It was a quite morning at the marina. Temps were mid 60’s and the sky was clear and there was no wind. Last night was a lot quieter at the marina. Although the lighted boat show was still on there were no crowds on the docks or Santa serving alcohol. The lighted boats are leaving the marina today.
I wanted to time the departure with the bridge opening of the Boca Grande Swing Bridge about 4 miles south. The bridge opens on the hour and half hour and has a height clearance of 9’.
We were about a mile north of the bridge when I called the bridge tender and he said that they currently had 14’ of clearance. The Champ III needs about 12.5’ of clearance. The bridge tender said to stay to the outside where the clearance is the most. We went real slow with Lenore watching the clearance and there was about 1’ of clearance as we went under the bridge.
It was a nice day on the water on Gasparilla Sound and Charlotte Harbor. The wind came up some and there was a light chop on the water. There was a lot of boat traffic
with mostly runabouts that were rental boats. Everybody was enjoying a nice day on the water.
The traffic in the last portion of the ICW near Fort Myers was particularly busy with lots of boats in the channel. There is no place to go outside the channel and there is no speed limit in this area. There are really some dangerous people out there considering they were in a maybe a 250’ wide channel, the boats were 4 wide and they were going along at about 25 mph. I was glad when we were out of that area.
We arrived at Port Sanibel Marina in early afternoon. It was good to see Ken and Peggy Watton again. They are a delightful couple from the Leamington Ontario Area. We first met them in the Georgian Bay at a Looper Rendezvous in July 2006 when they were just starting their Loop. They are a delightful couple from the Leamington Ontario Area.
Last year we spent a month at Port Sanibel Marina and got to know some of the marina personnel and it was good to see them again. Not much has changed at the marina and we are looking forward to a week at the marina before moving on.
I’m glad you stopped here at Port Sanibel Marina again.
It would have been very difficult to pass up after all the good people we met last year. It is really great that most of them are still around.