Monday, November 30, 2015

Indian Key to Cape Sable

We spent two nights in the Everglades.  Beautiful area, but very primitive. No cell phone service, no internet, no over the air TV. Even the satellite TV was acting up so we had no contact with the outside world.

After our second night we debated on whether to stay another day. But the weather was looking good to continue south, so we decided to take advantage of it. This was going to be another offshore run so we wanted calm seas. We could make Marathon today, but that would be a long 80 mile run. Cape Sable looked like a better option.

Cape Sable would be about a six hour run, and we would arrive mid-afternoon. That is just the kind of day we like. Anchor down early enough to get everything secured for the night, and have time to have a  sundowner and watch the sunset.

The run down the coast was uneventful. The seas weren’t calm, but only 1-2’. Easy, comfortable ride. As we approached Cape Sable there were no other boats here. The anchorage is in open water, you just drop the hook about a 100 yards or so off the beach. We did experience some swells coming in from the gulf, but the east wind kept that to a minimum. It was just enough to gently rock us to sleep.

The bugs were a serious problem here, though. Mosquitoes and biting flies swarmed in the boat. We  ended up having to close the boat up and spent the next couple of hours killing bugs.  It was even worse on the beach. The beach here is supposed to be one of the best for shelling. Duke and I went to have a look. Sure enough, the beach was thick with beautiful shells. I collected a few for Paula, but the bugs drove me off the beach within a few minutes. Duke quickly took care of business and ran back to the boat. He was ready to get out of there, too!


Back at the boat we fixed dinner, read for a while, then went to bed around 2000 hours. I was looking forward to our final crossing to the Keys tomorrow. As I drifted off to sleep I could hear the buzzing of thousands of mosquitoes. I had just one thought… thank heavens for good screens!!

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