Little Shark River

Monday February 11, 2013
25 19.712 N
81 08.758 W

We were up and running by 9 AM. As usual "everyone" had left before us. That always worries me "What do they know that we do not?" The run from the 10K Islands anchorage to the Little Shark River was about 40 NM in a straight line. It was another nice day, sunny with 10-15 knot SE winds.

Deidre, Kylie and I had visited LSR in the Bayliner back in 1995 (?). I must have been a lot braver in those days, or maybe just nuts. The LSR is about as far from civilization as you can get in the USA. It is natural beauty, but very isolated and really quite scary. Best not to take a swim, and better in a 35 ton boat that a 3 ton boat.

The run to the LSR was uneventful. We averaged a good 7 kts but could not keep up with Sariana and so they anchored before us in the river.

LSR Anchorage

This area was hit by a hurricane in recent history. When we were here in 1995 the river was lined with 60' high mangroves, thick as the Amazon, with all sorts of "mysterious" waterways in and out and under. Lots of gators (I am told!) But the forest of mangroves had been smashed by the hurricane and there were dead trees and logs all over. We were advised to equip the anchor with a "trip" because there were lots of snags in the river. As it turned out, we had quite a bit of trouble setting the anchor and eventually I just gave up and let it sit as it landed. The evening was very calm inside the anchorage but Tide Hiker sure did a lot of "dancing" during the night but we did not drag.

This evening it was Sariana's turn to host so we visited them for drinks and snacks. Its interesting to go on other boats and see what equipment they have and hear their maintenance issues. For a bookkeeper like me its all very intimidating. And Deidre will not let me talk about toilet maintenance any more, so I do not have that much to contribute.

I got up at 6AM and took a pee of the stern. By the time I got back into bed I was itching all over. The no-see-ums were vicious and we did not venture outside again ti the sun was well up.