A Night To Remember

Yesterday we left Fort Myers Beach and sailed North in the Gulf of Mexico to Cayo Costa. This was a 30 mile trip. Our plan was to anchor off of Cayo Costa which should have been a protected spot because the wind was SUPPOSED to blow from the NE. To make a long story short - the wind and wave blew from the NW; about 20 knots and 3 foot waves. If we had left earlier; we could have reached a better anchorage before dark; but we didn't & did not want to go into an unfamiliar anchorage in the dark. The boat was taking the waves on the beam; and rolling and pitching violently for 6 hours (til after midnight) when the wind finally did switch to the NNE. We couldn't even walk down below - we held on to each in our berth counting the hours til dawn! Neither of us could recall a worse night. Today made up for that experience. We sailed through the Boca Grande Pass to Cabbage Key where we threw down the hook in a lovely protected anchorage between Useppa Island (private) and Cabbage Key. We dinghied over to the Inn on Cabbage Key for lunch - a very unique spot with great cheeseburgers, and dollar bills ($70,000) taped to the walls. Each year they donate $10,000 to charity. We walked the nature trails around the island & climbed stairs to the top of the water tower. It was interesting to see the remmants of damage from Hurricane Charley in 2004. All of these islands/Keys are accessible only by boat. This is a beautiful area of Florida - the prettiest so far. Tomorrow we will dinghy over to the beach at Cayo Costa; a state park, also only reached by boat.