

We nervously got back in the saddle with the spinnaker on the trip from Cabbage Key to Sarasota YC.

Rain seen from inside our cockpit. We haven't seen this since the beginning of the trip back up in the panhandle. This was taken in our slip at Treasure Island.

We went up inside this creek cutting through the key. Very cool inside.

Click on this for details. You can see his/her eyes! This beautiful osprey was perched on a branch about 100 feet from the boat. It didn't seem to care whether we were there or not.

This boat and barge were inside this lagoon. They seemed to be a pare of something for the preserve.

This preserve is the entire island of Buck Key. It was a bit up from where we were staying. We discovered it while we were out exploring in the dingy. We turned off the motor and rowed up into this opening in the mangroves. It was so beautiful and quiet. We saw so many birds, dolphins and maybe a racoon. It was too fast to be sure.

This boat had been on the hard for a long time. It seems to have turned into a mini bird sanctuary.

mThese were three boats tied up together. Two seemed to be some kind of weird nursery with all kinds of plants, even palm trees. The third boat was one in good condition. If somebody was living on the other two, they didn't have much room.

This was the biggest house we've seen yet. We've decided that money must grow on trees from all the big houses and boats we've seen all along the way. We just haven't figured out where the forest is yet!!

The island has avoided the overbuilding of condos on the beach. There are a few small condos but mostly houses. This is a very pricey area but not as ostentatious as some others.

I really felt small and I hadn't eaten any mushrooms!

My kind of privacy hedge! This one covered about 300 feet and had about 3 colors of flowers.

Lots of cute gingerbread all over the island.

The not too crowded beaches of Captiva Island. Our part of Florida has a 12 month tourist cycle but the entire southern section seems to only have winter tourists. The southern yacht clubs even close for a month in the summer.

Sunrise at the Meyer's Beach mooring.