Newfound Harbor to Shark River

1/31/13
Well, my boat adventures of late have been near the house. My 37 Nordic Tug is ready for another adventure, as am I!

I anchored in Newfound Harbor for an early start to Shark River. There is a very short weather window between the heavy easterly winds of the past few days, and the heavy NW winds due this afternoon. I would like to be underway during the night, but there are SO many crab floats, that I decide to wait until it will at least be daylight, going under the Bahia Honda bridge and into Florida Bay.

As I exited Newfound Harbor to run through Hawks Channel to Bahia Honda, the wind was already in the SW. Looking at the weather radar on the iPad, I knew the NW winds would catch me before I made Little Shark River.

I hugged the coast a little tighter to block the winds that had gone N rather than the predicted 30 kt NW. Since I stayed in about ten feet of water much of the way, it never really got rough, just choppy. By the time I pulled into the Little Shark River, the MERCY's deck was covered in grass, much like a kids wagon that has been parked downwind of someone mowing the lawn.

I love pulling into the protected creeks of the Everglades. Even with a small craft advisory in Floriday Bay, the anchorage here is tranquil, and deserted I might add. I went up the river about a mile to anchor, rinsing the grass off the decks as I idled in.

After securing the MERCY, we took the 19' Whaler exploring around for about an hour before returning to grill some pork chops.

Around sunset, the river became a flyway for flocks of ibis, as well as some pelicans, and a few other species. It was a little dark for my automatic sensor on my camera, but you get the idea.

Tomorrow evening I pick up two friends in Flamingo with the Whaler, to take the MERCY up into Tarpon Bay for a day.