Generosity

January 13th, 2011

Generosity

I guess it’s time to catch up again. We’ve spent a fair amount of time anchored and not as much sailing. It’s ok by me, but I start to feel a bit lazy by day three of being JUST on the boat anchored. We enjoyed our time at Cape Coral. 

Sunset at Cape Coral, fit with a person on an Ultralight.

A lovely lady name Christa (who worked at the marina) hooked us up with a ride to town to get laundry done and provisions. It was nice to see the hospitality. She and her sister were German...and so continues the trail of encounters with Germans. We’ve run into several German folks along the way (and they’ve always helped us out). No real understanding of why we meet so many Germans, but oh well. Dub wants to get a German phrase book. I think not. We’ll be fine with a few english words and gestures. While we stayed at Glover Bight we went ashore to have dinner and ended up taking a picture for some German folks. Dub gave them a slice of his pizza and we got a free round of drinks! It was very nice of them. 

The Resort at Marina Village, 

the view from our anchorage at Cape Coral.

We docked our dinghy a few times and walked into town or went to the Nauti Mermaid, the dockside bar. So much walking on cement really does a number on your feet and knees. It’s crazy how I can hike for 20 plus miles, but 6 miles on the concrete is killer! We were pleasantly spending time on the boat and also on land. We spent a full week anchored because a front came through with crazy winds. It’s disappointing to just sit, but it can be a fun way to be lazy and get to know the area. We went to the public library a few times and got pizza at a great italian place. They also had a HUGE italian market...lots of deli and pre-packaged type stuff. Bunches of cheeses, wine, veggies, bakery and general grocery stuff. It was neat, but we didn’t really need anything at the time. Great food, though. 

On Saturday, January 8th, we gassed up the boat, got water and headed for the sea! There was a small craft advisory until 5pm and we waited it out. We watched the sunset over Sanibel Island and motored out to the Gulf through San Carlos Pass. Following the navigational markers, we finally hit the last one around 8pm. From here we shot an azimuth on the compass and  headed towards Big Marco Pass, near Marco Island. It took us until 6:30am to get there (about 35 nautical miles). There were some slow moments when the sails were luff and we weren’t getting much speed. Sometimes those marine weather forecasts are a bunch of crap! There was supposed to be 10-15 knot winds. It was more like 5 knots. You get what you get, I guess. We came into Capri Pass (which is right by Big Marco Pass), followed markers around to the Marco River Marina. Got some gas and anchored. We were a little worn out to say the least. It’s never a good idea to drink a bunch the night before you plan on sailing all night. I guess we got carried away. 

Now we’ve been here for five days and I have to say, Marco Island has impressed me a bit. Being an island (something like 4 miles by 6 miles), it seems everything is pretty close. We went out on Sunday to get lunch and a Tiki place was right next door. On Monday we went looking for general things like grocery stores, liquor store, library, public transportation, etc. It was all pretty close. Much easier than Cape Coral where we anchored last. That was comforting. 

Lots of fishing Pelicans at sunset near our anchorage.

By Wednesday we got a feel for the place and got enough opinions of the island that we found a good restaurant/bar. The Sand Bar. We split a blackened fish sandwich and enjoyed some peel & eat shrimp! Yummy! It was destined to be a good night with a seafood meal like that! And we met some folks playing pool, chatted with some ladies from Illinois and they bought us a beer-- Again a good sign of the place and it’s good times. We played Wii tennis, had some brews, and chatted with our new friends Ron and Lena. They offered a place to shower and a bed to sleep in...we decided to take ‘em up on it. All the generosities of good people-We’ll say only good things about the Sand Bar and the folks there! 

Pink Sunset at Marco Island where we were anchored.

Last night we stayed at Ron and Lena’s place, enjoying good company, great pasta, beer and a nice warm shower. We really appreciated it! It was great because there was a cold front coming in and 30’s were in order, not to mention crazy winds. Most of all it was nice to meet genuine people and enjoy the night on land. Now we’re back on the boat, hoping for some good weather to push us towards the Keys. Hoping we’ll get out on the seas when the time is just right. We’ll be waiting and watching. 

Sunset at Marco River Marina, Marco Island, FL