On To The West Coast of Florida

Next stop was the anchorage at Islamorada - Christmas Eve! We sailed all the way here; making our way through the mangrove cuts. Nice downwind sail! When we turned into the anchorage we were motoring directly into the wind and realized how strong the wind was blowing (20+ knots). After the anchor set, we dinghied to shore to the famous Lorelei Restaurant for drinks & conch sandwiches. We sat with Scott from "Allez", a singlehander on a C&C 26. He has pretty much sailed everywhere in the Caribbean. On Christmas Day the wind was blowing from the south at about 10 knots. We made the decision to cross Florida Bay to the west coast of Florida. A few people talk about going through the Yacht Channel rather than going all the way to Marathon to do the crossing. Although it is abit shallower, it saves the 40 mile trip to Marathon. Now that we are in our 2nd year of cruising and getter braver, we decided to do it - piece of cake! The shallowest water we saw was a momentary 5.9! We arrived at Little Shark River in the Everglades at 1645. There were no other boats there - just many "no see-ums. We still managed to grill a great sirloin steak for dinner to celebrate Christmas and a safe passage. Next morning we weighed anchor at 0700 with a plan to sail 50 miles to Marco Island. This passage requires us to go around the Cape Romano shoals. The wind was lighter than expected from the North; but the chop was very uncomfortable. After motorsailing 28 miles towards the southern end of the shoal, we realized that we would have to go directly into the chop for another 20 miles. So.....we made a hard starboard turn and sailed in the direction of Indian Key; a spot by Everglades City that we have gone to twice before. We spent a lovely, peaceful evening anchored in Russell Pass. This decision turned out to "make lemonade out of lemons", because the next day we made weigh for Coon Key Pass near Goodland, Florida. Most people last year said that this route was not possible for us because of our 4'5" draft; but Rick on "Sea Language", a very experienced sailor, said we could do it on a high tide. We could also avoid the Cape Romano shoals. We headed towards Coon Key Light in Gullivan Bay; and entered Coon Key Pass by Tripod Key - plenty of water under our keel! Made our way to anchor in Goodland, Florida, a very happening place; particularly on Sunday afternoon. Live music, tons of people of every description, dancing, drinking, and just having fun! I should have had the camera! After a great time on shore, we spent a very quiet night on "Kismet". Today we left Goodland at 0930, with a rising tide near 2 feet above low. The tidal range is around 3'5", motored the 5 miles via the inland route to Marco Island. The chart showed places where the water depth was 3 feet or less; but we never saw less than 5'9" - whew! Hurray - we made it through and anchored by Green "15" in Marco - waiting a couple of days for an east wind to sail to Fort Myers Beach.
P.S. Check out pictures that I posted prior to this post!