Cayo Costa

The anchorage at Pelican Bay 

I just had to make the heading as it is, in order to make Clint even more jealous of our being here.  Clint is one of our best friends and fellow boater, who grew up in this neck of the woods, and who says he is just green when he reads about our travels through HIS waters.

Fruition at anchor with her crusty moustache

We anchored for 3 nights in Pelican Bay and it was most enjoyable and relaxing.  The only downside was the 20+ mph winds on Friday & Saturday, which didn’t allow us to launch our dinghy & go ashore or ride around the bay.  But the wind was from the north and cool and dry, which allowed us to keep the windows open all day instead of running the generator to run the air conditioner.  Finally on Sunday the winds died off, so we used our new dinghy and motor to go to the state park on Cayo Costa to enjoy the beach.  We were both pleased how well the boat & motor worked, especially in light of the troubles we’ve had with the previous set-up.  As we headed to the beach, we passed a trawler named “Lagniappe” from New Orleans (of course).  Some other friends from New Orleans Power Squadron, who are big time cruisers, have their boat also named “Lagniappe”.

Sunday evening was calm & quiet in the anchorage, almost magical.  There were about 30 boats in the bay, and when they all lit their anchor lights, it looked like a small city out on the water.  At sunset, one of the boaters blew a conch shell, which I guess is traditional in the Keys & Bahamas.  For about 10 minutes, we watched a dorsal fin of a small shark cruise back & forth about 50 yards from the boat.  We hated to leave that place.

In Pelican Bay, a huge school of small fish stayed in the shadow of the boat.
I kept wondering why the pelicans came so close to our boat!
Fishermen in a small boat threw a castnet to catch these bait fish.

this place was anchored at the mouth of the
Caloosahatchee River & seemed like folks lived
on it.  It was also a live bait shop for fishermen
to dock right next to them on their way out fishing'

By Monday, we had been anchoring for 6 consecutive nights, so we headed to a marina to clean up both the boat and ourselves.  We decided to go up the Caloosahatchee River to Ft Myers Legacy Harbour Marina, where we again stayed 3 years ago.  We needed to eat some of that crab, since we had been avoiding all those crab traps for the past week.  We also wanted to check on the new boat of a Power Squadron friend from New Orleans, who is in the process of moving the boat closer to home, but put the boat here for a month while he took care of business.  Additionally, we called a marine engine mechanic (which means his billing rate is double that of any other mechanic) to help repair the engine tachometer sending unit.

"Wanted: Good woman.  Cook, guide, use cast net,
clean fish.  Must have boat and motor.  Send picture
of boat and motor."

The weather is still holding for later this week when we’ll make a 3 day trip south from here to Marathon in the Keys.  We found a marina there that is charging us only ¼ the going rate of other marinas.  Marinas in Marathon (50 miles from Key West) normally charge $800-1000/week, and marinas in Key West charge $1200-1600/week.  We’re also looking forward to meeting up with some Power Squadron friends we met last winter when we kept our boat in the Myrtle Beach area.  They come to Marathon each year for a week, and their week starts this Sunday.  Should be fun.

In Ft Myers, the Goodwill store is a boutique with
designer fashions!  Who'd a thunk?