Traveling the Great Loop

January 25, 2024; Burnt Store Marina; Today’s run: 14 miles

Leaving Pelican Bay, we crossed the GICW in Pine Island Sound and headed for Burnt Store Marina,* located on the border of Punta Gorda and Cape Coral. We were there to attend a reunion of friends that was being held at a friend’s winter home. Our Uber driver said that he had lived in Naples 12 years and had never gone 2 months without sunshine before.

We stayed there one night and then returned to Pelican Bay where we anchored for a night before heading south to Naples the following morning.

*’Burnt Store’ draws its name from the burning of an 1850s trading post when Europeans attempted to settle the area inhabited by Seminoles.

Naples Sailing & Yacht Club, Naples City Docks, & Naples Boat Club

January 26; ; Today’s run 60 miles

Leaving Pelican Bay at low tide, we briefly touched bottom; (during full moon tides, tides are at their highest and lowest levels of the month.) Motoring a few miles down the GICW, we turned into Boca Grande Pass to enter the glassy-smooth conditions of the Gulf.

Our instrument panel displays the percentage of fuel burned per gallon. By adjusting the RPMs, (revolutions per minute), we can adjust our speed to match how much fuel we are willing to burn during passage making. With 60 miles of open, calm water, we found that traveling at 16 knots minimized the motion caused from swells and gave us a ratio of 1:1 gallon per hour.

From Sarasota to Naples, transient dockage had been hard to find. Hurricane Ian had thrown a wrench into everyone’s boating plans resulting in Mike spending hours emailing and phoning marinas searching for dock space. He had been successful getting reservations at the Marina at Edison Ford . Then one day, a phone call announced that the marina was no longer accepting boats, and boaters currently in the marina, needed to leave; the owner and management company were in dispute. This put additional pressure on an already dire situation for boaters.

We were lucky to obtain reservations at the Naples Sailing & Yacht Club, (NSYC). Before accepting our reservation, the NSYC asked if we belonged to an affiliated Yacht Club. We do not. Due to years of sailing offshore, we are only members of the Cruising Club of America, (CCA). The CCA, however, is not listed in a book of reciprocal yacht clubs because the respected Club, does not have a physical headquarters. https://cruisingclub.org/

Fortunately, the NSYC accepted our reservation with the condition that we not use the clubhouse. We were allowed to stay 3 days.

But while there, we never got use to the disturbing sound of private jets flying overhead out of the Naples Municipal Airport, just five miles away. During winter months, 80-90 flights a day leave from the airport which can accommodate 18-passenger Gulfstream jets. Flights leave as early as 6am.

When our time was up, we moved to Naples City Docks, (public docks).

We liked it at City Docks except for on weekends when a constant parade of tour boats, sleek-lined fishing boats and muscle boats rumbled by with deep groaning exhausts. Whizzing by in disregard for the no-wake-zone, they caused a lot of bounce for boats at the dock.

When our time was up at the Docks, we found room at the Naples Boat Club just down the way. (Poor Mike was in a constant state of search, call, and reserve.) We stayed at the Naples Boat Club 4 days* which put us in the path of the jets again but offered protection from the wakes of the speeders on the water. When our time expired, City Docks accepted our reservation again. So back we went.

* Leaving our boat at the Naples Boat Club, we did a hurried return flight to Toronto. We had goofed up with our supplemental health insurance plan and could renew it only while in Canada. Landing at Pearson Airport, we stayed 1 night at the airport hotel and were back in line boarding an early morning flight to Naples the following morning.

Upon our return to the City Dock, I noticed a police boat stationed at the end of our dock. It was morning; I walked down and asked if I could make him a coffee. “No mam”, he said, “I’ve had two pots this morning. It’s the way I start my day.”

I thanked him for being there because I had noticed boaters passing at slower speeds. He replied that he didn’t know his presence had been making a difference. Shortly after I returned to our boat, I heard the short bursting squeal of a siren when he targeted a speeding passerby. The piercing sound that would normally convey that I was about to donate to the Law Enforcement treasury, was suddenly giving me a sense of revengeful satisfaction.

Naples:

At the Docks: