Dry Tortugas to Cape Coral 3/9-10/2015

We learned that it was easy to sail to the Dry Tortugas but difficult to sail back to the Keys.  Boats kept arriving but nobody could leave except for the planes and the Key West Fast Ferry......Finally we decided to give it a try and sailed out in 10-15 knots from the east with 4-5 waves.  We headed to Key West but could only do 3 knots.  We changed our course to Marco but it was still slow so we headed to Cape Coral and sailed all day and night.  We came in on Tuesday morning at 5:00 and decided to anchor.  When we turned on the engine we knew something was wrong......We anchored, turned off the engine and after 21 hours with no sleep Walt replaced the blown impeller.  Wow, off to anchor in front of the Westin Hotel where we stayed for 3 days.  Larry Stange, a cruising friend who now lives in Cape Coral, brought us a beautiful red, white and blue cruising spinnaker and whisker pole plus SSB radio.  Thanks, Larry!  We also went to Rumrunners on the Cape Coral waterfront to have lunch with colleagues from Dansville, Pat & Jack, and Sandy.  Shafers visited our boat later.