Doing the FLoop

Yes, the requisite anchorage sunset photo, all by ourselves on the Shark River in Everglades National Park.

We set off from Marathon after a very enjoyable two-plus weeks (it's an easy place to wash up and never leave) to do the so-called Florida Loop (about 450 nautical miles the way we did it, clockwise from home to Marathon to the southwest coast, across the Okeechobee Waterway including the Lake, to Stuart and back down the ICW to home).  

The first night we camped out at an anchorage in the Shark River, which is in the bounds of the Everglades National Park.  In theory, there is a small anchoring/overnight charge in the Park.  In practice, this is so remote (from Flamingo, the Park HQ) that no one came around (on a Sunday night) to collect.

We headed to Marco Island on Monday (12 February); it's just too long a trip for us to get there from the Keys in one go. Not a very inspiring stop; nothing pretty to look at, very busy "harbor" with no accessible services - we were happy to be off in the morning - and we weren't first.  Our overnight neighbors were clearly of the same mind. 

Our Naples friends weren't around, so plan A was to to on to Fort Myers Beach, but Neptune had other ideas.  The two anchorages were SO quiet, we were fooled - we knew it would be a little rough and windy but it was very rough, very windy, and generally awful.  Even getting to Naples took some serious focus - and, when we got inside - quiet again.  We got a berth at Naples City Dock - just lovely, in Old Naples - and treated ourselves to Bleu Provence just outside the marina - a truly excellent restaurant with very well prepared French classics with a Florida flavor, and fantastic service.  It was "Valentine's Eve" and they were flawless.  On Valentine's Day we ate at The Dock, a no-reservations pub/seafood place, also very well executed.  We had walked around Naples a bit and could totally see why our friends moved there from the Florida east coast a few years back.

We took a short hop on the 15th to a tucked-in marina at a big mixed use complex in Cape Coral, ate about 100 yards from the boat, and then started our west-to-east trek across the Okeechobee Waterway (a series of rivers and canals that allows some boats to transit the peninsula - we couldn't do it in Raconteur unless we took the mast down).  We overnighted on the 16th at the Labelle Yacht Club.  We had a great tiki bar cocktail and lunch, and then it was so popular we couldn't get dinner in the tiki bar - 

we went inside instead, rather less charming - and then had a less than quiet night - and less than a dark skies experience as you might hope.  That sign you see in the photo is neon, and lit all night.  Ah, well. We made our way off the dock on the early side, with the intention of making thorough to the other side of Lake Okeechobee and, we hoped, through the Port Mayaca Lock on the east side of the  Lake.  In the end, we managed to transit Ortona, Moore Haven, Lewiston (twice, in and out for fuel), and Port Mayaca (some of the coming rain had started to appear) and it was early enough that we decided to keep going.  We were able to get through the St. Lucie Lock, too, right at 4:30 (the last of the day) and with a little luck to find a marina in Stuart that we could reach before their 6pm closing.  It worked out well; it poured starting Saturday night the 17th, and all day into the evening on Sunday the 18th, and we could meet our Hobe Sound friend for dinner on Sunday night in downtown Stuart.

The last leg is too long to do in one go unless you can go outside (which is what we did when we brought Third Flight home two years ago), and the storm meant the the winds and seas were anything but fair.  This is the hardest stretch for finding marinas; those that have survived the real estate development of recent years have turned themselves into superyacht centers - minimum boat lengths 50', clearly not interested in little boats like ours - but JP and Susan pushed hard to make the Delray Harbor Club Marina, with the nicest dock master ever, where we tied up for the night on the fuel dock, had showers in their nice pool bathrooms (it's a condo complex with a full service marina)  and could walk to Phat Boy Sushi on Linton for dinner.

Fueled up before heading home on Tuesday the 20th.  Here is Third Flight back at our home dock, with her name and hailing port now stenciled to the bottom of Passepartout, our new dinghy.  Our dinghy storage method blocks the name and hailing port on the boat herself.

Next up: chartering a sailing catamaran with our Ohio-based friends Pam and Jim in the Exumas 1-9 March.