Marco Island

February 23, 2014

Marco Island

Wow!  Some days are just meant for cruising and today was such a day.  Warm sunshine, a gentle breeze, calm water.  It was a spectacular day to be on the water.  

We got up early, excited to get going, only to watch a morning fog roll in.  No worries.  That gave us time for long showers and slow coffees.  By 9:30 it had lifted and with the help of Connie and Bernie, from Distant Shores, we were off.

We had just a perfect day on the water with dolphins putting on our own personal water show on and off all day.  We saw several sea turtles but they were pretty camera shy.

By about 3:30 we were approaching the main channel into North Marco Island. Jeff hailed BoatUS on the VHF and sought advice on the depth of the channel that goes behind Marco Island to Goodland.  We got the green light from them and it was approaching high tide, so even though it looked pretty "thin" on the charts we ventured in.  We had a few “interesting” moments but squeaked through without sanding the bottom of the boat.

For tonight we are anchored in about six feet of water and after dinner onboard we’ll spend the evening checking out the local bar.  Rumour has it that it has a lot of “old Florida charm” and is full of local characters.  Apparently there is some sort of special dance form that is practiced here in the bar.  It sure has piqued my curiosity!

Another mainship just anchored beside us, and then low and behold, our old looper friends Mike and Marian from Midas Touch just pulled in as well.  We hadn't seen them in months.  Looping is like that, we leap-frog along and meet friends again and again.  Love it!  Now we’re all off to explore.