Dolphins, Bugs, and Crab Pots

We left our anchorage at Marco Island headed for Marathon, Florida. Unfortunately, Lollipop is not fast enough to make this trip during daylight in one day, so we anchored at Little Shark River in the Everglades National Park. Other boaters told us to beware of the bugs, so we checked our bug spray before leaving Marco Island. The trip to Little Shark River was 67 miles in the open Gulf of Mexico waters, and it took Lollipop 8 hours and 11 minutes. Our average speed was 9.1 mph, close to Lollipop’s top speed. Along the way, we dodged many crab pots. They were everywhere, or so we thought. Below is a link to the log for that day’s trip:

When we got to Little Shark River, the wind blew in from the gulf. The winds kept the bugs away, and we could be outside in the cockpit and watch for animals. On the way to Little Shark River, we traveled along with a fellow looper boat. After we both anchored, we invited them over to Lollipop for a visit. We showed them the boat and talked until just after dark. Well, when we opened the door, we found the famous bugs. Luckily we didn’t have to go outside again until the following day to retrieve the anchor.

The next morning we sprayed ourselves with bug spray and ventured outside to pull up the anchor. We were swarmed immediately. It didn’t matter that we sprayed with bug spray. You just had to hold your breath and pull the anchor as fast as you could.

Once we got back on the gulf, the bugs disappeared. That’s when the four dolphins started playing in the wake on Lollipop’s bow. I took photos and videos of them and just watched them play until they disappeared.

The crab pots were back again as soon as we left the Everglades National Park waters. The journey from Little Shark River to Marathon was 47 miles over the open gulf. See below for our journey log:

The closer we got to Marathon, the thicker the crab pots got. There were 3 or 4 different strings, all in one place in some places. They set them in lines and have these 6 inch balls to mark the pot. I think each fisherman has a different color scheme for their pots. Some pots were easy to spot. Some were not. The danger to Lollipop is if a crab pot’s line gets hung in the props, it will shut an engine down with the tangled line.

We also went through a spot labeled an environmentally sensitive area on the charts. There were thousands of birds in this area, seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

We were glad to get to Marathon, the Southernmost part of our journey.