We had an easy motor with very light wind from the Keys north to Cape Sable off the Everglades. We set the anchor and headed into the beach. We are the only ones here. This is Dreamer anchored off the east cape.

Lots of seashells on the beach, along with alligator tracks in the sand! Very cool (and scary)!

Low and behold, we spotted a large gator in the water just off the beach. A little unnerving. He was too quick to get the camera ready for a picture (Drats!). Howard decided that he no longer thought he would go for a swim.

Tons of miniature conch shells. Took pictures, but of course left the shells where they belong.

There are now two other boats here with us, but the anchorage is quite large. Lots of small fishing boats about, but not sure what type of fish they are catching.  There are tons of large fish jumping all around the anchorage. It is not really an “anchorage” but rather we are just anchored in the open waters of the gulf. Not a place you want to be in any unsettled weather.

I started writing this just after sunset.

As the sun set over unobstructed open water of the Gulf of Mexico, the horizon glowed orange for almost an hour. Then it got dark. REALLY dark. Not a sound but the waves lapping against the hull. It is a clear night with no moon. The stars are incredible. I don’t think I’ve seen a night sky or remote anchorage like this since sailing in the South Pacific. With a light breeze astern, the evening was bug-free 😊.

The current rules here, so the boat was stern to the wind at times. There is also just under a 4 foot tide here, so you need to be cognizant of where you anchor, which we had not accounted for when first anchoring. After weighing anchor and resetting in deeper water, we settled in for a peaceful night sleep.

While would have loved to explore this area more, we also did not want to miss a good weather window for heading up the gulf. So, we were up and underway at sunrise.

Our position off of Shark River heading north. We decided to skip Shark River because of the potential for bugs this time of year if the wind is light. There were some extreme kayak campers along the shore at night and we saw campfires. It would be an interesting kayaking excursion around the cape and into the Shark River. They have platform (chickee’s) on the water in the Shark River for pitching a tent.

We had a great day for the 65 nautical mile trek to Marco Island. There was light wind on the nose the first half of the day so we could not sail, but the water was calm and crystal blue in color.

Caleb, our sailing mate, assumed his regular perch.

The winds shifted in the afternoon and increased to 15 knots, so we sailed the afternoon into Marco Island, and dropped the hook in Factory Bay around 7:00, then enjoyed a good pasta dinner and bottle of red wine in the cockpit.

We we are going to stay on the hook here for two nights before heading to Estero Island for a few days … At least that is the plan for now 😉