Saturday March 22
We left the marina at 7:10 am. Finally Fun Again, Andy and Sharon left as well and making the same 1st anchorage stop as us, Indian Key Pass, south of Marco Island and the Cape Romano Shoals. Bella got a special pb treat and we got scopolamine patches. Seas were 2-3 as predicted, a beautiful day to cross 97 miles of the Gulf of Mexico while listening to Jack Johnson.
Finally Fun Again left us in their wake as they run about 10 knots while we average around 7 knots tho we kept radio contact. ⚓️⚓️⚓️
There are tons and tons of crab/lobster pot floats in this world. They are all up the ICW and Fl, especially the Keys and the Gulf is littered with them! We were able to travel on auto pilot as it was a straight shot but not for long increments. We had to be on a vigilant watch for them. And there were lots of big and beautiful dolphins that wanted to swim along with us. So, we got sidetracked by then and didn’t see the dark float that was barely above water in time. Yep! We snatched it! It was the thump, thump, thump that convinced us. It snagged the stabilizer fin and we were dragging it along with the float banging along our bottom. We went into idle mode and Bruce was sure hoping he wasn’t going to get to jump in and he got lucky by being able to pull it away from the fin with a boat hook and it wasn’t wrapped around the prop.
The seas calmed down even more as the day went on. We have been out of cell range and sight of land most of the day.
We anchored at Indian Key Pass inlet on north side of the key, not too far from Finally Fun Again
Miles 89
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Sunday March 22
Bella on day 2 of special PB treats!
Anchor up and under way by 7 am, just barely light enough. 10 minutes later the port engine shuts down with an overheated something. We continued on with 1 engine at a slow pace while senior engineer went into the ER to determine the problem, checking the sea strainer and the impeller but both were fine. Then the engine wouldn’t restart so we wondered if there could be any residual rope or debris on the propeller or shaft or???! So we stop and anchor just offshore and south of the Cape Romano Shoals and the diver (snorkeler) goes overboard and he finds nothing again. We troubleshoot different items with a consult call to our personal and private professional captain Bryan. We suspect it could be the solenoid that is causing the start up issue as that is what we think is causing the shutdown issue. And it starts and we run the engine again with NO more overheating. So!!!! Another item to add to our list of work to be done.
The seas were very calm this morning but picked up a bit by midday but not really causing a problem.
Who is driving this boat? Bella is!
View of Ft Myers along the coastline
Anchored just inside the bridges San Carlos bay behind Kitchell Key
5:40
Miles 67
Our offshore Gulf of Mexico run over 2 days.
Monday, March 23
We are only about 3 hours from Bryan and Mary so we leave at 10 AM arriving at about 1:30. We are able to tie up to them at their dock and hopefully the electrical tie ups will work for us to stay here. If not, we have a tentative reservation at the marina close by that Bryan had stayed at.
Summer Breeze and Sea Dweller side by side.
We are the small boat.
It is a very nice small subdivision with wide canals off the river, about 23 miles inland.
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