Traveling the Great Loop

Jan 19-24, 2024; Day’s run 70 miles

EN ROUTE:

The 2^nd bridge we passed through that day was the Albee Road Bridge (mile 59). The bridge has a 14 foot clearance. We can lower our antennas, but our 13’3″ air draft, including mast, concerned us. The tide was approximately halfway to its maximum height.  Should we call the bridge and request an opening, or should we try going beneath it? We had a lot to lose if we scraped the mast on the underside of the bridge. On the other hand, we did not want to unnecessarily interrupt car traffic crossing the bridge.

While still a few miles from the bridge, we heard the boat ahead of us call for an opening. Keeping within GICW speed limits, we arrived there in time to follow the caller through the open bridge spans. (It is illegal to remove nests from channel markers until fledglings have left the nest.)

We were motoring 4-5 miles offshore in calm waters. It was not by accident that we had good travel conditions. Mike studies the weather closely: monitoring wind strength and its effect on the sea determines when we should leave and in some cases, whether there is time to make it to a destination before inclement weather settles in. Crab fishing season takes place from October to mid-May. That meant watching for crab pots and zigzagging a path around them.

After approximately 45 miles, we came to the Boca Grand Channel between Gasparilla Island and Cayo Costa. The pass is one of the deepest natural passes in Florida, (70-80 ft/21-24 m) and is a fisherman’s paradise during tarpon season. Strong winds and tides cause silting in such passes and can relocate them outside buoy markers and even close them all-together.

At the end of the day, we were hoping to anchor, but a north wind promised to make life miserable in the anchorage. We headed to the South Seas Island Resort on Captiva Island instead.  

Florida weather had not enticed northern travellers south. Daytime temperatures remained around 66° F/19°C and at nighttime, dropped to 47 °  F/ 8° C. It you were anywhere near the water, it was awfully cold.

The marina at South Seas Plantation, opened 7 months after hurricane Ian (2022). The ingress of water to the onsite 2-story hotel, caused enough destruction to  solicit taking it down. The hotel was marked to be replaced within the next 10 years.

One day we took a free trolley to the edge of town and walked to the Green Flash Waterside Restaurant for lunch. Mike reported, that when men stand at the urinal in the men’s washroom, they stand in front of the one-way mirror that you see at the back of this bar. “It feels as if you are standing right at the bar, holding something other than a beer in your hand,” he joked. You’re looking right

TOWN OF CAPTIVA:

Before I Go: A conversation with our trolley driver:

“How long does it take you to get to Captiva Island from your home Miriam? “Sometimes, it takes an hour and forty minutes; especially to get home because that’s when all the trades people [who are restoring hurricane damaged buildings] are leaving the island at the same time. But driving the trolley is my second job. I work at the county jail Monday to Thursday, and I drive the trolley, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. “How many inmates are there at the jail?” “They are doing renovations to the downtown jail so they have moved all the inmates to our location. Now we have about 2000 inmates”. “What kind of work do you do there? “I’m a nurse; we might see 40-50 patients a day,  but if I work in the infirmary, which is for the sick and [includes] detoxification [patients], there might be 200 hundred people to be seen. There are a bunch of us nurses working there.”

“Are there doctors at the jail?” “Yes ma’am, there are 3 physicians.” “What type of criminals are in that jail? “We get all kinds; when they first get charged, they come to us. Once through the court system, if they are convicted, that’s when they go to prison. Anyone who gets over 365 days, they have to go to prison.  We have guards with us all the time. I wouldn’t go anywhere without a guard.”

“What encouraged you to apply for a career at the jail? ““Honestly, before I became a nurse, I did 2 tests on the same day. I did the test to go to the academy to be a police officer, and I did a test to go to nursing school and I passed both of them. When I told my family I might become a police officer,  they all cried and said I was go’in to get killed or raped. My kids wouldn’t stop crying. So I went into nursing. When I graduated, I applied to be a nurse in a jail so I could experience something like what a police officer would experience. When my mother heard what I had done, she said”, “See? God helps all fools.”

Miriam continues: “I also took a test to get my PDL to drive a commercial truck. I have my passenger commercial license, that’s why I can drive this trolley. You always have to have a backup plan. But my goal is to own my own assistant living facility. I have always been interested in helping the elderly. Sometimes people just leave them because they don’t know what to do or just don’t know how to love.”