We awoke to a very gray dreary day... very hazy and very very HUMID. We had hoped it would burn off but forecast for cloudy day... Not far planned for the day with destination being Franklin Lock Park. I made a reservation for 2 nights a few days ago... it's a great place to stop and I have some cabinet design to catch up on that always seems to pile up when we start moving... it's ok... helps pay the bills... :)

We departed at 0800. It was not as windy as it has been the two days we were anchored off Cabbage Key which made the trip south much nicer... and the bottom cleaning made a huge difference in speed... we were back up to the normal speeds for RPM... the props were covered in barnacles about a 1/4" thick... and I had not done anything but the props before we left CT last November so I spent a little extra time cleaning the entire hull of barnacles... there were some big ones... anyway, made helped tremendously with our speed.

With the weather conditions... CRAPPY... we figured the boat traffic would be minimal... were we ever wrong... you would of thought it was the weekend still... must still be spring break for some kids.

We did have one surprise today... just past the I-75 bridges on the Caloosahatchee River a boat passes us... the lady aboard was waving a little more energetically than most people wave as they pass. I wave back,,, next thing I know the boat has turned around and is running along side us with someone yelling my name... I go out on the deck of the pilothouse and who do I see but one of good friends Brenda Harkey... never expected to run in to her out on the river... was very brief encounter but nice to see her.

We had one bridge to go under... Wilson Pigot Bridge... 23ft on the sign board...charts say 27ft clearance at center... we might of cleared with antennas down and mast up since I removed the lightning rod on the mast... but figured I lower the mast to be sure.

After the bridge our next obstacle is the Franklin Lock... hailed the lock and entered without delay as we arrived... 15 minutes later we were exiting the lock and turning into our destination for the night.

We arrived to Franklin Lock Park at 1445 and were secure at the dock with power connected and AC on at 1500. Our location for the next two days is Slip B08. We traveled today for 7 hours covering 42.69 nautical miles averaging 6.1 knots.

Layover day to clean bottom of SAILS.

Had an awesome turkey dinner last night with our friends Mike and Susie aboard NIGHT SHIFT and it continued this morning with Easter breakfast aboard SAILS. They left headed back to Fishermen's Village around 1300. Was great to have a little extra time with them.


Photo of NIGHT SHIFT anchored behind us.

Seems like it was just yesterday when we arrived to Florida in December and now we are starting our trip back to Connecticut. As Susan described it… it was like leaving summer camp... both happy and sad feelings about leaving... sad to say goodbye to all our friends at Fishermen’s Village... yet happy to be on the move again.

We were not going far today... just to the Cabbage Key/Useppa Island area. I need to dive under SAILS and clean the bottom from sitting in the marina for 3 months and just do not want to do that in the marina... water to say the least is not that clear... much better when you get close to the Gulf of Mexico. Normally, we would go to Pelican Bay and do this, however this time our friends Mike and Susie from Fishermen's are coming out on their sailboat to meet up with us for a day or two… Mike’s sailboat has a 6.5ft draft and getting into Pelican Bay would difficult if he could even get in to it... we have 5ft draft and there are spots that we are very close to the bottom if not scraping it.

Since we were only going about 20 miles or so we did not rush away at day break… departing Fishermen’s at 1030. It was a little windier than forecast and we had 2 foot seas coming down Charlotte Harbor… seeing winds 15 to 20 knots… nothing that really affected us but just different than forecast.... I guess I should get used to that since it is rarely like the NOAA forecast.

Being Saturday there was a lot of small boat traffic running about this way and that... we won’t be moving again till Monday morning so hopefully they have all gone home by then.

We arrived to our destination for the night at 1430 and dropped the hook at is N26°39.407’, W082°12.977’ directly between Cabbage Key and Useppa Island. We traveled today for 4 hours covering 22.58 nautical miles averaging 5.65 knots.