Imagine if you will, a light salty breeze gentle rocking the sailboat as the sails sing the old old song of the seas.... feet propped up, drink in hand..... well..... I dont know who those people are, but they were NOT on our sailing trip!!!! Don't get me wrong, Im in this for the long haul, but must the long haul be splashed with 6 foot waves, driven by 33 knots of wind??? Evidently!!!
We set sail out of Punta Gorda on Sunday morning... okay, Sunday afternoon, but I had a LOT to do!! We waved to the girls and pointed NuTrix west towards Boca Grande cut. As soon as we got through the cut, the winds decided to pick up just a tad. We had all the sails up and out so NuTrix did what she does best..... went the heck over on her side and I did what I do best..... screamed bloody murder while hanging on for dear life. Will my captain ever learn??? Apparently not!!! We reduced sails and still had a good run down the coast towards Sanibel Island. The sun was setting and we thought we would be in just in time for a yummy steak on the grill, potatoes and maybe even a salad. When we turned the corner to head east into the anchorage, the winds picked up to 25 and the tide was going out with a rampage.... of course it was!!! Needless to say, I could have WALKED the island four times when we finally SAILED into the anchorage. The sun had already laughed itself into the ocean, darkness had set in quickly, salt covered EVERYTHING including all four of us!!! Captain Ray finally dropped the anchor at 11:30 and we all had a stale donut before hitting the sheets, which were also salty!!! Im sure there is a Jimmy Buffet song in here somewhere??? Though it would be titled "Thank God for Rescue Remedy".... just sayin'....
Monday, dawned a new day and we pulled up anchor and made for the 10,000 islands. Captn Ray decided to only put out the headsail..(by george he did learn) and we were sailing nicely down the coast past Fort Myers Beach and Naples. I made the crew chicken salad sandwiches with sliced tomatoes and popped open some chips. We even watched a baby dolphin and its mother swim and jump by the boat!! Then we looked to the south. Dark clouds with obvious rain squalls were pounding Marco Island and guess where we were heading.... yep!!! Ray reduced our headsail, reduced again and finally pulled it all the way in as the winds picked up. I got out the foul weather gear and Andy and Ray put them on. Andy, by the way, has thought this was the best day of all??? I think he's been in the sun too long.... :) The rain started pouring and Angie and I watched from below as Mother Nature got all the salt off of our boat and Ray and Andy.....haha Now we are out of the wind and the waves with only four and a half hours before our next anchorage. We have decided that we are eating the steaks no matter what time we get in tonight!!! Hey, its dinner time somewhere, right!!!
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