Day 118, Year 10: Tough Day
Date: Thursday, February 5, 2015
Weather: Overcast with Rain, Winds 15-20 SE Turning N 15
Latitude: 26 27.603 N
Longitude: 081 57.530 W
Location: Anchored Behind Estero Island, Fort Myers Beach, FL
It’s been a tough day. During the night the winds were directly behind us. We didn’t want to run the engine and take the chance of catching a crab pot, so we just sailed slowly, very slowly. Then in the middle of the night the rain started with the added flair of thunder and lightning. The winds became lighter and by early morning we were going only 1.5 to 2 knots. I can’t remember ever sailing that slowly, but we survived. At some point an egret decided to join us and it was quite entertaining watching her trying to hold on as the winds suddenly increased to 20 knots (with higher gusts) and the seas went from 1 foot to 6 feet. The seas were rolling under our port side, lifting us out of the water, and then dropping us down to starboard-over and over. Sea Turtle was a good distance in front of us and they had higher winds than us but not the high seas. It was one of those cases when a couple of hours makes a big difference. And all this while the egret stayed with us, holding onto the rail as tightly as possible. It was noon before we made it to Fort Myers Beach. The egret flew away when Mark went out to drop the main sail. We had hoped to be able to pick up a mooring from the Matanzas Marina. When I talked to them yesterday they explained that they do not take reservations but that they have not had to turn anyone away for the past five years. Well, today they had to turn us away. When Sea Turtle arrived, they called and found that due to the bad weather, no one was moving on and there were no moorings available. So okay, it was definitely turning out to be a not so great day. The only place to anchor here in bad weather is just off the pass behind Estero Island, but it gets shallow very quickly and you have to make sure you are completely out of the pass. We anchored once and weren’t happy with our proximity to the pass, so we tried again. Unfortunately, we were obviously too close to a shallow area because tonight we are living on a slant. We are hard aground and two hours after low tide we haven’t budged. It could be a long night.
We did get to visit with Mark’s two sisters this afternoon. When we got here, we went to shore and took a trolley part way to Bonita Beach. Mark’s sister Mary Ellen and her husband Lee came to pick us up. We went to their house in Bonita Beach and Mark’s other sister, Jeanie, came a little later. Then Lee of Sea Turtle called us and gave us the good news about Windbird being aground. Thankfully he was there to let us know. We hurried back, knowing there was nothing we could do, but if the ship is going to go down, the captain wants to be there. Not that we are going down, but we do need to do something as soon as the tide rises enough. I think the West Coast of Florida is not going to be my favorite place to cruise. But the jury is still out. Hopefully things will get better.
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| 150205 Day 118 Florida, USA–Arrival in Fort Myers Beach |
