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Trip's Log
Date: Mar 6 to Apr 6
Total Distance: 164 nms
Destination:
Factory Bay, Marco Island; Gordon Pass, Naples; Fisherman's Village,
Punta Gorda
Route: Gulf of Mexico, Gulf ICW, Charlotte Harbor
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| Towards the end of our stay at Marathon, the
weather went from bad to worse. One cold front blew in after another. We were
forced to stay 3 days longer than planned. |
| Mar 3 On this beautiful
sunny (88 degrees) morning, Island Time and we seized the opportunity and ran all the way to
Marco Island to anchor off at Factory Bay minutes before the sun faded
into the horizon. It was a smooth ride pretty
much all the way. When we got close to Marco, a school of playful
dolphins jumped up next to our boat and put on a lovely show. This was
the first
time we’ve seen them jumped up so high! Alas, we could not get good
picture of them. Island Time anchored with us, and did quite
well, considering it was their first time with this boat. We lowered our
dinghy and rode over to Island Time for dinner - grilled pork chops with
salad. Yum!
We had a good nite's sleep. |
Let's
go ashore
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| A cold front was coming through the
region - 6-9 foot waves and 20-25 knots winds were forecasted, so we
stayed put for another night. Temperatures dipped to 66. The water got
rough and turned choppy. Even so, it did not stop these restless folks from going
ashore on their dinghies.
We couldn't take another day of the chop at Factory Bay, so the plan
was to run to Naples the next day, a short 1.5 hour ride in 20 - 25 knots
wind amid 6 - 9 foot waves. A miserable ride, to say the least, but a good decision, since we
ended up in a nicer and calmer anchorage at Gordon Pass, dotted with multi-million dollar homes. We went out on our dinghies and drank in
the beauty of these magnificent homes. It's mind boggling how rich some
people are ...
Mar 6 An 8
hours run got us to Punta Gorda around 16:15. It was an ok ride, a
little cool. Both Island Time and Mai Thai drove at the
lower helm. At Fisherman's Village Marina,
we were docked at a fantastic spot looking west into Charlotte
Harbor. There were plenty of wildlife right here at the marina - fishing
jumping around, horseshoe crab mating, snowy egrets and the yellow crowned
night heron (Oh yeah, we've been reading up on them birds). For the entire
month, the weather was always warm and sunny in the 80s during the day,
cooler in the evenings. The sunsets never disappointed us, and one night
we had a moon so full and bright all we could do was stared at it in awe
and marvel at its beauty.
The marina is very much like a resort, complete with tennis courts and
swimming pool. It is situated next
to a stretch of timeshares enclosed in a mall like structure, so shops and
restaurants are plenty. Nearby along the river are bike paths to various parks.
The town comes alive every Thursday night,
when the local musicians meet at the park for jamming sessions that ranged from country music to island music (Jimmy Buffet
style).
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The only work we did here was exercise! We swam, biked around the town,
and played tennis. We even went to a spring
training baseball
game one day - Minnesota Twins against the Texas Rangers. It was our first ballgame
ever; we enjoyed the good clean fun. Jon and Peggy had their daughter and grandkids over often, so
they had their hands full. From here, we
drove north to visit relatives in St Petersburg, checking out Sarasota,
Longboat Key and Bradenton along the way. Then we drove south to visit
Naples, celebrated
"Shrimp Festival" in Fort Myers, and went for brunch at the
famed South Seas Plantation (said to have the best harbor in
Southwest Florida) in Captiva Island, and on the way home, checked out the
hotel "Shalimar" on Sanibel Island, where we spent our
honeymoon some 15 years ago. Given the rapid development in Florida,
we were surprised to see it still standing!
Don and Terry (of Mine All Mine), on their way to Key West, came into our marina one day.
We caught up with them and exchanged books and stories of our trips.
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Babysitting
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