After a quiet night at Otter Key, we pulled anchor at 0715 for the 52.4 mile trip in the ICW to Cayo Costa. In the morning, the ICW was quiet, but traffic really started to pick up around 1100.

We enjoyed a nice cruise at about 10 mph. We had to slow down quite a few times for no wake zones and bridges, but it was an easy cruise. We had to ask one draw bridge and one swing bridge to open for us. In both cases, the bridge tenders were super nice and we barely had to wait at all.

We picked up some dolphins in our wake three times. The first time was a single dolphin and he was the biggest one we’ve seen. He also had some unique moves in the way he ducked into the waves. Another time was a mom and her calf. The third time was a pod of four. It never gets old.

We arrived at Pelican Bay at mid-tide. We followed the notes to come in very close to the shore on the starboard side. With 8 or 9 other boats already in the anchorage, we figured it was going to be OK. The shallowest depth we saw on the way in was about 7 feet. We decided to poke around a little and find a good spot. After churning up a bit of sand as our depth alarms blared, we retreated back to near the entrance to anchor for the night. The hook set well and we relaxed.

At almost high tide, we set out for the 3.5 mile dinghy ride south to explore the famed “tunnel of love.” It is a little creek through the mangroves to a small interior lake where you are a short 100 yards or so from the gulf shore. We found the entrance with about a foot of water under us and pushed up the creek. The water was crystal clear and the little black crabs scurried up the mangrove roots as we passed. It wasn’t an easy ride as we pushed through the branches and occasional spider webs, but it was really cool. If we went again, we’d be sure to take a boat hook because we had to push off of branches that had black crabs scurrying about them.

Finally, the creek opened into the promised lake. We beached the dinghy on the bank on the west side and walked over to the beach. Before we stepped off the dinghy, we heard the thumping music of a party in progress. When we reached the beach, there were about 30 kids with 5 boats rafting right off shore. The kids were wading in the water, sunning on the boats, drinking beer, and generally having a good time.

We scooted a little way north of the party and enjoyed a bit of time in the water. The water was a bit chilly, but clear as glass with plenty of shells to pick through. When we had our fill, we packed up, went back through the tunnel of love, and made our way back to Our Dash. After another beautiful sunset, an incredibly bright moon rose in the east as we fell off to sleep after another great day on the Loop.