We woke to a lovely sunrise, enjoyed a quick breakfast, pulled anchor just before 8 am and made our way back to Captiva Island where we arrived at the Green Flash Restaurant’s courtesy dock at 10 am. We spent an hour or so getting the boat cleaned up and then took Lucy for a walk. The sun was bright and made the plants and flowers look so beautiful. Back at the restaurant before noon, we took an outside table where Lucy was able to join us. Nick and Jane arrived at noon and
reported that Gary’s mother had passed away this morning at 7 am so they were on their way to Tennessee to be with family. We were very sorry to hear the sad news; Gary’s mother had been failing over the past several months and they knew her time was near.
After a lunch of fresh shrimp and a grouper sandwich, Nick and Jane drove us around Captiva Island. They had picked some fresh tomatoes yesterday and brought two of the round, red, sweet treats for us so we could have BLT’s. We stopped in at the little grocery store to pick up lettuce, bacon and bread so we would have all the necessary ingredients for later. At 1:30 pm we were back aboard Blue Heron and waved goodbye to Nick and Jane.
About 15 minutes later, Maureen was looking for the camera and realized that we must have left it in the backseat of the car. A quick call to Nick confirmed the same, and we turned around and rendezvoused with them once more to make the pickup. It was a quick “touch and go” – Nick swung the camera out to Maureen on its long strap, she grabbed it, and we were off once again. Thanks, Nick and Jane, for coming back and making the delivery!
We motored a few miles north and came to Redfish Pass – the passage into the Gulf between North Captiva Island and Captiva Island.
The winds were southeasterly and made for perfect conditions to take the outside route. We sailed past North Captiva Island and Cayo Costa Island and reentered the inside waterway at Boca Grande Pass. Our original plan for the evening was to anchor at Cayo Costa near the Ranger’s Station where we had stayed on our trip down the coast to Ft Myers Beach; however, our friends Karen and RL of Last Call were anchored just outside Boca Grande on Gasparilla Island for the night and encouraged us to come their way. It was a matter of taking a left or a right when we got back into the GIWW (Gulf Intracoastal Waterway) so we opted to take the left and went to Boca Grande.
We could see Last Call as soon as we came through the pass. She was anchored just outside the GIWW. RL had said that with their draft of 5 feet they did not know if they could get into the channel so they stayed outside. We sounded our way into the channel, by the golf course and around the bend where it opened up slightly into an area with mangrove trees on one side and a couple of docks on the other.
There were about six other boats anchored Mediterranean style with their bows facing into the channel and their sterns tied to the mangroves. By 6 pm we were secured in our anchorage and dropped the dinghy to travel back out into the main waterway to visit RL and Karen. They welcomed us aboard, showed us around the boat and gave us some visitor’s information regarding Boca Grande.
They had enjoyed their day here by renting bicycles and checking the place out. Tomorrow they were on their way north a few miles to join in a local celebration at Fisherman’s Village so we knew we would not see them in the morning. We watched a brilliant sunset aboard Last Call – Karen even brought out her conch horn to blow just as the sun went down.
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