We left Pelican Bay this morning at 1100 with a destination of Fort Myers Beach. It was quite windy with SE winds 15-20 knots. It was not really rough as there is a lot of protection from land masses.

For a Tuesday there was a lot more traffic than we anticipated… both large and small boats and all were very the most unfriendly and discourteous boaters we have experienced in a long time… crossing our bow at dangerous distances, passing with HUGE WAKES and simply not friendly… no waves as you pass… SAD!

One good thing is that the wind died down some to around 10 knots… :)

We arrived to Fort Myers Beach around 1545 and hoped to get a mooring ball… nothing available… We cruised around Matanzas Pass looking for a spot to anchor… nothing where there was adequate depth and space for SAILS… nothing… :(

There was one anchorage off Bunche Beach just outside Matanzas Pass… Close by and appeared to plenty of space but it was fully exposed to the Gulf Of Mexico… did not want to deal with worry all night about dragging into the beach or shallow water… so we passed on it… We decided to continue to the far south end of Fort Myers Beach and go in Big Carlos Pass and anchor… I knew there would places to anchor there… it’s not as popular a place as the main Fort Myers Beach area.

We arrived at our destination inside Big Carlos Pass and were secure at anchor at approximately 1715. Our position tonight is N26°24.762', W081°52.757'. We traveled today for 6.25 hours covering 37.8 nautical miles averaging 6.05 knots.

Spending another day in Pelican Bay.

Started our trip north today... a day later than initially planned to leave but we finally got things ready and were underway at 1015. We cleared the lines and I attempted to move away from the dock... no movement at all... we were sitting on the bottom... The bottom in the marina is thick mud but it had a grip on SAILS and did not want to let loose... took a lot of power to get us moving slowly away from the dock and into deeper water... at 1030 we started moving out of the marina.

I could hear both engines bellowing... checking there was no water flow out either exhaust... I continued out of the marina and into open water and stopped where I thought I would need to clean the mud out the raw water sea strainers... just as I was about to shut down the engines I heard an awesome sound... the exhaust quieted down and I could hear flowing again... we sat there for a few minutes waiting and watching to be sure full water flow had returned... all seemed well and we were back underway.

It was an uneventful trip down Charlotte Harbor to our destination Pelican Bay... running against an incoming tide we did not make much speed but it was good to be away from the dock and on our way.

We arrived at our destination Pelican Bay and were secure at anchor at approximately 1400. Our position tonight is N26°41.018', W082°14.517'. We traveled today for 3.5 hours covering 20.9 nautical miles averaging 5.96 knots.

We will spend one or two days here to complete prepping SAILS for the trip north... clean the bottom and running gear, stow away loose gear, double check everything, etc.