Maiden offshore voyage

After 2 months of part-time refitting, installing autp-pilot, refrigeration, heat/air conditioning and completely stripping all external teak and refinishing with Sikkens......we set sail from Anna Maria Is. (Bradenton) Saturday morning 26 Feb. 33 hours later we pulled into the gas dock at Key West. This was our first sail at night, and our first time out of Tampa Bay since we bought "Nomad" IP-31 #49 last April. What an exciting trip this has been for Carol and me. We spent a week in Key West at the Boca Chica Marina on the Naval Air Station grounds. What a wonderful marina. It rivals any commercial or yacht club marina for ammenities. Over 120 boats (mostly seasonal liveaboard, retired military, sailboats).
Left this morning up the Hawke Channel to return. Tonight we lie in a slip at Marathon Marina. Tommorow off to Little Shark River, then Marco Is., then Sanibel/Captiva, then Venice, then to Anna Maria Island by next weekend. More later. Mike

Congrats to you and all your hard work preparing for this trip. I always say the hardest part about any voyage is DEPARTING. There is always another item to fix, another thing to buy, one more part to check, and on and one. Eventually you just have to GO....get out there....depart....sail. Then when out, you learn to fix and repair items underway. If you are lucky, nothing will break. We just returned from a land based trip exploring the west coast of Florida and I was so impressed with the area.

We plan to cruise MD to FL next winter fully exploring From Vero Beach down to Key West, then up to Tampa and back. After that we will explore the Bahamas.

Are you cruising fulltime? Where is you homeport?

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Hayden

Hayden, et al.,
Thanks for the continued encouragement as we sail and enjoy ownership of our IP-31. We had a wonderful sail from Marathon to Little Shark River. We ran on a beam reach at 6.2 knots for nearly 7 hours...we both got a little too much sun but the sailing was perfect. We were the first of about 8 sailboats and 3 'stinkpots' to anchor near the mouth of the river for the night. When I dropped the hook I must have disturbed a sleeping manatee....she rolled to the surface, made one big 'huff' and flipped her pectoral fin at me as she resubmerged. She swam around our boat for the next 30 minutes. They are UGLY !
We were second out of the harbor at 0630 (sunrise) and sailed north toward Marco. This is a long haul to try to make in just one day.....62 nm. We only have 12hours of daytime this month. We made it in 10hours 30 minutes. The channel into Marco is tricky.....right at the beach the channel splits and the most heavily used is the most narrow and turns sharply east to stay off the shoal in the middle. GPS saved me again!
Cold front tomorrow brings the likelyhood of thundershowers and heavy rain so Carol hopes to do a little shopping and drool over the pricey real estate. We'll head off to Estero or Ft Meyers when the "Norther" subsides Sat ot Sun. More later, Mike&Carol "Nomad"

Left Marco Island yesterday bound for Naples. Huge winds 20-25 out of the northwest forced us to take the 'inside' route up through the mangroves. Motored the whole way. Channel narrow but water 7-10' all the way (except for 100 yards in Dollar Bay). Depth there was only about 5.6 feet! Channel only about 80 feet wide there, too. Wouldn't you know it that a 40 ft. sportfisher was passing me at the time at about 25 kts !
Arrived in Naples City Dock after 2.5 hours. Nice change of pace after sailing out of sight of land for so many days. Naples is boater friendly...fantastic seafood restaurant at the foot of the city dock! Best Sea Bass "EVER", says Carol. Winds out of Norteast today 10 kts. So we go 'outside' and on to Estero Island. More Later. Mike & Carol, "Nomad"

Sounds like the west coast of Fla has much to offer. I look forward to exploring this area next winter. Thank you for these reports.
Hayden

Saturday: Well, sailing up the coast to Estero Is. (Ft Meyers Beach) was great. Very cold night (42) but by 1000 the temperature was climbing fast and it reached mid 70's. Entrance to Estero was easy. Moss Marina just before the big fixed bridge that sends auto traffic across to the beach. Couldn't figure out why so many people? Come to find that there was a "Shrimp Festival" for the whole weekend. Thousands on the beach. Restaurants and bars packed. Moss Marina was pleasant and close to all of the activity. Only drawback was the 120' 'Big "M" Casino' boat parked at the end of their long dock. At 6:00PM they loaded up 300 gamblers and went to sea. Unfortunately, they all returned at midnight. Some happy...some broke...ALL were noisy. Biggest advantage of an air conditioned/heated boat is that when we anticipate noise we just close everything up and set the temperature at 72 degrees...nothing bothers us!
Sunday: Bright and early we said good-bye to our new IP-32 friends, Jack and Shaun Berkey from Colorado and set out thru the Intracoastal to Cabbage Key. Sunday traffic was thick. I am amazed how inconsiderate many big power boaters are when traveling the Intracoastal. Many, many passed us only 40 feet away at 20 kts throwing huge wakes that toss smaller boats all over the place. Channel was too narrow to turn to face the wakes and only 3 feet deep just out of the channel. We rolled and pitched every time. Remenber to batten the hatches, put the microwave, TV, computer, cell phones, coffeepot and dishes on the sole of the cabin (they'll end up there anyway). But at least you'll be able to use them again. Cabbage Key was GREAT. Tiny island with small 1930's lodge, inn, restaurant and a few cottages for the staff. We climbed the old water tower and took the recommended 30 minute nature hike around the island. Very busy for lunch but there were only 3 boats for overnight. Very romantic dinner, and a very quiet night at the dock. We'll definitely go back there again. More later. Mike and Carol, "Nomad"