Naples to Cape Coral

Tuesday, March 4th

Our sail here from Marco Island yesterday to Naples was very nice, although we didn't depart as early as we hoped. We awoke to a breezy 56F morning. But, by 0900, the temperature was near 70F, and the brilliant sunshine made the departure pleasant.

Only eight miles north of Marco Island, Naples high rises were visible as we exited the inlet. Winds out of the East, flat water, beam reach, and the breeze laid down as we approached Naples Gordon Pass Inlet

With sails furled, we motored a short way into the area among multimillion $ homes. We'll protected from all directions, we spent the afternoon watching tour boats pass and dolphins playing.



We were underway @ 0730 this morning. Our anchor chain came up coated in thick muddy slop. I used buckets of sea water to rinse it off as the anchor raised. We motored out Gordon Pass. Once past Green #1, we headed north under mainsail and Yankee @ 7 kts SOG; occasionally touching 8.5 kts.

Looking back at the shoreline, one could easily confuse the view as Broward or Dade.

Naples

It was a beautiful sail. Making nine knots at times. As the breeze freshened, we partially furled the Yankee. We later put a reef in the mainsail. Still making seven knots on a broad reach.


We arrived at the East Sanibel bridge at noonish. Motoring into Cape Coral, we decided to skip Glover Bight and spend the night at Bimini Bay. That didn't work out as we planned. We are now anchored in Glover Bight without a forestay, and our navigation station is fried. The forestay with furled Yankee collapsed perfectly on the deck. Everything else appears operational. Solar is working, engine runs and charges the house bank, Starlink is up, navigation lights function, cabin lights are good, windlass works, refrigeration is perfect. The bilge is not taking water. Our two spinnaker halyards are secured to the bow to support the masthead.





We struck a powerline. We were not injured, and we are safe. More later.

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