Cowpens Anchorage

Yesterday we left Sunset Cove and the ICW and sailed up to the west side of Butternut Key. We anchored in 5 feet of beautiful turquoise water just off the mangroves.  After feeling confident the anchor was holding, we went ashore, Tom towing me in the water behind the dinghy.  Only later did I read that this is an area where numerous small sharks hang out.  So I guess I would have been great bait for Tom to catch a shark.  Fortunately he's not much of a fisherman.

We waded along the shore a while, examining the flotsam contained there, until we found a small break in the mangroves that looked as if we might be able to get into the interior where there was supposed to be a pond.  The sand we walked in was very sticky.  I've never actually seen quicksand, but that is what came to mind as our feet were sucked down into the bottom.  We had to take our water shoes off in order to avoid losing them in the suction.

Eventually we clawed our way in a short distance, acquiring a few scratches as we did so.  There was indeed a pond, but it was devoid of any wildlife that we could see.  We wondered how this walk would have been in the summer with biting insects attacking us along with the sand and mangrove roots.  Apparently I need to start reading our guidebooks ahead of time though.  In addition to the shark issue, I later read that it is illegal to go ashore on any of these uninhabited islands, especially those in the Everglades National Park.  Oops!

Oprey on her nest

Back at the shoreline, we got back in the dinghy and explored the other side of the island, disturbing two ospreys on nests.  There were two white herons, a pelican, and a roseate spoonbill, but otherwise not much to see.  As we were returning to the boat, another catamaran sailed by heading somewhere north of the key.  This and one other sailboat anchored quite a ways away were our only "neighbors." 


Tom returned to cleaning the rust off our lifelines and trying to loosen the jib sheet car on the starboard side in order to replace some worn rollers.  We had been able to repair the port side rollers, but this one is proving a bit more cantankerous, even after multiple soakings with P B Blaster.  As promised, here are the pictures of projects we completed recently on the boat:

Teak tiles at the deck entrance  to the salon

The connections for the chart plotter - no more wires running everywhere

Just one of the many beautiful sunsets we've seen in the Keys