Summer in the dead of winter - Day 110 & 111 - Captiva to Naples, FL

The "dead of winter" is a term I coined for the period between January 15 and February 15, which according to weather underground's "Season Weather Averages" chart for Chicago, is the coldest period of the year. 

Those living in Chicago are well aware that the "dead of winter" is upon them.  We on the other hand are enjoying the 70 to 50 temperature band for the last 30 days and now that we are in southern waters, we are seeing some days in the high 70s and evenings in the high 50s.

So, on Tuesday (1/18), in shorts with some canvas off we departed South Seas Island Resort at 10:40 AM just after the fog burned off.  Our route took us from the marina to the Redfish Pass channel to the ICW and mile marker zero, the official end of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, which is just short of the Sanibel Captiva Bridge and causeway.   Note: There is a $6.00 toll every time you go from Fort Myers to Captiva.

Approaching the Sanibel Captiva Bridge and Causeway

From there is was a more or less a straight run along the Gulf to Gordon Pass and then north up the channel to Naples Bay and our slip at the Naples Boat Club where we arrived at 2:40 PM.  Except for a 15 minute stretch of fog that we encountered where the Redfish Pass channel connects with the ICW and  passing through a 5 minute fog bank just short of Naples, the trip was smooth as the Gulf was like a pond.

Entering Gordon Pass, the entrance to Naples Bay

There was also a sandbar that had moved west from its position of the chart just south of the bridge putting us in shallow water. The fish finder showed 4 feet under the boat, which meant we were in 6 feet of water.  The problem was solved by turning east.  The lesson, however, is that sandbars shift and need to be given a lot of clearance.

The run up Naples Bay was spectacular with expensive homes and canals along the 5 miles to the marina.  Lots of eye candy.  The bay is also a beautiful stretch of protected water making for an enjoyable experience.

That's a 55 foot Sea Ray Sundancer sitting on the lift

Close up of the 55 Sundancer taken during Wednesday's dingy ride

Upon arrival we topped of the fuel tanks, having burned 142 gallons since leaving Sarasota.  The price was $3.549, the most we've paid for diesel thus far.  It's also obvious that we have been running at speed as we only covered 115 miles.  While not economical, running Guided Discovery at full cruise (30 MPH) is great fun.

Meanwhile, the marina was spectacular.  The Naples Boat Club is a condo development with, I suspect, condo slips.  The slips are rented when the owners are away.  The facility has floating docks (great for the Furry Kid), a heated pool and club house with a full sized pool table.  Their $2.50 price per foot, the highest we've paid this far, was mitigated by their "stay three days pay for two" deal making the net effect $98.33 per night.  We are not complaining.  Notice we are surrounded by large boats.  In fact there are only one or two boats smaller than ours.

Naples is also spectacular.  This is a high line community with average property values in 2009 at $677,114 or almost $400,000 above the Florida average.  Median income at $66,052 compares with Florida's overall at $44,736.  That number probably does not reflect the wealth of the snow birds.  This place actually feels like La Jolla, CA with great restaurants and upscale shops.  We've enjoyed Handsome Harry's and Vergina.  In fact, we finished Tuesday evening dancing at Handsome Harry's.

Wednesday we took a four mile walk, visited Naples Pier, that juts out onto the Gulf and is a local meeting place, got haircuts and took a dingy ride with Kodi, of course.  More eye candy, just close up.

Very nice eye candy. The boat to the right is a 70+ foot Hatteras

I also solved a problem.  My Ray240 VHF has never worked right and that goes all the way back to when we purchased the boat and discovered Sea Ray had installed a European unit.  It barely worked.  The replacement also did not work well, which was very apparent when we were going down the Western Rivers (Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, etc.) where we got constant complaints of breaking up from the tow captain.  Note: Despite hundreds of hours cruising on the Lake Michigan we rarely use the VHF.

The solution happened by accident as we mistakenly walked down the wrong dock where I discovered a Raymarine dealer.  I gave him my tale of woes and asked for a technician to diagnose the problem.  Ray, the gentleman watching the store said that was unlikely as they were booked solid installing new equipment.  I proposed that he lend me a handset as I suspected it was the cause of the problem.  Ray thought that was OK and took down my credit card information as security.  Sure enough, the new handset solved the problem and to sweeten the pie it was a repaired unit so I got a $75 discount paying only $175 plus tax.  Further, they sportingly sent the old unit back to Raymarine for repairs.  So now I will have a back-up.

Oh yes, the weather.  77 degrees and sunny all day.  62 degrees this evening and we at dinner alfresco.  Ah the joys of the dead of winter.

Wriiten by Les.