By - Captain Rod and Susie Stebbins
Tampa, Florida - Christmas is for family, fun, fishing boating and if the water is nice and warm a little diving too. My son Randy, his wife and my two grandsons will be our guests on this trip. Justin is nine and Ricky is five and they are just the right age to enjoy a trip to the Florida Keys. We picked the kids up at the airport. A little time was spent at the house sorting out what needed to be taken. Three weeks aboard SANCHO is the plan. A lot of camping at anchor is planned. The youngest, Ricky, has been off of diapers now for about a year and that will save a whole lot of space. Into the van we bound which is loaded to the roof with stuff. Food, clothing, boating stuff, fishing and diving gear, toys for the kids, VCR movies for the girls and of course some good books for those cozy evenings. A lot of time was required to stow all of the gear. I had forgotten what two young men needed for toys and things.
SANCHO is loaded and we are all aboard and underway. The kids have donned their Pfd's and are on the bridge with their proud grandpa and Susie. Jodie and Randy are on the bow enjoying the warm afternoon sun. The air is filled with soft Christmas music. It is early afternoon and we are on schedule. The weather has been verified to be nice with winds less than 10 knots and the seas are forecast to be 2 feet or less for the next 24 hours. We will use only about 17 hours for the trip to Marathon. From the marina we slide under the causeway bridge, south to Pass-A-Grille Pass and west to the Gulf of Mexico. Eight miles off shore we turned south and I set the GPS routing for Marker 43 at the Content keys. The autopilot nicknamed "Columbus" was set and it was now eight o'clock in the evening. If my planning was correct we ought to arrive at the Content Keys right about ten thirty the next morning. All is well, we are alone and it is Christmas Eve.
SANCHO is a 36 foot Sea Ray, Sedan Bridge. Aboard she is equipped with a two strong 260 Merc V8 engines, 100 gallons of water, 300 gallons of gasoline, a generator and a new desalination system for fresh water. The forward cabin is relegated for the kids and the grandkids and Susie and I will settle for the two cots in the salon. We will be going the 212 nautical miles non-stop to the Florida Keys from Tampa and of course the helm will be manned all the time by Capt. Rod, Susie and Randy. Four hour shifts for each of us. Susie has the first shift, Randy the second and Capt. Rod has the trip across Florida Bay. Our cruising speed will be about 12 knots giving us ample fuel reserves at our destination point Marathon, Florida. SANCHO's electronics include Loran-C, Fish-Finder, Radar, Auto-Pilot, digital depth finder, VHF, EPIRB, cellular telephone, Stereo CD Player, two TV's and a Tape player and our brand new Magellan 5000DLX, Differential Beacon Receiver (DBR) and a Chartmate with four C-Map cartridges covering our intended route.
That first evening was filled with excitement, anticipation and plenty of hopes for lots of sun and great weather. Susie had packed our precooked Christmas dinner. Turkey and all of the trimmings - small quantities of everything and just enough for four adults and two hungry little kids. Dinner was just before a most memorable Florida sunset. One that just lit the skies with a hundred shades of orange and red. At the moment the sun settled into the Gulf, Bing Crosby sang White Christmas. There wasn't a dry eye on the boat - what a great moment.
By ten o'clock the kids are in their bed fast asleep. Jodie can now have the rest of the evening with the us on the bridge. Soon she is also fast asleep in Randy's arms. Susie is at the helm and I, the Captain, am just busting with enjoyment. At midnight Randy took the helm. Jodie took to the cabin for a well earned nights rest and Susie and I retired for the night. My night would amount to about four hours sleep which was just about all I needed. Off went the salon lights and the generator. The Florida night was now only punctuating the night with her running lights, the soft roar of two great engines and a little music that could only be enjoyed on the bridge.
Our course will take us direct to the sea buoy at Boca Grande where we will make few degrees turn to port. We will then go direct to Buoy 16 that lays just south of Marco Island and west of Florida's 10,000 Islands. Our next leg of the journey will be across Florida Bay and direct the Content Key's Marker 43.
Susie awakens me with an ice cube. This has become a tradition in our house and probably accounts for while I sleep so lightly. It is four in the morning and time for my shift. A pot of coffee is made and Susie has a light breakfast ready for me on the bridge. A quick trip to the head to freshen up and I am ready to take command of the helm (sounds pretty salty, huh? Ha). Randy, Susie and I have a cup of coffee together before Randy retires for what is left of the night. We are in Florida Bay now and everything is just as it is supposed to be.
Crossing Florida Bay at night offers no real peril, but there is a lot of various fish traps to avoid. These traps are marked with Styrofoam floats and some pretty stout line. On a previous trip we got caught up in one and had to take a dive to cut the line and the trap from our prop shaft before we could continue. After that experience, we had shaft knives installed to prevent getting tangled again. In any event there was the chore of avoiding them. Susie turned on the generator so that we could run the spot lights therein giving us plenty time to jog around the floats. A couple of hundred jogs later the sun rises right where it is supposed to be. A little later Marker 43 appeared on the radar as a blip and soon after that the marker looms on the horizon in the form of a faint wink. Everyone is fast asleep except the helm and soon we will be at Marathon.
The next nineteen days is to be spent in paradise. The weather has been very cooperative and we are allowed great diving visibility. Randy, Susie and I take every opportunity to make shallow dives at the many reefs. The fish live abounds and they are filled with tropical splendor. Sea shells are everywhere for the viewing. There are literally herds of barracuda on the reefs where they seemingly hang suspended motionless except for an occasional flit of a fin. On one occasion we were visited by a curious sea turtle. Grouper and Jacks are everywhere. What a thrill to dive among the fishes of the Florida Keys. In the evenings we fished for grouper and snapper with an occasional treat of yellow tail. When the seas were up we fished the bridges for Mangrove Snapper. The days when we could not catch our dinner, we spent in Marathon at any one of the many fine places to eat. SANCHO remained our quarters and provided my extended family a comfortable haven. SANCHO is my buddy.
Every day we monitored the weather in the morning and the evening to watch the trends. December and January, even in the Keys, can bring challenges for boaters and it is well to keep well informed. WEATHER PROBLEMS. December boating anywhere can be a challenge. Usually Florida is pretty forgiving, but this trip was to offer us some challenges. On the sixteenth day of journey we became concerned about a weather system that was heading our way that might well make crossing the Florida Bay impossible. When there are strong winds the Bay whips up quickly due to the very shallow water. The waves get fairly high and remain very close together, a bad combination for small boats, even SANCHO. We decide that it is probably a whole lot safer to head up Hawks Channel, spend a day at the Pennekamp Preserve before we seek the safety of Miami and the Intracoastal Waterway. Our plan is to go north on the wrong side of the state to Port St. Lucie where we can take the waterway canal system to Lake Okeechobee then to the Caloosahatchee River system to Ft Myers, Florida. We boaters in Florida call this type of a voyage "Shooting The Loop." There is a lot of sight seeing involved on the trip from Miami to Port St. Lucie. Just the right thing for the ladies and the kids. Lots of gorgeous estates and wonderful landscaping to the water line. The cruising is spent mostly at near idle speeds because of the Manatee areas and residential No-Wake Zones. Just right for listening to soft music, visiting and playing with the kids.
This part of the journey takes us through Biscayne Bay, past Miami and then to North Miami where we enter the narrow part of the Intracoastal Waterway. We pass Sunny Isles on the Starboard side and the North Miami Beach on the Port. Then past Hollywood Beach, the many channels and turns of Port Everglades, the Hillsboro Inlet, Lake Wyman, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Lake Worth, Palm and West Beach, Lake Worth Inlet, past Jupiter Inlet, St. Lucie Inlet and on the Stuart, Florida where we turn westward to join the St. Lucie Canal.
There is no way to get lost in the St. Lucie Canal. There are some locks that have to be gone through. Locking is a term that is used to describe the action of passing through waterway locks. The boat is simply driven into the lock, tied off and the lock operator allows the lock to fill up with water to allow you to continue your journey, only you have raised a few feet in elevation. Not too complicated and each boat takes their turn through the locks. There is no fee for this event and at the worst one is delayed only slightly awaiting a turn. It is good to note here that before traversing the state of Florida this way it is wise to check with the US Coast Guard to verify that there is enough water in the system and that the locks have not shut down. The end of the St. Lucie Canal finds us at the Port Mayaca Lock and then Lake Okeechobee. This lake is for the most part very shallow. The channel is marked and the water during good times is about 12 feet deep all of the way across the lake. There is a mid-lake Marker #6 that needs to be passed and then to Marker 7 that lies just east of Rocky Reef. Check the charts. At Marker 7 one needs to turn south the avoid the shallow shoals of the reef. Then to Marker 14 where the course is west past Marker 16 to a well marked Marker 1 and a slight turn to port for the markers that lead to the town of Clewiston. There is a lock into the town, but we take a hard right to follow the canal past Liberty Point and then westerly to Moore Haven and another lock that puts us into the Caloosahatchee Canal System, more locks and the into the Caloosahatchee River and Ft Myers.
Just past Lake Hicpochee we make a right turn and in a few miles on the left there is a neat little place for spending the night. There is transportation to a great Victorian Restaurant. The food is good, service is plenty and the prices are very affordable. We all had great steaks.
The next morning we are off bright and early. We pass the Goodno lock and then on to La Belle, Denaud, Alva and the lock at Olga. After Olga we are on the Caloosahatchee River and within a few miles Fort Myers, Florida. This river is full of surprises outside of the channel markers. Mostly oyster beds and mud flats and of course shallow water that will get your attention. The river is well marked and the traverse to San Carlos Bay and Charlotte Harbor is pretty easy to make. We cross San Carlos Bay and enter Charlotte Harbor and follow the channel that lies on the east side of Pine Island. We have called ahead on the cellular phone to make reservations to stay at the South Seas Plantation Marina for a night. This very nice marina is located just at the north end of Captiva Island at Marker 40 of the Intracoastal Waterway.
The next morning we are off once again up the Intracoastal past Cayo Costa Island where we pass through Boca Grande pass snuggling close to Gasparilla Island and into the Gulf of Mexico once again. The weather system we were hoping to avoid passed over us when we were in St. Lucie. The seas had calmed and the remaining trip to Tampa was a piece of cake.
We arrived with one day to spare for Randy and his family had a plane to catch. We deposited them at the airport and Susie and I returned to the boat where she spend the next two days cleaning, polishing, emptying bags of garbage, getting to the store to restock SANCHO and of course servicing the engines (oil and filter changes). Back to the house for one night to pay bills. The next morning we went back to SANCHO to spend a couple of more nights at anchor at our favorite anchorage at Shell Island located just south of Pass-A-Grill Pass. You see Susie and I needed to get in just a couple more of those wonderful Florida Sunsets only this time just she and I, the damned cat and of course our very best friend SANCHO, our 36 foot Sea Ray.
We trust these holiday seasons will bring everyone peace, joy and the contentment that can only be found within the warmth of a nice family circle. But our very best wish is for peace on earth and good will to mankind.
Happy holidays,
Capt. Rod, Susie and the damned cat...
Capt. Rod & Susie Stebbins of Weak Industries can usually be found surfing the internet or cruising up & down the Florida Suncoast in a Sea Ray boat of some type (depending on Rod's mood).
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