Saturday, March 6, 2021. Day 90.
I got up early and was able to run 3 miles on the beach. I was so grateful that our second vaccine reactions had been so minor.
The beach and the town were crowded with walkers and joggers and dog walkers and cars. The employees at the concessions lining the beach were setting out jet skis, chairs, umbrellas, paddleboards, kayaks, parasailing kiosks, and other toys. It was Saturday, after all, and spring break, and the beach was hopping for a half mile on either side of the center of Ft Myers Beach. I had to swerve frequently to avoid being close to maskless folks (which was everyone). The parking lots were beginning to fill up and the mobs were arriving.
I returned to the boat and we prepared to leave Moss Marina and Fort Myers Beach. to start our trip on the Okeechobee Waterway and then to cross the Lake.
Fort Myers Beach is very touristy, there are vrbos everywhere, lots of bright colored residences for rent, a tram to shuttled visitors around, and lots of parking lots; a real family place.
When I got back from my run, Captain Roland had Magic Moments all ready to leave the dock and had asked the dockhands to help with the lines. As you may recall this was a very narrow slip with only 6 inches to spare on the beam. Captain Roland backed out beautifully, we pulled up the fenders and at 9am we left Moss Marina and went through Matanzas Pass headed to the Okeechobee Waterway.
Sadly, we had to again abandon the plan to go through the Gulf to Naples and then down the west coast to Key West due to the weather; it was just too windy, and choppy seas are not my forte! So, Plan B: go back across Lake Okeechobee to Stuart, to Miami, to Key Biscayne, to Key Largo, and maybe even to Marathon Key. We shall see; it is all weather and timing dependent.
I steered and Roland secured all the fenders and put the lines away. It was overcast and cool and then and the rain started around 11am. Because the weather was unpleasant, the traffic was light even though it was a Saturday.
There were lots of bridges but most were passable for us without requested openings. Although the scenery was gray and muted, it was attractive in its own way, almost matted.
Captain Roland realized that the Wilson Pickett, Bridge, which we reached at around 1:12pm, was only 20.5 feet above the water (maybe it was because it was high tide). The paper charts said the clearance was 27 feet, so this was a surprise. Magic Moments is 25 feet high, so with only a 20.5 foot clearance, we needed to contact the bridge tender at the last minute (they usually prefer a bit of notice). Fortunately, this bridge tender was quite kind and said they would raise the bridge for us when we arrived. Right before the bridge, we passed by a marina that had a cruise – in, boat wash, similar to a car wash. One just motors right into the slip and they wash your boat. I thought it was pretty cool.
Our plan had been to dock for the night at Calusa Marina (formally known as Calusa Jack's). It should have been an easy docking for us to pull up to a straight dock on our starboard side. Unfortunately, when we arrived, we saw that the dock to which we were to tie up was almost in the center of the waterway, a slow speed area that, in violation of the law, was used as a speed boat drag racing practice area. Calusa had failed to mention this issue when we had booked the marina. When we tried to tie-up, the racing boats going back-and-forth at high speeds, were creating immense wakes, rocking Magic Moments like crazy. Notwithstanding, we optimistically tried tying lines, the dock hand tied us up with six lines crisscrossing to hold us in place, but it was impossible. Furthermore, when we tried to attach to the electric, there was no power. The dock hand said, the boats racing by and creating havoc were not even the fast ones!
It was absurd: there was no easy way to get on and off the boat, we were rocking madly, there was no power. The situation was untenable. We saw no choice but to leave, even though we had no plan, no alternative marina, and no known anchorage.
We told the marine owner and the dock hand, that we were really sorry, but had no choice but to leave; this dock was not remotely reasonable for Magic Moments. We asked if they had any other dock or slip. Nope.
Captain Roland had tipped the dock hand generously (even more than his usual good tip.......and Captain Roland tends toward the generous normally), when we tied up; afterall, he tied six crossed lines. So, we expected that he would help us untie, but no, the owner and the dock hand left the dock and left us to fend for ourselves. It was totally inappropriate and disrespectful. I would recommend that absolutely nobody go to this marina, ever.
We were 4 miles from the first lock at Franklin National Park. Fortunately, it was still early enough to get through the lock (the last lock entry is 4:30pm). Franklin Lock went up 1.5 feet, which was a fairly short lock, thankfully. By this point we were pretty stressed. We went to Franklin National Park, although, we knew there was no real chance for a slip big enough for us. Only one slip in the Park worked for us, and, of course, when we arrived so late in the day, it was taken.
The only alternative was a dolphin, and my view was NO WAY was I doing that again! The Captain tried to assure me that we could do a dolphin, just differently: anchor on the bow and only tie to the dolphin on the stern. He had a plan and it would work.
I, however, believed the small, protected cove next to the slips would work for anchoring. The Captain gave it a try, and it was perfect. Yay, yay, and yay, the thought of the dolphin was far too upsetting for me. I was relieved...and I believe the captain was as well!
Red Tail was in a slip at the Park. We caught up by text. They had enjoyed their month in St. Petersburg. It was too bad that we couldn't get to shore for a socially distance happy hour. It made no sense to take the dinghy down as we had to leave the next day at dawn.
It had been a very difficult day, and the problem at the Calusa Marina had really aggravated the situation. The stress level was off the charts, then, to top it off, Roland's phone was no longer functioning.
We had a couple of more days before we got to Lake Okeechobee; they should only go well.
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