Handed to Us

We had a fun and relaxing extra day in Marco Island.  We walked up to West Marine from Rose Marina where you can dinghy dock for $5.00 per day.  I got some fishing supplies to replace all that was lost on Monday.  They did not have a circuit breaker like we need for the macerator pump though, and we forgot to check about a cup for the First Mate's seat.  Napa didn't have the circuit breaker either, but they did have an in-line fuse for our Auto Pilot replacement parts coming.
We decided we would go to Snook's for dinner, looking forward to the lobster macaroni and cheese.  This is the first place we ever had it.  We were disappointed to find out it was no longer on the menu.  So we just had an appetizer and went back to Marco Island Brewery but we didn't have pizza this time.
At 6:30 this morning Ray lifted the anchor by hand once again.  We traveled through the marked channel among the mangroves by Goodland and out Coon Key Pass.  We thought this way would help keep us closer to shore so the waves wouldn't be so bad.  Remember we stayed that extra day in Marco Island so we wouldn't have to do it in Little Shark River in order to make Thursday and Friday's travel days better.  We didn't say today would be okay, right?  The seas were predicted to be two to three feet with an occasional four footer.  All boaters say that you should add those together.  That was probably close to true.  The good thing was that the waves were directly at the bow.  The bad thing was that we had to slow down to be able to ride them.  It took us almost 12 hours to go 61 miles.  It was like riding a bull for almost that long without the spinning.  Therefore we saw sunrise and sunset.
We got into Little Shark River at about 6:00 p.m.  There was already a boat in there.  We presumed it was one we saw closer to shore today.  Ray dropped the anchor and as soon as we thought it was set we went below deck to escape the bugs.  We ended up running the generator all night as the winds laid down and the humidity was stifling.  It took us a little while to get the air conditioners running.  You see, on a boat air conditioners pick up the sea water and cycle it through for the cooling process.  That pick up/intake is at about mid-ship for us.  If you get air in that pick up line it creates a vacuum and they will not work.  That is exactly what happened.  We came so far out of the water on the waves that air got into that line.  This is the second time this has ever happened to us.