Day 2: Hoagen Key to Wiggins Pass, 45 miles
Hoagen Key is a beautiful and welcoming place for paddlers. It is maintained by a Watertriber.
P3020140
In the morning we met PenguinMan, an engineer for Hobie who uses the EC to refine the design of their Adventure Island and Tandem Island boats. We did not know it at the time, but the other tent belonged to AlexO, whom we would encounter several times along the way, and would play an important role at the end of our journey.
I did our morning cooking as Lauren packed up. We ate two Mountain House backpacker meals, and filled the mocha thermos and hot meal thermos for later. We got underway just before 7 AM.
Our planned route was modeled after the route that Macatawa took in 2013. He headed east through Charlotte Harbor to Matlacha Pass to avoid the traffic and afternoon winds on Pine Island Sound. However, the east wind was blowing down Charlotte harbor, so we opted to head straight south down Pine Island Sound, hoping the east wind would last and give us a fast beam reach.
P3020154
P3020163
P3020166
P3020166
After crossing Charlotte Harbor, we met JustSurf and Mexican again.
It seemed that the Charlotte Harbor crossing was a little hairy on the standup paddle board. We were impressed by JustSurf's skill on the SUP.
We paddled right past the Cabbage Key Inn, home of the Cheeseburger in Paradise of Jimmy Buffet fame. It was a little early for lunch, though...
P3020181
Our pleasant beam reach gradually turned into a headwind as we paddled on into the heat of the afternoon.
P3020182
Time for another Spiz break.
The wind was forecast to continue coming around to the west, so we formulated a plan to cut across the ICW to point Ybel, on the east end of Sanibel Island, and from there to shave some miles by making a big crossing on the Gulf, sailing over to Big Carlos Pass or even on to Wiggins Pass if conditions held.
Crossing the ICW in afternoon traffic was like crossing a highway. We paddled up to a channel marker, where we would not get run over, and waited for an opening in the traffic. Then we paddled our little hearts out before the next speeding motorboat appeared.
We stopped briefly on Sanibel Island to transfer some water from our reserves. The water supply was running low due to the hot conditions.
JustSurf and Mexican caught us again. "Is this the way to Key Largo"? "I hope so..."
P3020200
We wanted to refill our water supply, but were not sure where the nearest opportunity was. I believed that the lighthouse on Point Ybel was a park that might have water. A woman fishing from her back yard confirmed that this was the case.
We paddled under the Sanibel Causeway, dodging more motor boats, and the forecast west wind began to fill in. We landed on the beach at Point Ybel amid sunbathing families, and asked where the restrooms were located. After a short walk up the boardwalk, I found an outdoor shower, and happily washed the salt out of my paddling clothes. JustSurf walked up a minute later. He was asking if there was a store nearby, and not getting much useful information from the beachgoers. He was tired, and not looking forward to the crossing on the Gulf.
Back at the beach, I ran some candy bars over to him. We had more food than we needed, and I could not imagine how he carried enough food and water on his SUP. We looked at the chart and discussed the options for the crossing. I hurried back to the boat, not wanting to miss the opportunity for a perfect sail across.
The crossing to Big Carlos Pass was about 8 miles. Sailing conditions were perfect with a 10 kt west wind. The passes can be hazardous to enter from the Gulf, due to tidal currents and breaking waves, but with light winds in the forecast and seas under 2 ft, we were optimistic.
P3020209
P3020213
The sailing was so good that we stopped paddling, and got some good eating, drinking, and resting time.
P3020228
As we neared Big Carlos Pass, conditions were still good, so we continued on toward Wiggins Pass. We would arrive just after dark, but since it was calm, we did not expect to have issues entering the pass.
P3020237
Conditions were so nice that we discussed whether we should continue into the night past Wiggins Pass. The wind was forecast to shift to the south the next day, which would make the 23 mile passage down the Naples coast difficult. We were feeling tired after only four hours of sleep and two big days, so we decided to stick with the plan and camp at Wiggins Pass.
We were unaware that a friend of Lauren's family was watching us from their rental condo as we approached Wiggins Pass at sunset. They also saw NiteNavigator and WhiteCaps enter the pass just ahead of us, but we did not see them.
Our entry into Wiggins Pass in the dark was not graceful. We ran aground on a sandbar, and dragged across. A voice from the darkness said, "There's deeper water to your right". Then we were amazed by a very strong tidal current running out of the pass. We paddled as hard as we could to make our way against the current. Finally, we circled around the steep beach and found some other Watertribers. BustedRudder was just settling in for the night, and CWolfe pulled in shortly after.
Little did we know that NiteNavigator and WhiteCaps were camped on the south side of the pass, and would head out at midnight. We also learned later that MicroTom and WaterLilly passed by on the Gulf shortly after our arrival, and saw us camped on Spot Buddy, but they decided to take advantage of good conditions and press on through the night.
Having slept only four hours the night before, we decided to indulge ourselves and set the alarm for 6.5 hours of sleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment