NAPLES, FLORIDA

It was a short trip from Everglades City to Naples.  It’s hard to believe that these two places were so close yet seemed worlds apart. We took the long way around the Cape Romano shoals.  You have to go out about 10 miles to get around the shoal.

As we headed in past the jetty to Naples we encountered more boat traffic than we’ve seen in several weeks.  It was like rush hour.  Everyone was in a hurry and had no consideration for others.  My God, these boaters are just as bad as Fort Lauderdale and Miami!  What is the big friggin’ hurry? 

CRAZY RULES AROUND HERE

One by one they sped by us at top speed. 

The channel marker says it’s a No Wake Zone outside the channel and inside the channel there is a maximum speed posted of 30 mph!!  What??  Why would anyone think it’s OK to go 30 mphs here inside the channel???  It didn’t make any sense whatsoever. 

 No wonder its nuts around here.  Amazingly they have a legal right to fly by one another within a few feet at 30 knots but what about the protection of the other boaters that they wake?  No one has respect for the safety and comfort of other boaters.  These guys waked everybody, including the vulnerable little open skiffs.  Nobody was safe as they even waked those little flat open boxy square boats, you know like lake boats, with little old ladies riding in them just out for a sightseeing cruise.  There is no courtesy or manners here.  

But, try to figure this scenario out, as they are within their legal limits and following the rules.  Our boat can’t even go 30 knots!  We even got waked while I was outside on the gangway trying to get the lines ready for docking.  I gave the guy the evil look and pointed to his wake as if to say “What are you thinking?” as he sped by and then I held on for the impact of his giant wake.  I was a bit surprised though because I think I actually shamed him into slowing down but it was too late as the wake was already rocking us topsy turvy.  I just don’t understand the people and rules around here.

COULD BE A NICE CRUISE

It would be nice if you could just take a leisurely cruise in here so you could enjoy the scenery as it really is interesting but it was impossible with these boaters.  There are some really beautiful homes along the water way, very big and expensive and on the opposite side is  pure nature, egrets, herons, dolphin and we even saw an eagle perched high on a tree.  It’s a lovely area.  Also, when you are coming into an area for the first time, a place you are unfamiliar with and are trying to watch for markers and shallow areas it’s just plain unnerving trying to withstand the wakes and look out for these nuts. 

HOPE WE ARE ON THE LIST

Larry had a slip reserved at the Naples Public Docks or so we hoped because for the last couple days it was a bit iffy as to whether there was going to be any room.  Larry was persistent though and kept calling her, the dock master, and we finally think we have reservations for three nights.   She was a bit flighty on the phone so we hoped she wrote our name down.  Larry hailed the dock master and said we were here and there was some unnerving silence as if she didn’t know who we were.  He said, “I hope you have our reservation.”  She gave him a chuckle back and then directions to our slip.   She asked if we would need assistance with the lines and he answered back “That would be appreciated!”

I see the docks and grumble to myself, “More wooden docks with finger posts.  Yuck.”  I wasn’t in the best of moods because I still wasn’t feeling good.  I guess you could say I was pretty grouchy.  I even yelled a few bad words at one of the boaters back there that waked us.

GEE WHIZ!

It was a tight squeeze to get into and Larry only had a few feet to spare to make his turn to back in.   The dock master was waiting by our slip and I handed her the stern line and she said “You better go up and loop your bow lines!”  Well, I was going to do a stern line first, but thought she must know better about these slips than I so I went up to do the bow lines.  They were doing nothing as they were right at mid ship to the boat so I had to bring the lines back from the bow to the posts.  It wasn’t making much sense to me. 

Then I hear Larry tell me to “quick” get a spring line on.   I got the spring on and that’s when I noticed the dock master was gone.  She just tied one stern line on at an angle and left!  It wasn’t even keeping us off the side dock.  Where did she go?  I should have known better.  I should have done the lines the way I had planned.  When will I ever learn?  She didn’t even help with the power cord.  Nothing bad happened but gee whiz.

BUSY PLACE!

This sure is a busy place.  I couldn’t believe how many people were walking up and down the docks.  It was quite a contrast from Everglades City and the peaceful surroundings.   Little boats were coming and going and docking at the open slip beside us.  They didn’t seem to have a clue about docking so we soon decided that we better put up some defensive bumpers just in case we need to fend one or two of them off. 

It was lunch time and we were hungry.  Our provisions were getting low as we haven’t been near a grocery store in days.  We headed up the dock to find some lunch.  We took Ziggy with us as he’s always glad to get off the boat after a trip.  It would be heartless to lock him up now.  He likes to get on land and unwind I think.

DOGS HAVE RIGHTS TOO! 

We hoped we’d be able to find a place to eat where we could just sit out with him.  We stopped at the first restaurant right by our pier.  It was an open air restaurant and over looked the marina.  We had asked someone if they knew of a restaurant where we could sit out with a dog and they said Naples just passed a new ordinance that requires all restaurants that have outside seating to allow dogs.  Really???  We couldn’t believe it!  Apparently it was true as we were welcomed right in and put out on the “the terrace” which was nothing more than a fancy name for parking lot seating.  We didn’t care.  We just wanted some food. 

ST. PATRICK’S GREEN OR SICK GREEN?

We soon discovered that everything on the menu practically was some kind of fish.  I just recovered from being sick after eating fish and the image of any kind of seafood wasn’t going down very well.  This place was seafood to the max.  I managed to find a Cuban pork sandwich on the menu that I thought I would be able to eat.  I hadn’t been able to keep anything down for a few days now and so was very hungry. 

We soon figured out what all the crowds were about.  It was St. Patrick’s Day and explained why everyone was dressed in green, wearing funny green elf hats and had green shamrocks painted on their faces.  I didn’t know there were so many Irish people down here.  So, that explains how Larry was able to order corned beef and cabbage dinner at a seafood restaurant!

CADAVER MEAT??

Well, when my sandwich arrived, the sight of it almost made me sick again.  The meat was white and grey and cut in long weird strips.  It just plain looked like sliced cadaver meat.  I’ve never seen anything like it.   I must have turned St. Patrick’s Day green just looking at it and didn’t have to say a word.  Larry immediately pulled it away from me and said he’d eat it.  Oh, thank you Larry.  There was no way I was going to be able to eat something that looked like a dead body.  Ick.   I managed to get down a few bites of corned beef and cabbage, potatoes and carrots on a hot day.  Everything seemed so strange.

Naples seemed like a neat stop.  The Public Docks was a good location near several nice restaurants all within walking distance.  There’s a fun nautical store here too that we liked to poke around in.  Supposedly about 5 or 6 blocks away is the beach, the old pier, several shops and more restaurants but I was just too weak to even think about walking or riding a bike there to see it. 

LOOKY LOOS

We washed the salt off the boat and I tried to get some rest.  Yes, I said “tried” but you didn’t have a minute peace here as everyone that walked by the boat stopped to talk to you and ask about the boat or where you were from and if they didn’t talk to you they stared in the boat at you.  I couldn’t believe the looky loos here.  There was absolutely no privacy unless you completely closed the boat up and that wasn’t any fun.

Around dinner time and I still was not feeling very well.  I convinced Larry that I might be able to eat some pizza if he was up for it.  We had all these really great looking restaurants to go to here but all I felt like I could eat was pizza so that’s what we did.  It was touted to be the best pizza in all of Naples but we found it to be pretty mediocre.  Now of course I’m still not feeling good so maybe that’s the reason but Larry agreed.

NO PRIVACY

We went back to the boat and again I tried to just sit on the back of the boat but nope I couldn’t as people just wouldn’t leave you alone and even if you were inside the boat with the privacy curtain down, they’d yell in at you asking a question.  Mind you they were all very friendly nice people, just on vacation and enjoying themselves, but I was still sick and just needed to rest.  I didn’t want to talk to anybody.  You could say they were about the friendliest people we’ve ever come across and it was a shame to feel the way I did.

The next morning we were in search of some breakfast.   It seemed like we were always in search of food during our stay here.  There is no grocery store nearby and we had been in Everglades City for several days so there wasn’t a thing fresh to eat on the boat.  I still hadn’t eaten much for several days and by now was starving for just some good healthy food.  I just wanted a simple breakfast. 

FISH AND EGGS?

We decided to go to the same restaurant on the docks where we had the cadaver meat.  They boasted a brunch menu and once we sat down we realized it was a weird brunch menu.  Lots of fishy items mixed in with eggs and “ick” was all I could say.  Our waitress came up and wanted to know if we’d like a cocktail.  Cocktails in the morning?  Larry said maybe it would be good for me to order a mimosa, you know orange juice and a bit of champagne.  “Well, OK” I said not too sure.  Well, you can only order a bucket of mimosas which is a carafe of orange juice and a big half bottle of champagne.    “It’s only a half bottle of champagne!” the waitress whined.  Larry said OK.   

HUEVOUS RANCHEROS OR REVOLTOS?

I ordered the one thing on the menu that I thought I could keep down and that was Huevos Rancheros.  When it came to the table I think you could more accurately describe it as Huevos Revoltos.   OK, now I know I’m grouchy, but I’ve definitely had it with this place and I don’t just mean this place, I mean the whole place. 

I’m tired of all these people staring in at us on the boat.  It was a never ending parade of people and we finally figured out why.  We were docked on the same dock that the big catamaran tourist cruise was docked so all the people going on the cruise had to walk by our boat.  So every so many hours we have about 30 people parading around the boat, either waiting for their ride or getting off, or friends and family waiting for those that are on the boat to come back.  And like I said most of them were talking to us or looking in at our boat like as if we were on display at a boat show.  And each time the catamaran captain left the dock he had to blow the horn 4 times which absolutely scared Ziggy to death and he shook for several minutes afterwards.

LET’S GET OUT OF HERE, PLEASE!

I just want out of here and so does Ziggy! 

TIME TO GO HOME?

So, I talked Larry into leaving and heading to Sanibel.  But to be honest, right about now I’m ready to just head home even it is snowing.  

Our last night we did finally have a nice dinner that evening at a French Moroccan Restaurant.  Nevertheless I just decided I needed different scenery again.  About now I’m wondering if all this boating is too much, too hard and too long.  I was exhausted and sick and everything seemed like work and was very uncomfortable with the muggy heat.  I didn’t have a place to relax.  I’m tired of having to find a grocery store everywhere we go and hoof our way there and back carrying everything.  I’m tired of worrying about getting the laundry done and washing the boat and keeping after the dog hairs.  I’m just plain tired.  I’m tired of the same clothes day after day and my hair needs cutting and I nice pedicure and manicure would be nice.  I’m tired of figuring out where to eat and locking Ziggy up if we do.  I don’t like all these crowds of people not giving us a minute’s peace.  I need more remote places.  Just call me grouchy.

LET’S GO TO SANIBEL ISLAND

So poor Larry had to call Sanibel to see if we could come a few days earlier.  No problem, all was set.  We’d leave first thing tomorrow.  Well, we couldn’t leave first thing in the morning though as the woman on the phone at Sanibel said don’t get there before 2:30!  I asked Larry if that was because of the tide or what?  He said he didn’t know.  That meant we would have to hang around Naples all morning as we didn’t have far to travel to get to Sanibel.  I was really anxious to leave early.

SHUTTLE LAUNCH

At dusk we saw the shuttle launch at Cape Canaveral scream across the sky.  It was pretty exciting to see it even though far away.  Everyone on the docks watched and cheered.  It was neat.  I wondered what it would have been like to see that on the boat at Cocoa Beach where we thought we were going to see a launch earlier on this trip.  It would be pretty a pretty exciting experience I think.

WE LEAVE EARLY

Turns out the next morning rather than enduring the looky loos again we decided to leave early even though we couldn’t get in to Sanibel until 2:30.   Larry said we’d just go slow and take our time.  I was so glad to leave that dock even though I know Naples under different circumstances would have been a fun stop if I had been feeling better.  It would have been fun to get the bikes out and ride to the beach and see the other shops but it just wasn’t in the cards for us this time.  I kept rationalizing why I didn’t like it here, blaming it on being sick but again I thought maybe it was getting time to go home too. 

DIFFERENT SCENARIO

It was funny this morning as we headed out the channel.  To our surprise and great delight there was hardly a boat in the channel.  We forgot it was a Monday and we suspect most of the crazy boaters must off the water and back at work.  It was so quiet with only a very few boats out on the water and those we saw were mostly polite and courteous except for two idiots that raced by waking us again.  Today I can say it was mostly sane. 

To add to our pleasant cruise we were joined by two dolphins swimming slowly out the channel.  They were so beautiful and graceful.  I think they too were enjoying the peace and quiet of this Monday morning.  We passed some egrets and a pair of ospreys busy feeding their new little family perched on a channel marker.   We think we also saw the same lonely eagle we saw coming in.

As we came out the jetty there was several little fishing boats right in the center of the channel.  You wonder how they think you’re supposed to get around them but you soon realize why they were so distracted.  It’s because they were catching fish right and left!   It was crazy as just a soon as they dropped the lure in the water they would almost immediately get a bite. 

PERFECT DAY, THINGS ARE LOOKING UP!

It was a perfect day, as the weather was calm, warm and sunny.  We decided we’ll just travel up the coast at a snail’s pace.  We were just enjoying being out on the water and away from the crowds.  It was amazingly flat calm and we both commented on the few calm days we’ve had since we’ve brought the boat from Oxford, MD to here.  We could see long white beaches on the shore filled with crowds of people and colorful umbrellas and even the sky was crowded with parasailers and even a blimp.    

About mid way up the coast we stopped and floated for awhile to have lunch and sit out back just enjoying the water and more dolphins.  We even saw turtles in the water.

TOO EARLY  

By the time we neared Sanibel Island and could see Sanibel Lighthouse we were still about an hour early.  The marina is located in a manmade cut in between homes that line the coast line.  We pulled up outside the entry and gave the marina a call hoping they could take us a bit early.  They put us on hold for a few minutes and then came back saying they were sorry but that we would have to wait for a few minutes until they found some room for us. 

Larry said “No problem, we’ll just hang out here until you hail us back.”  After all we were an hour early.

We saw a boat come out the cut from the marina and noticed a white sand beach that had shoaled in on one side of the channel!  Wow, it looked really shallow.  I wondered if we could get in.  Larry said we shouldn’t have a problem because many boats bigger than ours go in and out of here.  Well, a few minutes turned into about an hour.  In fact, about 2:30 we saw a sailboat come out and just as it left the marina hailed us to come in saying that they now had room. 

It was a bit nerve wracking heading in the cut with the sand beach only a few feet to our portside but we had no problems.  It was our lucky day for docks too as they had a space on the outside T dock.  We came in and made a turn and scooted right up to the dock.  The dock hand helped get us tied up and we were set.

THIS IS MORE LIKE IT!

I loved this place immediately.  It was so charming.  The marina is about the nicest we’ve seen, quaint and charming and well kept.  All the finger posts are painted a crisp white which makes them look much nicer than those old brown posts.  They even have all the lines white.  The marina is filled with blooming flowers, of impatience, hibiscus of all colors, and bougainvilleas.  The parking lot and paths are white shells and lined with tall palm trees.  There is a little restaurant that is cute as a bug and is always busy.  This place was beautiful and I was happy again.  This is more like it.   

We didn’t even have to wash the boat as the seas were so calm that we didn’t get a speck of salt water on it.  We settled in and looked forward to having dinner that night at the marina restaurant.  Tomorrow we’ll get the bikes out to check out the nearby beach that has a reputation to be loaded with shells.