Well, we finally got around to taking a cruise instead of spending most of our time doing boat maintenance! Left Cortez, FL on Saturday early and sailed with a little motor sailing mixed in down the ICW to Venice, FL (not the best anchorage there). Left Venice, FL out of the Venice Inlet on Sunday morning and had a wonderful sail to Boca Grande Pass in 8-10 knot winds, perfect beam reach, and 1-3 foot following seas. We were also 3-4 miles off shore at the furthest point, which to these rookies is the furthest we've been out yet
Navigated Pelican Pass by the directions on Cruisersnet which correctly take you across what looks like too shallow areas on the charts and anchored in Pelican Bay off of Cayo Costa. We obviously haven't been a lot of places, but those that have written that it is the best anchorage on the entire west coast of Florida seem like they are probably correct to me. It was beautiful, and due to the season I'm sure, we were one of only 5 boats anchored there for the night. Left at 5 AM on Monday morning and did our first navigating in darkness, and motored the entire way up the ICW from Boca Grande Pass to Cortez. 10 hours at 2500 RPMs or so and no issues was a good test for the ol' W50 and gives me confidence for the future. The original plan had been to do that last day on the outside as the winds were supposed to be variable less than 5. Luckily smarter heads prevailed (read Lindy), and we stayed inside. Winds were high early and directly on the nose (seas would have been on the beam too going out Boca Grande Pass for about 3 of the earliest miles). It was cold, and we would have gotten wet (and Lindy might still not be speaking to me). The ICW was really nice anyway. Actually enjoyed it, and as much as I hate the noise of the diesel and love that moment when it gets shut off, you kinda get used to it. All in it was 3 days, over 100 miles, and two happy cruisers. Anyways, enjoy the pics for those of you that are places too cold to go out this time of year.
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