We got a great nights sleep...boat swaying with the breeze, waves gently lapping against the boat, no other sounds around. After coffee we pulled up the anchor, joined our friends and cruised out of Little Pine Key at precisely 8:00 a.m. sharp. We made a left turn out of the inlet and headed for the Seven Mile Bridge, to make the cross over to the Gulf of Mexico. Our boat cruises a bit faster than the other two in our flotilla, and since we were facing 15+ knot winds and 3 - 5 foot waves, we sped up and radioed the others that we would meet them in the Gulf of Mexico.
Chip and I reached the Gulf about 45 minutes ahead of the other boats, so we found a good spot, dropped the anchor and made lunch.
When the other two boats caught up to us we pulled up the anchor and fell into line, and headed up the coast to our next destination, Shark River. The water in the Gulf was a pale green, sort of like what you might see in some pieces of Turquoise, milky in places, but a gorgeous shade of green nonetheless. We could always see the bottom, the depth stayed a consistent 15 ft. all the way up the coast. There were few lobster pots, nothing like what we encountered on the ocean side. The next four hours would prove uneventful, but I made good use of most of it by working on my tan maintenance! I took my folding cushion down to the cockpit, positioned it just right, grabbed a book, "Cruise Confidential" and settled in to soak up rays.
We made our turn into the Shark River inlet and I was taken aback by the coastline. All of the beautiful trees that had once lined the shoreline were now dead, gray lifeless sticks waiting to be swept away by the Gulf of Mexico. (Our friend Glen explained that the State of Florida chemically "eliminated" these trees due to the fact they were environmentally killing other plant life in the area as well as the nutrients in the water. Doesn't make sense to me.) We made our way down the river to the channel markers that Terry had told us about. We followed the markers to an area that looked great for anchoring. While Glen got his anchor set, I put out fenders and got lines ready. We pulled up to Coral Reefer and I tossed Glen our bow line, then the spring line while Chip got the stern line and tossed it over to Jeri. As soon as we got everything just so, Sea Dog came up on the other side of Glen and we went over to help them tie up. Terry liked this place and had been here several times in the past. He told us that it was filled with huge Tarpon that literally jumped out of the water at night. The river also contained sharks and alligators! After all the captains were happy with the lines and fenders, we started thinking about fishing. Within minutes all three captains had a line (or two) in the water. Beth decided to try her luck at crabbing and put out two crab nets with chicken necks for bait. After a while she checked her nets and one of them was gone. Looked like the line had been chewed or bitten off, leaving only a part of the tethered line it was tied to. When she checked the last one about an hour later, it too had been chewed or bitten off.....a gator perhaps?
After dinner Chip and I went up on the bow to look at the stars (no, really). Being out in BFE meant no city lights, so it was pitch black outside, aside from our anchor lights, and you could see a million stars. The entire Milky Way was visible, and Orions Bowtie! We could see so many stars that we don't normally get to see at home - gorgeous!
The first photo is of the sunrise in Little Pine Key. In some of the photos you can see how fast the current moves through this area.
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