1/500 of the Ten Thousand Islands

[bilbo]

Yesterday my Son and I did some exploring in the Ten Thousand Islands area of FL. It's the Southwest corner of the Florida peninsula and is a bunch of mangrove islands that can only be accessed by boat. The area is very shallow and, especially as you go further south and inland, easy to get lost in. Very cool area though. I have a few photos, but I have to resize them before the forum will take them. I'll post them as soon as I can.

We arrived at Goodland Boat Park in Goodland, FL around 10AM. It's a very nice facility with a bait shop/store, nice bathrooms, etc. It's $10 to launch a boat with a motor, or $5 for non-motorized. We paid our fees and got to work rigging the boat. A lot of charter services use this launch, so it was relatively busy but the ramp itself wasn't too bad. We walked the boat off the trailer and around the corner to tie up to the dock. The dock next to the ramp is fixed, and the day dock floats, so there's a system of ramps to walk on to get from one to the other. I'm glad I had help as we leap-frogged around railings and pilings. We tied the boat off and parked the truck.

When we went back to the boat there was a charter service that rented little mini-pontoon boats sending their clients off. It was kind of hectic as they figured things out. I think we took the spot the charter operator intended to use for loading his boats, but we didn't know at the time. We got off the dock and used the motor to get out a bit before raising the sails. It was high tide, so not much current to deal with. There were jellyfish all around near the shore and docks.

After a quarter-mile or so I raised the sails. The wind was light, probably 5kt or less, and blowing straight into the pass. It was wide enough we should have easily beat our way through it but the boat was acting really weird; it wouldn't point like normal and I couldn't get the jib to set right. I went forward to look at it and saw that I put the last hank on with the sail twisted, so the head was all messed up. We only had one more tack before a reach to head South, so I let it be for the moment.

We made it through Coon Key Pass and headed South. There wasn't a lot of traffic, a few fishing boats here and there. I'll never understand why in the vastness of the Gulf of Mexico there is a need to fly by a little sailboat at 30kt. Despite a couple of those encounters it was a beauty of a day. We saw a little white beach in the mangroves and decided to check it out. I have to reconcile my GPS with the chart, but I believe it was an island called Turtle Key. The beach was a small bare spot nestled into mangroves and was really awesome. We set up our umbrella and had some lunch. The island itself was thick mangroves, so not much to explore there, but we found all sort of shells on the beach. My son found a tiny hermit crab in a conch shell no bigger than a pencil eraser. I also fixed the twisted up jib. We had it entirely to ourselves; I saw two boats go by the 3-4 hours we were there.

As the day went on, the sea breeze got started and the wind was blowing a bit stronger, probably 10kt or so. A very welcome breeze with the heat. The surf was beating on the boat a bit more, so we decided to drag up and explore some more. With the wind blowing directly onshore I decided to use the motor to get out a bit. When I went to hoist the mainsail the boltrope kept getting caught in the slot. Then it got caught somewhere about 3/4 of the way up the mast. I ended up taking it completely down and trying again, then it finally raised the entire way. I am now really hating this boltrope business and I'm extremely thankful I wasn't alone trying to do that. We finally got all the sails up and were underway.

We had spotted another island on the GPS called Gullivan Key and went to check it out. This island had a nice long sandbar, so I could beach the boat on the side opposite the Gulf and didn't have to deal with the surf or wind as much. We only spent a short time here as I had to get back home for work, but collected some shells and watched fish jumping in the tidal mud bay near the sandbar. We saw a few other people set up on islands nearby with beach umbrellas. When it was time to go we just turned the boat around and sailed away from the beach. By now the tide was much lower and some forethought and charts would have been very helpful. We dragged the centerboard a couple of times, and thank goodness the rudder kicks up. We ended up motor-sailing a lot of the way back, especially when we got into Coon Key Pass again as we ran into some currents and not enough wind to push us through. The wind had become more Westerly and was being affected by the land on the West side of the pass. As we made our way in we saw a small flock of flamingoes picking at the tidal mud. That's the first time I've seen those outside of a zoo! There were also dolphins zooming around. Really a cool experience.

We arrived at the ramp, with about 3ft or so less water. Pretty uneventful, except my slipping on the sludge on the exposed ramp. I should know better.

It was a great day on the water, and I've identified two things I really need to remedy. The mainsail needs replacement anyway and I am going to try slugs on the new one. I also need to look at the centerboard. It got stuck a couple of times after dragging. It has happened in the past, and I can hear it bang side to side when it's not loaded, so I'm wondering if there's a worn bushing or something there. Due to the variable, shallow depth we couldn't have had it down most of the trip back anyway, but sailing without it in place is less than ideal.

I also need to take more photos. I have two kids, my oldest is 22 and youngest 13. Before I know it he'll be grown up like his brother. My favorite part of the trip was watching him explore and be curious like a kid is. He investigated the beach, the mangroves, found wildlife, and was excited about all of it. The older they get it seems it's harder to draw that out. All in all it was a fantastic, memorable day and we are already planning some return trips. This winter we might try boat-camping as the islands are open to free camping after September.

[GreenLake]

What a nice writeup. I'm reading this on the "go", so I'll have to come back to it for a more leisurely read.