Finally the red tide has subsided in our area and the temperatures have dropped below the 90’s! We survived another scathing summer here in Southwest Florida and are happy to report that we finally made it off the dock last weekend. It was a short weekend trip but just enough time to decompress and enjoy some new surroundings.

Of course, without fail, we had a small front kick up some wind that weekend changing our cruising plans a bit. While trying to dock at Ballard Oil Company to take on some fuel, we had a bit of a crash landing with the current and wind which crunched the rub rail of Blue Turtle. This was the first time in 6 years that we actually caused physical damage to Blue Turtle and and it broke my heart a little. The good news is we already have someone lined up to replace the wood and repair the damage so BT will be good as new. After being on the dock so long and maybe being a bit rusty, this was a very good reminder of how strong the current can be and a good lesson learned.

Instead of heading to New Pass like we had planned, we decided to stay on the inside and cruise toward Lover’s Key, past Big Carlos Pass. Randy found us a new little anchorage to try out on the backside of Lover’s Key and it turned out to be fabulous. We were close to the Lover’s Key Resort where we dinghied into shore to have dinner at Flippers on The Bay and we were still only a short dinghy ride to New Pass for a beach day.

Even though it was a bit breezy we still had an amazing dinghy ride and beach day at New Pass. Instead of beaching the dinghy in the pass as we usually do, we took a back way to the beach where we ran into our neighbor Joe on his charter boat. We spent a breezy couple of hours at the beach before scooting back to our little floating home to grill up some dinner and watch the sunset on the bridge.

After our awesome day at the beach, it was time to head home. First order of business was a little salvage diving. I had accidentally dropped my Costa sunglasses in the water the previous evening. Thankfully, Randy acted quickly and immediately threw in an anchor with a buoy attached to it where I dropped them. The next morning, Randy suited up in his dive gear and headed over to the marker to dive. Within 5 minutes he found them! It took him longer to suit up than to actually find my sunglasses. It’s always handy to have a salvage diver on board when you live on a boat.

After the salvage dive, we reluctantly headed back to the marina. Once docked and cleaned up it was time for happy hour and our gracious neighbors invited us over to their bridge for cocktails and great conversation. Even at the dock, the boat life is never boring.

Check out our video of our dinghy ride to New Pass