Boating with Sunset Delight: 2021: Sarasota to Okeechobee Waterway

14 April 2021

Depart: Sarasota Anchorage 9:45

Arrive: Cayo Costa, Pelican Bay Anchorage 5:30

Distance: 51 nm

We had planned to leave Sarasota yesterday, but just before we were to depart, Clark got a tax-related email. He canceled our travel plans so he could take care of business in an area where he had good internet access.

This morning, busy doing this and that, we got a pretty late start, but at least we did get underway.

Last look back at Sarasota Ringling Bridge

Osprey Family at Marker 41

We traveled along the west coast of the state "on the inside" until we got to Venice where we went out into the Gulf of Mexico to continue onwards to Cayo Costa.

Small boats coming at us cluttered the channel

Swarms of jet skis whizzed by us

An audience watched the goings on from the sidelines

Finally we reached the Venice Pass into the Gulf

The beach was a beehive of activity.

We planned to go directly to Cayo Costa for the night, but the boat had other plans for us. Clark determined we needed to head to a marina for a holding tank pumpout. After looking at the marina list and access to them, he opted to go to the Boca Grande Marina. They told him they closed promptly at 5:00, so he needed to be there before 4:30.

We arrived just before 4:00, hooked up to the pumpout equipment, and nothing! The equipment had suction but Sunset Delight would not yield up her holding tank contents. Clark raced against the clock to try to address the problem. The marina staff thought it might be a clogged vent. Clark wasn't so sure.

He used a wire puller as a snake and poked around to see if he could feel any obstruction. He also put a hose on it and ran water into the tank to see if that helped. Finally he had me turn off the water pump and heads, flush one of the heads, and then hold the head open to left air flow through. One, or perhaps the combination of all these things, finally got the waste flowing and the holding tank emptied. Is the problem fixed, or will it appear again next time we need to empty? Only time will tell. We managed to complete our business and depart at 4:45!

That ugly job done, we departed Boca Grande and traveled the relatively short distance to Cayo Costa to drop anchor for the night.

Boca Grande Lighthouse

We had the anchor down by 5:30 and were getting ready to relax for the night when we got an unexpected visitor. A couple came over to introduce themselves. They are on "Seas the Day" from Brick, New Jersey and stopped by to say "Howdy Neighbor!" They stayed in their dinghy and chatted briefly before heading back to their boat.

Sunset at Cayo Costa / Pelican Bay Anchorage

15 April 2021

No boat travel.

Clark wanted to look into the holding tank pump-out issue today. Unfortunately, his efforts remained inconclusive. We did find a holding tank filter that could be replaced. He used a vacuum cleaner to blow through the filter checking for a clog. He could feel air coming through and decided it was okay for the moment.

After giving up on the holding tank investigation, he moved on to horn repair. Our boat horn no longer holds a charge for the duration of our voyages. It recharges a few times per day. Clark thought perhaps he could lubricate the workings and that would help.

Boat horn

He climbed into a rather awkward spot to get to a place where he thought he could spray some WD40.

The space in the picture above is on our upper helm and used for storage. The first time he climbed into this compartment, he almost panicked because he could not get out without my help. So, this time, he had me come stand guard in case he got stuck again.

After getting at the horn from this direction, he was not convinced that it did the job. I looked at the horn as asked if it could come apart. That gave him the idea to remove it from the side of the boat to get access to the internal workings. He sprayed inside liberally with WD-40.

After he put everything back together, he turned on the power to the horn to do a test. Unfortunately, the attempts to fix the problem only made it worse. Instead of recharging every couple of hours, it started to recharge every ten minutes. With his powerful hearing, he could hear hissing coming from the connection he worked on first. He had to climb back into the storage area again.

Hissing air at this air tank connection

This connection, he found out after calling the manufacturer, turned out to be a quick release connection. He had to do some extra work to reconnect it so that it would not leak air. After addressing the hissing issue, the horn went to recharging every 20 minutes or so. We did not make much ground today.

What a shame he, and therefore me, had to work on fruitless boat issues on such a remarkably beautiful day in paradise. The weather was near perfect, and we spent the entire day working on the boat instead of soaking up the sun.

Sunset at Cayo Costa / Pelican Bay anchorage

16 April 2021

Depart: Cayo Costa Anchorage 8:45

Arrive: W.P. Franklin Lock Docks 3:00

Distance: 46.5 nm

Locks: 1 - W. P. Franklin

Conditions: Partly cloudy, calm, 70s

Clark said we had 40 nm to go today. At 8 knots that would normally be a 5-hour day. However, with a lock and some bridges to deal with, we knew it would take at least an hour longer. I was up early and got to see the sun rise. Even so, it was 8:45 before we pulled up anchor.

Busy Pelican Bay anchorage as usual

As we traveled towards Fort Myers and the Caloosahatchee River, we heard several Coast Guard notifications to mariners. One struck me as funny.

"Buoy X is adrift and not watching properly."

Shame on the buoy for not doing its job!

We passed Cabbage Key (with a big OPEN sign out front) along the way and a mini barge full of dumpsters on its way there.

Cabbage Key

Cabbage Key Dumpster delivery

The trip today turned out to be quite uneventful. Clark and I joked that "When the most excitement on the water is the equivalent of a "garbage truck", it's pretty bad."

Passing by Fort Myers gave us something more interesting to look at.

Fort Myers, FL

Legacy Marina - Fort Myers, FL

"Capt P" River Boat at Fort Myers

We traveled the "Miserable Mile" where we had to constantly watch we stayed in the channel instead of being pushed into the shoals by the current through here.

Finally, we arrived at our destination, locked through and docked at W. P. Franklin lock. The docks here can be reserved and cost only $30 for the night including water and electricity - a deal too good to pass up. Since we have National Park passes, it cost us half that amount for the night.

As we came in, someone from another boat came to grab our lines. He said, "You're too big to be coming in here." I replied, "It's not our first visit!"

We nosed into the weeds for the night.