Marco Island & the Everglades

Well we ended up spending 10 days in the Marco Island area.  No big issues.  Just enjoyed it.  Greg arrived on his own from the Keys, and anchored in Smokehouse Bay the first night, then moved the boat to Marco Island Marina to await Judy and Tristan's arrival.  Unfortunately, Tristan's flight was cancelled due to weather issues in Charlotte.  Judy overnighted in a comfy hotel in Miami on her own, while Tristan slept on the bench in the airport.  Tristan arrived in Miami Friday and they drove to Marco Island arriving mid-day.




Saturday we drove to Everglades City, about 20 miles south, to partake in their seafood festival, and take an everglades air-boat tour. What a hoot that was, ripping thru the everglades at up to 50 mph.  One of the cool things about the tour operator we used is that they provided communication headsets.  Not only did it surpress the sound from the engine, but we could talk about things we saw.  One of the things we didn't see live, but we did see at the seafood festival, was an 18' long Burmese python, that inhabits the everglades. Florida had just held its annual python round-up, and captured 80 of the critters. No alligators to see though.  At this time of the year, with no rain, the water is too salty and they move further inland.  Dinner was on the boat and we visited a local Chickee-hut, Snooks Bar, to take in the live music.  And bonus fireworks!

The next day we took advantage of Tristan's rental car for a provisioning run in the morning, and then to a local beach for the first part of the afternoon.  The beach entailed a walk across a knee deep lagoon to get to the adjoining island.  Nice sand and lots of shells, but cool water.

For the latter part of the afternoon we planned to visit a bar called Stan's, which is locally famous for Sunday afternoon live music and attendance.  There were reportedly 1200 people there, with parking a long way away by the time we got there, so we just enjoyed the spectacle and moved on.

We stayed the rest of the week after Tristan left as we were awaiting a long delayed shipment.  The marina had a great pool which made it easy to stay.  Water aerobics in the morning and lounging/swimming/reading in the afternoon. Beautifully landscaped area as well, as is the majority of the island.  One of the notable trees was a Hong Kong Orchid tree, in full bloom.

Finally, Thursday, our much delayed shipment, which was originally supposed to arrive in Key West, arrived.  Folding electric bikes!  We decided quite a while ago that having bikes on the boat would make it much easier to get out to see things when we got to ports, and electric bikes would extend our range.  We got our first rides in around the parking lot to get used to the different pedal-assist settings and gear ratios.  They really move!  Up to 30 km/h and a range with a full battery of 30 km.  They can be ridden with 5 different levels of pedal assist, or none.  And they will fold up to be put in the engine room when we leave the boat for the summer.  Looking forward to getting a good ride on them.

With our bikes aboard, we got underway from Marco Island, continuing north, with next stop Naples, which is less than 20 miles away. We will continue on to Fort Myers to meet Greg's sister Denise, who is arriving for a visit.

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