You can do darn near anything with a Seacraft

[cdavisdb]

As most everybody knows, I use my Seafari primarily for diving the Bahamas. So, just to be perverse, lets go some place where there isn’t any, or at least, not much, like the Everglades. It would be a total explore, since I've never been there, or even close. Decided to do it solo since none of my diving buddies was interested and my wife hates the area. Spring is the time to do this trip, nice steady east winds off the beach, no lee shores. Yeah, right.

Boat launched out of Goodland (near Marco) on April 11th, having waited two days to avoid a rainy front. First to Panther Key, decent isolated beach. Lo and behold it had oyster beds along the shore. Had to hunt for legals, and I ate’em almost as fast as they were shucked, hard to save enough for chowder.

Next day, checked out some more spots in the 10,000 island area. One gorgeous lonely beach, thinking its was just me, until I walked around the corner and found. . . two porta-potties?? Must be more traffic here than it looks like. Next, offshore to dive(hey, I gotta at least try) some artificial reefs. Did not count on the vis being the same as inshore, about 6 inches. Oh well, next. Down to Plover Key, which seemed higher than other islands. Turned out to be an old indian shell mound, being washed away fast. On to Highland Beach quartering into a strong SE breeze. Deserted, but not so nice, muddy. Spent the night in a tiny nook just north of North Cape Sable. That sundown the Green Flash appeared for me.

Heading south, it was obvious that the land had retreated 200-600 ft. Either that, or the charts were way off to start with. Most of the charts are based on some pretty old surveys, so I was guessing erosion. Also, it was deeper close to shore than charted. Something else, there were several little nooks that were either poorly charted or not at all, some of those offered 360 degree protection for boats our size. Anybody considering this trip should go to Google Earth for up to date detail. Bugs would be impossible in summer, but this time of year, no problem.


Checked out North Cape. Deserted, very nice beach. Great shells if anybody’s wife is into that sort of thing. Funny tracks on the beach. Looked like big heavy snakes that a bear was walking beside. VERY fresh. I was baffled. Cruised down to Middle Cape and figured out what the tracks were- - - Crocodiles— BIG ones. I saw 6 or 7, all headed down the beach into the water. Most in the 5-6 ft range, but one was more like 12 ft, bloody huge! Walked the beach and lost count at about 40 tracks. Crocs go under as soon as they hit the water and don’t come back up. Given all the tracks, you couldn’t swim without swimming near a croc that you could not see. Kind of kills the desire for a dip. Decided I’d rather go see Flamingo, which wasn’t all that interesting. The marina has been fully repaired since the hurricanes, fairly well stocked, gas(including rec 90) and ice available. Food truck serving what looked pretty good. Buttonwood canal is closed, good boat ramps on either side of the dam, but you can't go through. The Park Service Center was still badly damaged and a temp facility was small and minimal. The whole trip, I was surprised at how many flats boat type fishing boats I saw, even a very long way from any possible launch point. Almost always you could hear engines off in the distance. Popular line fishing area.

Back to the entrance of Lake Ingram for the night. I intended to get well inside in the lake, but the wind was picking up, blowing straight up the lake and not comfortable to sleep in, so back to the entrance. This was the only time the bugs were challenging. Horse flies, yellow flies and lots of’em. A few mosquitos at night. Coils and mosquito repellant did their job.

Next morning was supposed to be South Cape, but the south wind was screaming and I wasn’t comfortable leaving the boat anchored on a lee shore. So up to Shark River. This is a hard place to describe. Deep rivers winding inland, tall mangroves growing straight up 50-75 feet, huge lakes way inland. Very odd vibe. I went inland to Oyster Bay, thinking I could find some oysters, no luck, just a weirdly beautiful place. Rained buckets that night.

Monday was back north, quartering into a stiff NW, cold front wind. Yeah for trim tabs, but am I doing something wrong? Bumped all the way to Pavilion Key, no crocs, nice swim and a beach walk, but I had not adjusted to a much higher tidal range than my home area and the boat was aground when I got back. Pretty soon it was REALLY aground, as in dry.

Now, when the Seafari is “dry” , it lays over about 45 degrees, not too comfortable inside the boat, especially for a wait of several hours. I had to think of something. I’d brought some wax and put it too good use. The parts of the boat that were in the shade are now a good bit shinier than they were before. Met some good-ol-boys from Deland who come down and camp for a week every year. They fed me. Nice folks. In the meantime the sun went down and I got to see the Green Flash again. Thats twice in 3 days, more times than I’d ever seen it in my life. By 9:00 pm , we were afloat once more, and got out of there to some deeper water.

Next day was perfect, light wind behind me and comfy temps. Of course it was time to go home.



A very unusual and interesting trip.