Finding Adventure On A Familiar Route

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Are we ever going to leave Charlotte Harbor?  It’s rare we stay anywhere for months at a time. If you look at our boat track for the first couple of months of our trip, you’d see we made circles around Charlotte Harbor.  After spending time on boat projects, we were ready to start our big trip! Shortly thereafter, we got hit with an unexpected whopper of a storm. Back to the boatyard we went to replace lost equipment.

When we left Safe Cove for the second time, then there was one cold front after another cold front. It was so unseasonably cold that iguanas were falling from the trees! After defrosting ourselves by spending time at a marina, we were getting antsy to get on our way to the Keys. 

The weather wasn’t cooperating for us to sail directly to the Keys so we decided to inch our way down the West coast and find some new everyday adventures along the way.

We’ve sailed this route from Charlotte Harbor to the Keys and back about a dozen times.  Therefore, we have our routine for favorite anchorages, places to visit, where to get supplies along the way, and fun things to do with our free time.  But, if you know us, we are always eager to find new adventures wherever we are, even in a familiar place.      

How did we build in new adventures on this sailing trip from Charlotte Harbor to the Keys?  

Fort Myer’s Beach

ICW:  We prefer to sail on the outside from Charlotte Harbor to Fort Myer’s Beach, but the temps were still cold and the wind at our nose.  So we braved the Intracoastal Waterway.  And it was a weekend, what were we thinking!  Big, fast boats zipping by with sizable wakes is the norm on this stretch of water.  After getting “waked” by go-fast boats that pass with little regard for their impact on others, we started making a business plan to create and sell T-shirts saying “I survived the ICW miserable mile” with a sailboat image behind the words.  Do you think it would sell?   

Mooring Ball:  Shortly after the miserable mile, we joined our friends Dennis and Doris on Magic (Magic is for sale) anchored just north of San Carlos Bridge.  Lucky for us Dennis and Doris already had scoped out different anchorages for various wind conditions so we moved in tandem and enjoyed being boat neighbors in these outer anchorages.  They’ve been waiting for a Fort Myers Beach city mooring ball for a couple of weeks already.  We added our name to the waitlist for a mooring ball without much confidence we would actually get one.  Maybe our name will be near the top of the list by the time we return from the Bahamas!  Getting a mooring ball or dockage has become increasingly difficult, if not nearly impossible, this year.  

But, not getting a mooring ball led us to enjoy a few new anchorages and new land adventures in this area.

Visit with my cousin

When you live on a boat you don’t always know when you’ll be in what anchorage nor for how long.  It makes planning to see friends or family a bit challenging.  That’s why it was especially nice that a short notice visit with my cousin worked out! 

None of us had been to the beach and nature preserve near our anchorage so we were able to discover this place together. 

While researching the beach off our anchorage, I found a little interesting history.  The Bunche Beach Preserve received its name from Dr. Ralph Bunche, the first African American to receive a Nobel Peace Prize in 1950. 

On the morning of our visit, Tony & I heard a lot of commotion from Bunche beach.  “Hooah!”, “Yes, Sir!” “What’s going on at the beach?!” I exclaimed.  Tony peered through the binoculars to get a closer look.  “I’m not sure” he reported.  “It’s almost time to meet Janna and Rick so let’s just go in and find out.”

As we got closer to the beach, we could see groups of students being led in various drills that reminded us of army training.  One group was about to run relays down the beach and back, but first, we overheard a cautionary tale about a previous runner who didn’t watch the ground and tripped over one of the many tree stumps scattered along the way.  Another group headed into the water and formed a circle.  Ring around the rosy in the water?  Not quite!  They moved to the left or the right and dunked down into the water and jumped up into the air.  Good water exercise routine!  The hardest for me to watch was the group crawling from the water’s edge up to the tree line with a heavy ammunition box.  It was a sober reminder of the real reason they were here training on this beautiful FL beach.  

As the group training was wrapping up it was time for us to meet Janna and Rick near the parking lot.  The four of us enjoyed a leisurely walk down the beach while catching up on snippets from both of our families. We haven’t seen each other for many years although our moms have kept us both up to date a little.   We joked that our moms were probably having lunch together later that day and would be talking about us!  Come to find out they did!  Family connections are important to both of them so they were so excited and thrilled that we were able to spend the morning in FL together.  We had a perfect natural beach walk and it made our mom’s day.  win! win!   

Janna was game for a dinghy ride to see our water home Terrapin.  Rick is prone to seasickness and it was a windy day so better not chance it.  It’s always fun for us to share our cruising lifestyle with others who are curious and interested.  We teased about hoisting the anchor and taking Janna for a sail, but we didn’t want to leave Rick stranded on the beach.

Grocery Shopping

Yes, Grocery Shopping is often considered an adventure when living on a boat.

Our “normal” grocery stop at Fort Myer’s Beach assumes we’re on a mooring ball.  Just take the dinghy to the dinghy dock, walk to the bus stop, and take the bus to Publix.  Get groceries, discard cardboard packaging, and then reverse the previous steps to get back to Terrapin. 

At this outer anchorage, it is a very long dinghy ride to the city dinghy dock, and in windy conditions not an easy or dry dinghy ride at all.  Therefore, we needed to find another option to get groceries.  

After googling grocery stores in the area and studying distances and places to land the dinghy (lots of research just to get groceries!), we made a grocery run plan. Today’s plan is to dinghy down a little creek to the nature preserve kayak launch and then walk to a Publix located nearby. 

“It’s a rising tide so let’s load up and head in now” I suggested.  We needed to clear a sand bar at the entrance to the creek and wanted to make sure we would have enough water to exit the creek when we returned.  As we got closer to the sand bar, some kayakers were walking their kayaks over a section.  “Is this the lowest section?” we inquired.  They assured us the rest of the creek was passable.  We hopped out of the dinghy to walk it over a little bit of sand and then hopped back in to enjoy a ride down the creek.  It was a scenic way to start and end our grocery errand. 

Naples

Our next “normal” stop is Marco.  We’ve always passed by Naples assuming it is too shallow for Terrapin’s 5’ draft.   But not seeing a weather window to head to the Keys for quite a while and wanting a change of scenery, we called the local Towboat US to inquire on details of the depth there.  We learned they had dredged a few years ago and we should be fine.  Great news!  Naples here we come!

It is a lovely tour of waterfront homes as you meander your way down a couple of miles of canal to the city dock.  We also felt like we were in a parade of boats since it was a weekend and boaters of all kinds were either heading in or out of the canal system.  Did you know Naples has water police?!  As we neared the city dock, we heard a siren and glanced to see the water police pulling a boat over.  Where were they a few minutes ago when we were getting “waked”?  Oh well, Terrapin rides the waves just fine. 

The city mooring balls are the best bargain we know of!  There are strict guidelines, but it was fine with us to follow the rules to enjoy a week in Naples.  You can only stay on a mooring ball for 4 consecutive days, leave for a minimum of 24 hrs, then you can have another 4 days, but no more than 8 in 30 day period.  So that’s what we did.  After our initial 4 nights, we left the ball in 20+ winds and anchored (it took us 3 tries to find a suitable anchoring spot in the area, in 20+ winds), and then we returned to the mooring field for an additional 3 nights. 

To find opportunities for adventure in any town, I seek out their weekly Farmer’s Market, check out the local library, walk to a public park or beach, learn to use public transportation to get around and see if there are any upcoming special events in the area.  In Naples, we did all of those and more! 

We got our steps in while in Naples by walking the majority of the time with a few bus rides for laundry and valentine’s day dinner.  The city dock is within walking distance to the fishing pier and beach, farmer’s market, library, grocery store, and two different retail areas.  We’re not big shoppers, but the high-end boutiques and upscale dining made window shopping and people watching an enjoyable afternoon activity.  All the homes and businesses are extremely well kept and landscaped.  Even the parking lot is manicured and beautiful! 

We walked by the Naples Community Park a number of times.  One time we were treated to a concert in the park.  Another time they were setting up for a big well-known art festival.  We had planned to leave Naples the following day, but part of the joy of cruising is being flexible to change plans when you find something you want to attend.  As we’re learning firsthand this trip, a cruiser’s plans are written in sand at low tide! So we stayed an extra day and browsed the artwork of many accomplished artists and saw the special exhibit of wearable art. 

The Naples weekly farmers market is well attended.  A dockhand at the city marina mentioned how popular the crepe sandwiches are so we got in line at her stand first thing in the morning.  Our breakfast crepe was delicious and it appeared she made hundreds while at the market.  By later in the day, her line was down the block! 

We celebrated Valentine’s Day at Naples Celebration Park.  The entrance to the permanent row of food trucks gives a park-like feel with its’ wall of plants.  Walking down the promenade, we checked out the menus for the different authentic and international choices.  After we ordered our respective bison burger and fish tacos (can you guess who had what?), we found a table and sat with our buzzers until our meals were ready.  YUM, YUM! good food, outside, near the water – it was the perfect Valentine’s Day Date for us! 

Even running errands in Naples was a pleasant experience.  Tony found an old-fashioned barber shop to cut his hair and he learned some interesting history of how Naples has changed over recent years.  For laundry, we walked to the laundromat and then took the bus back.  On our walk, a homeless person gave us a confirming nod as we walked by totting our 2-wheeler with a duffel bag attached and eating our tortilla wrap sandwiches.  And here we’ve been more conscious to wear our clean and nicer T-shirts when using the 2wheeler after a fellow boater mentioned we looked a bit “homeless” with our 2-wheeler on the way back from the grocery store in Fort Myer’s Beach. 

Whether we have time for a quick stop or an extended stay, Naples has easily become a favorite town for us to visit on the West coast of FL.  It’s clean, has expansive beautiful beaches, gorgeous homes with stunning landscaping, and boats of all kinds. It’s a very walkable town with a vibrant community and plenty to see and do! 

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