Sunday, February 5th

Our destination today is the City of Naples, 37 miles to the south of our anchorage near St. James City.  Our course takes us through the "Miserable Mile", an east-west dredged channel in the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway that runs perpendicular to prevailing wind and current.  Living up to its reputation, a 2 knot current sets Cutter Loose to the north, requiring constant course correction to remain in the channel. 

The eastern end of the Miserable Mile is an important nautical junction.  Here, the Intracoastal Waterway continues east into the Caloosahatchee River and on to Fort Myers and Lake Okeechobee, a shortcut to the east coast of Florida.  To the north lies Matlacha Pass and the ultra-thin waters of the Matlacha National Wildlife Refuge.  Our course today, however, takes us south under the Sanibel Causeway Bridge and into San Carlos Bay.

Once under the bridge, Matanzas Pass, the entrance to Fort Myers Beach, is clearly visible to the east.   Somewhere in there, boat buddies aboard Catspaw and CAVU are on a mooring ball in the harbor, dreaming of a Patriot victory in Super Bowl XLVI.  It would be fun to see them again and watch the game together.  But the attraction of a new harbor 20 miles to the south exerts a magnetic pull on Cutter Loose.

[caption id="attachment_2938" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Gordon Pass mega-homes"][/caption]

We enter Gordon Pass, the entrance channel to Naples harbor, in calm water.  To our delight, the channel is deep and well-buoyed.  The elegant homes fronting on Gordon Pass compete with one another for our attention.  Just beyond daymark 21, we follow a residential canal to the west into an attractive anchorage.  Cutter Loose is surrounded by multi-million dollar waterfront properties, each of which give the appearance of a photo shoot for the cover of a Frontgate catalog.  We gaze at our surroundings until sunset, then retire to the salon where we enjoy a quiet dinner and watch the Patriots fall to the Giants.  We extend our condolences to the Patriot fans aboard Catspaw and CAVU.

[caption id="attachment_2937" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Setting the hook on Super Bowl Sunday in Naples"][/caption]

From this attractive setting, we rest comfortably with the knowledge that we are within two miles of Naples Boat Club where we have reserved a slip for Monday and Tuesday.