At 6 am, we got up and Mark took Daisy for her last Marco Island trip ashore in the dinghy.  We didn’t leave until 7:11 and all that time we were getting ready to go.  Taking Daisy ashore from an anchorage or mooring field in the best of conditions generally takes 30 to 45 minutes. Then, it’s another ten minutes to pull up the dinghy and get it held tightly against the davits so it doesn’t swing while we are sailing.  Of course, there are other items on the “to do list” before we leave.  The sailbag for the mainsail is unzipped and all lines are made ready to raise it when we are out on the gulf or ocean.  Electronics are turned on and checked.  The VHF radio is turned on and a radio check is done.  In most coastal areas the local Sea Tow has a dedicated channel you can call for a radio check.  This is followed by a short Sea Tow commercial and then a recording of your call, ie “Radio check, radio check, this is Seas the Day.”  Our flag is put in its holder (we usually don’t fly it when we are not traveling since in hot southern sun it doesn’t take long for a flag to rot).  Finally, we raise the anchor.  Today that took from 6:38 until 7:11.  And why, you might ask, would it take 33 minutes to do that.  That is the one drawback of Smokehouse Bay....the extremely muddy bottom.  We put out 100 feet of chain in the 15 ft depth area where we anchored.  Most of the chain was resting on the bottom for 1 1/2 weeks when we picked it up on Tuesday and it took that long to raise and rinse it too.  We don’t have a water hose near the anchor, but after this experience it is going on “the list.”  Mark stood there, pulled the chain up a few feet with the electric winch, stopped, lowered a small pail with a rope on it into the water, raised it and poured it over the hanging chain.  He repeated this many times until finally the anchor came up and we could leave the bay. Daisy’s job after doing her duty onshore is to stay out of the way.  She does this well.

Nineteen minutes after we got the anchor up, we were on the Gulf.  In the photo above we were motoring down the channel past beautiful homes.  At the left, we came out of the channel and were soon past the channel markers out in the Gulf. 

While this was a beautiful day for a sail on the Gulf, we weren’t in any hurry to get to Shark River.  It is full of bugs so we weren’t looking forward to staying inside with all openings to the outside shut tight.  Still, the view all day long was reminiscent of the waters of the Bahamas.  While we couldn’t see the bottom since the water wasn’t that clean, the aqua blue color was tropical looking.  It was difficult to see where the water ended and the sky began.  Most water in Florida is not this color.  In fact, whenever we see TV shows supposedly shot in Miami, like “CSI Miami,” we wonder where they found aqua water there.  Probably in Photoshop.  Or, maybe they come over to the Gulf where in places it is this color.

Tomorrow, we’ll probably make water on the way to Marathon, although we can get unlimited water there for 5¢ a gallon, bringing it back to the mooring field via jerry jugs. Of course, the water we make is as pure and clean as you can get, so that is preferable, especially when the power is there to use for free. When we had the hybrid propulsion, we ran the genset for an hour or two every night.  That enabled us to use any power we wanted, but it also cost us over 1 1/2 gallons of diesel per hour.  In addition, we ran that genset all day if we motorsailed, which we always had to do as the boat was heavy and slow. 

We arrived in Shark River and found no other boats anchored.  There are several anchorage areas in the small cove and then up the Shark River a little ways.  We had our choice of the best spot, so dropped our anchor in 14 feet of water.  It caught quickly as I let out the chain.  When we had 100 feet out (probably could have put out a little more, but it might get crowded in here and there is no wind) Mark backed up to set the anchor and the port engine stopped.  Hmmm.  Same sound and result as when we picked up a piece of rope from a crab pot on our way here two weeks ago.  Sure enough, Mark put on goggles and looked under the boat.  A rope was hanging from the port prop.  Bummer!  As this is called “Shark River” for a reason, he will wait until we leave tomorrow and then when we are out a mile or so will dive and cut yet another rope off the same prop.  What are the odds?  The photo above left, is taken from where we are anchored, towards the entrance to Shark River where we had to anchor two weeks ago.  At that time this little cove had about six or seven boats in it and there wasn’t room for us.  The photo to the right is straight across at the red marker by the entrance.  Even if we could go ashore, we wouldn’t as it is just mangroves.  Daisy doesn’t understand that dogs aren’t allowed in the Everglades National Park, so she did look longingly at the shore for awhile and then accepted the inevitable.