Traveling the Great Loop

Join us as we travel North America's rivers, waterways, and canals; visit U.S. and Canadian cities, historical landmarks, national parks and river towns. We may even take you to the Bahamas.

Pelican Bay, Pine Island Sound, Florida

Nov. 18-23, 2024; Cape Coral to Pelican Bay: 27 miles.

En route; returning to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.

The ‘Miserable Mile’: a narrow, shallow, mile-long, sometimes busy, no- wake channel-zone where boaters need to cut speeds to a crawl. Although we have never spotted manatees in these dedicated areas, they are probably there, grazing on seagrasses beneath the surface.
Boats don’t need to wander far off the marked channel to go aground; tow boats are often seen standing nearby to offer assistance. Why do boats wander outside the channel? When buoys are spaced 1/4 mile or more apart, boaters need to look behind them to line up the buoy they have just passed, with the upcoming buoy to ensure they have not gone outside the imaginary boundary line. The risk is higher when rounding curves but following electronic charts helps to keep us within the lines.

Traveling these long miles of twisting channels, needs your full attention. It helps to have 2 people at the helm; one to steer and the other with a set of binoculars to spot them and to confirm their buoy number, especially at bifurcation locations. Waterway Guide, one of several soft-covered guide books published to assist traveling rivers, channels etc., sends weekly email notifications  announcing lock closures*, and missing or strayed buoys.

The black buoy above, is an official, but damaged channel marker which has been temporarily replaced with a red buoy.

That day, we knew the channel was missing 2 markers. It was helpful to have that information because otherwise we might have wondered if we had left the main channel.

*We learned several days after locking through the Orono Lock, 5 miles downriver from River Forest Yacht Center, that the lock had been shut down due to mechanical problems. We were lucky not to have been stranded in the Okeechobee Canal waiting for it to be repaired. While sitting in the lock that day, we noticed the operator had made several attempts to get the gate to close.

The men onboard this barge offered an appreciative wave when we reduced our speed minimizing our wake while passing them. They probably go backwards when speeding boats leave behind heavy wakes. Their top speed was about 2mph!

PELICAN BAY: We had visited Pelican Bay last season. To revisit the blog, click here: https://wordpress.com/post/travelingamericasgreatloop.com/3913

Entering Pelican Bay, boaters need to watch for sand-spits coming off the points, ( green and red lines above.) There are no marker-buoys here but guide books suggest, after entering, to follow the shoreline, and to stay 50 feet (yellow line), off the shore. 50 feet! It is one of those times you have to over-ride your brain warning you not to drive so close to land. (The source of the smoke on the horizon in the background is a burning sugarcane field.)

A tidal sandbar

While staying 3 nights in Pelican Bay, we often saw a towboat sitting in the bay waiting to be called by some hapless boater. He told us the towing company was still moving between 25-30 hurricane-damaged boats a week to other locations. We bought fuel from him for our dinghy. The cost was $30. but if we had not been members of Sea Tow, a 24/7 towing service, it would have cost $300!

That evening, twenty-five mph winds were to accompany the first cold front of the season. In preparation for a wind change, (north to south), we moved the boat around the corner into a small, more protected inner bay.

Notice the difference in sea conditions on each side of these scrub islets. On the far side, where we were first anchored, south winds blew straight into the bay kicking up whitecaps. In the foreground, the second anchorage was protected from the south and we enjoyed much calmer conditions.

Once the winds arrived, Mike was constantly monitoring the weather looking for wind-direction changes, and possible anchor drag. He slept in the salon where he could peer out the windows and be nearer to the navigation chart with anchor alarm overlay.

Due to the weather conditions, we were unable to motor to nearby Cabbage Key, (see last seasons blog), but when conditions calmed, we went looking for the entrance to a pond we had read about.

There was almost nothing along the shoreline indicating an opening to a pond.
But once in, we kept clear of these rock-like structures that seemed to mystically sink and then return to the surface. We learned there were 7 manatees in the pond, and oddly enough, a 14-foot alligator! An alligator in salt water? A local man thought that an underwater, freshwater spring might feed the pond creating a liveable habitat for the alligator. ( You really need to have local knowledge before swimming in Florida waters!)

During our stay, we often saw the arced bodies of dolphins chasing schools of fish, and pelicans awkwardly plummeting from the sky in clumsy fishing techniques.

A COLLECTION OF BOAT NAMES

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One response to “Pelican Bay, Pine Island Sound, Florida”

  1. serene42404a6f79 avatar
    serene42404a6f79

    What a fabulous experience you’re having. Can’t believe what an awesome job you’re doing navigating the anchoring sites and weather. Don’t go swimming!!
    Sent from my iPhone

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