Oceanus Adventures: Gulf Coast arrival! : )

Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Cayo Costa = Happiness (at least for Sheryl)

We finally made it over to the beautiful Gulf Coast of Florida! After crossing Lake Okeechobie, we arrived the next afternoon (Saturday) in the city of Fort Myers and hunkered down, securely tied in at the city's Yacht Basin Marina while we weathered another day of gale force winds on Sunday. We were able to fit in a few good walks and a grocery store run, despite the howling winds. There were some festivities happening in the downtown area as well (Baconfest - although we must have arrived too late and missed all the bacon).

Bird of unknown type - anyone know what it is?

On Monday, the winds had calmed enough for us to venture ever westward and northward. By early afternoon, we were anchored just off of Cayo Costa State Park, otherwise known as Sheryl's Happy Place. Because of the epic full moon, the tides around here have been extra low - and considering that much of this area is pretty shallow, it's been extra challenging to avoid running aground - even in the dinghy! After arriving, we dinghied over to the main park entrance, then walked the 3/4 of a mile to the beach and continued beach-walking for another mile or so, then made it back to the boat with our first load of shell "treasures".

We made it!!!

Yesterday, I asked Mark to take me to the southernmost tip of the island, which is about 5 miles south of where we are anchored (too far to comfortably walk there and back in a day). I assumed we could just dinghy slowly southward; however, it turned out to be too shallow to do that, so we had to venture out into the main ICW channel, where the water/winds were considerably rougher. We made it there and were able to anchor the dinghy just offshore, although Mark had to stay and monitor the dinghy because the wind/waves were pretty rough. This allowed me the afternoon to explore a very "untouched" part of the island at my leisure, and it wasn't long before my shell-collecting bag was getting pretty heavy!

Zippy dinghy ride - looks like better weather than in felt like!

After raising anchor and heading out, we decided to stop at a reasonably close marina on the way back to refill the dinghy's gas tank, but we underestimated the wind and waves between us and the marina (the wind had continued to pick up throughout the day). It was a rough (and harrowing at times for me) ride, but we were successful and even made it back to Oceanus before dark, without ever officially grounding the dinghy (coming as close as one without actually getting stuck, though).

Approaching the fuel dock for a refill

The masterful Captain!!!

I hope you enjoy the pictures - they describe this area better than I ever could. I think you'll understand why this feels like a slice of heaven here (except for the alligators...)!