Champ III: Going Places

The adventure starts here.

Port Sanibel Marina, Fort Myers, FL to Naples Boat Club, Naples, FL — December 13, 2013

Little cool in the morning but the temps warmed nicely with the sun out in a cloudless sky.  There was a light breeze from the northeast.

We departed Port Sanibel Marina about 9:00 and it was hard to leave but we have friends, Jane & Joe in the Naples area that we will see.  Not a lot of boat traffic on the water.  We did see the Florida Fish & Wildlife Officers stop a commercial fishing boat and then the fishing boat moved further south.

As we crossed under the Sanibel Island Causeway the winds seem to increase some and the waves were a little higher.  We stayed between 1 and 2 miles offshore and after we passed Estero Bay (Fort Myers Beach area) we were able to move to about 1 mile offshore.  We had to keep an eye out for the crab trap markers as we were right on the outside edge where the fishermen put them.

The ride was pretty uneventful but there were a few boats near Gordon Pass which is the entrance to Naples Bay and the City of Naples.  It is almost 4 miles from Gordon Pass to Downtown Naples and most of the way there is no speed limit in the channel and every boater feels he needs to go fast in the channel and all the other boats rock in their wake.

There is a lot of nice houses along both sides of the channel and over the last year there has been more construction activity in new homes and remodeling exiting homes all along the shore.

We are staying at the Naples Boat Club that is about 6 blocks from the downtown business district.  Candy and I have walked there on several mornings already.

Our 2nd night at the Naples Boat Club there was a “lighted Boat Parade” on Naples Bay.  The parade started about 3 miles south of us came right by the marina, went up to the highway bridge and turned around and went back.  There were about 30 boats in the parade and everybody comes down to the marinas to party during the parade.  The actual judging was at the marina across from us as the boats went by and there were cash awards for the best boats so there were lot and lots of lights.

We had our friends Jane and Joe down to the marina for the Boat Parade and cocktails and went to the marina restaurant for dinner after.  Very enjoyable evening for all.

We are staying here until Thursday and we have 2 travel days to get to Islamorada but the winds may make the time stretch out some.  We will have to wait and see what actually develops.