Pipe Creek

4-16-2013

We had a short ride to Pipe Creek and wanted to get there at high tide, so we left at 9:00 am. We had a great ride with calm seas. We got to our anchorage at about 10:30. It was a little “skinny” getting in but we made it ok. David said he showed 6” under his keel in one spot. He had decided if he got stuck, he’d wait till the tide came up so he could drift off. Luckily, we didn’t have to use that technique.

 

For the boat that has everything---a slide!

We took a long dinghy ride into Pipe Creek. It is amazing and of course, I didn’t have my camera. We saw a beautiful island that you could stand on in about 1” of water and be completely surrounded by beautiful blue water all around. We saw starfish, sharks, rays, and fantastic beaches. We found some boats moored in a place that looked like they were sitting on the beach, the water around them was so clear. It was a great trip and I kept seeing places that I wanted to take pictures of. I won’t do that again!

We went by a private island that was for the “rich and famous”. They had dug a channel to the island. So we went inside. They had a marina, dock with a HUGE sailboat, sandy beach, a putting green, and several guest “cottages" that were bigger than our house in NC, a large “solar farm”, several windmills, and a mansion.  They had even dug an “inlet” to use with the dinghy. We saw several water planes coming in and out while we were here. Guess that’s how they get to and from the island.

We went snorkeling around “The Mice”, and it was great. We saw beautiful coral—some brain and some Elkhorn, lots of fish, and hundreds of conch! Yes, hundreds! If only we liked conch! Shay said he’d seen more conch in this one place in an hour, than he’d ever seen before in his entire life! Emma took some pictures but they were blurry so, maybe next time.

This lighthouse actually worked!

FFF in a beautiful anchorage!

This is the FFF security anchor team! And we appreciate them.

We anchored in the green area. We went snorkeling in "The Mice".



It's getting cloudy.

 
We had a traditional English meal with FFF. We had “toad in the hole”, smashed potatoes, and cabbage. David said it was one of his favorite meals. The “toad in the hole”, for those of you that don’t know, is Yorkshire pudding with sausage baked in it. We enjoyed it all. We took brownies for dessert and they were a big hit, as always. 

We are leaving in the morning and I am sad. I would love to explore the area longer, but as we’ve said before, we have lots of places to see and a limited amount of time. Remember, our insurance says north of Florida before June 1^st. I would love to snorkel more and go back to “baby shark beach” and see if we can see the shark.