Heading North

With just a quick glance at the title, you may think I have fried my brain with all that sun… who in their right mind would head north in February? Especially since the northeast was buried in snow and suffering through an arctic blast.

Well, rest assured, I have not lost my mind. From Marathon, I will head a little west and then turn north into the Moser Channel, passing under the Seven Mile Bridge into the Gulf of Mexico.

In the picture below, you can see the two Seven Mile brides in the distance. The taller is the new Seven Mile Bridge. The shorter is the older bridge.  Looking at the lower, older bridge, you can see the gap where sections were removed to allow sailboats to pass. Otherwise, I’d have to go all the way to Key West to get into the Gulf.

Approaching the Moser Channel to go under the Seven Mile Bridge

Here I am about to go under the bridge. The current was strong. So there was no letting go to take a picture while directly under the bridge.

About to go under the Seven Mile Bridge

More Pelicans! These guys were just resting underneath the new bridge.

This series of entries will describe my journey north, along Florida’s west coast in the Gulf of Mexico. My final destination will be just south of Sarasota. The reason I am going at all is because I am delivering the boat to have the teak decks refurbished. The work on the teak decking is complicated and time consuming. They want the boat there as soon as possible so the work can be completed before their rainy season.

While that is being done, I will fly home on March 6th. I will be doing some bicycle training and taking care of things around the house until I rejoin the boat in late May or early June.

This is what the Gulf of Mexico looked like as I entered. I was sailing close to 6 knots with a southerly breeze gently pushing me from behind. After having worked on the engine to resolve an issue where it was running too hot at power, sailing like this just seemed to be too good to be true.

... and if it seems to be too good to be true... it IS too good to be true! Just an hour later, the wind had died to nothing.  It lasted like that for at least another six hours.

Then finally, a slight breeze came along to cool things down. It wasn’t enough to sail ( I kept trying).  I was thinking… “What a boring day”. No sailing. No other boats to watch for. Then, as if by command from my thoughts, these three guys came along to play.

It was entertaining to watch them. There were no big waves, and my bow wake isn’t very large, but they seemed to be pumping on the bow wake much like a kid on a boogy board would. They stayed for abut 15 minutes and then went on their way.

To break the monotony I started cleaning up the cockpit, removing stains of rust on the stainless steel. I heard a large splash and looked around but saw nothing. So, I continued with my tasks. Then, I caught him through the corner of my eye. It was another dolphin! It had jumped high out of the water to my level. I had never seen that before. It was like he was saying, “Hey look at me!” When I got up and grabbed the camera, he went to the bow of the boat to play.

The dolphin was too close to the boat to get a good picture. Plus, I think ihe was trying to splash me. At first ihe was definitely trying to get my attention... then he went to the bow as I'm sure he knew I would... then the dolphin was riding high on the wake and would splash his tail before diving down. He definitely was trying to splash me. This dolphin came to play! ... and who better to come to?


The dolphin stayed at the bow for about 10 minutes. When I stopped taking pictures (to keep the camera dry). He left.

Eventually, I made my way to the Little Shark River on the northeast edge of the Everglades where I had planned to anchor and wait out the storm and cold front. Altogether I may be here for four days. It was a decent sunset, and nice to be away again.

Looking west from the Little Shark River to the Gulf of Mexico