From Acorn To Arabella.
In this week’s episode, we say goodbye to Sanibel Island and the beautiful “Ding” Darling Wilderness, and we set sail for Florida’s Ten Thousand Islands, an archipelago just north of and adjacent to the Everglades.
It felt great to raise the sails after so much motoring. We enjoyed a lively, adventurous sail for the full 70-mile journey south, and even got a surprise burst of wind that carried us right into the Panther Key anchorage at the end of the day.
Arabella isn’t the only wooden sailboat we have access to—our tender, Victoria, also has a sail rig…so we sailed her over to Dismal Key in search of some ancient Calusa shell mounds. It took us some time to find a spot where we could safely get to shore, but we eventually found a faint trail that led us up past an old shelter and provided a path through the harsh island environment. No sign of rattlesnakes, fortunately!
From Dismal Key, we sailed Victoria to a few private white sand beaches, and to a sandbar for Akiva’s running and playing pleasure 😉
Eventually, the time was ripe to break out the saltwater fly rod and try our hand at catching a few fish. We have no idea what they were, but we caught-and-released a few small fish.
Sailing to the Ten Thousand Islands was a unique experience, and we enjoyed a few days of total relaxation in a breathtaking location. 10 out of 10 would recommend.
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Acorn to Arabella started as a wooden boat building project in Granby, Massachusetts. Steve began the journey as an amateur wooden boat builder crafting a 38′ wooden sailboat in his backyard: designer William Atkin’s Ingrid with a Stormy Petrel’s gaff rig. These videos follow the journey from tree felling, to lumber milling, to lofting, to the lead keel pour and now sailing the boat—sharing details of the woodworking, carpentry, metal smithing, tool building, and tool maintenance that traditional wooden boats command. This ultimate DIY project continues beyond the boat shop, as Steve and crew travel and learn to cruise aboard the handmade wooden boat that they’ve built. Just kidding about all that, this channel is about a Siberian Laika named Akiva.
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