Marathon to Fort Myers

Marathon

We had planned to move on but we ended up staying tied up to the mangroves in Marathon for a while longer.  The winds picked up again which would have made travelling uncomfortable. Since we are not on a schedule or had anywhere in particular we HAD to be we figured, what the hey, and stayed put.  It turned out to be a fun stay!  There were about twenty boats tied up in Sister's Creek alongside us and we enjoyed their camaraderie.

Marathon is a crazy place to spend time as a boater.  It's just sooooo crowded!  They have two dinghy docks to service the large mooring field and all the boats anchored around waiting for a spot.  It's great fun to watch people park when it's so crowded.  They just line up a spot between two dinghies and hit the throttle.  Sometimes they make it in successfully, sometimes not so much!

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We finally got to meet Randy and Sherry from the boat Priorities. They are good friends of our friends Jim and Mimi, who we travelled with a great deal on our loop trip.  When Jim and Mimi weren't with us, they were often with Randy and Sherry.  It was fun to finally catch up.  We'd heard so much about them.

We spent our time in Marathon visiting with friends and exploring all the little canals and lagoons.  One day, after dinghy 'sploring looking for a good manatee picture with not much luck, we tied up to Randy & Sherry's boat for a visit.  I climbed aboard and Jeff, still in the dinghy, turned around and there they were!  Two big ones coming right for him and then under the dinghy!  I could see them quite clearly from up on the boat.  They are such magnificent, gentle creatures...  even if they do look a little like cucumbers.

Tavernier

Not being ones to pass up on an opportunity for a good visit with friends, we eventually cast off and made our way to Tavernier to catch up with the crew of Fugitive, our Ontario friends Brian and Janice.  We anchored in a little bay in about three, yup, count 'em, THREE feet of water, surrounded by liveaboards.  We were warned by some of the other boaters that the bottom was loose mud and didn't hold well. There were some of those seemingly ever-present strong Northerlies forecasted to be blowing in so we were a little nervous but Gran Vida, once again, held well.  She's awesome.  After a great evening with Brian and Janice, complete with a very impressive light show (had to be there, Brian got a coo,l high powered flashlight for Christmas), we were off at first light in the morning to make our way to the Everglades National Park.

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Everglades National Park

We spent the next several days exploring Everglades National Park.  First stop was Flamingo, right on the most southern tip of mainland Florida.  One would expect to see, um, lots of Flamingos there? Not to be.  Apparently there are no wild Flamingos left in Florida as they were wiped out in the early 1900s (they're still in the Caribbean and Mexico though).  But we got lucky!  Apparently, much to the excitement of park staff (and us!) two Flamingos just happened to have dropped in and were spotted in a quiet corner of the park. Off we went! (a little bit of Jane Hathaway from the Beverly Hillbilly's lives in us.  We love this stuff).  To get there we had to dinghy a long channel (with dolphins swimming along right beside us. I could have reached out and touched them. what a hoot!) and then row the rest of the way in the strong winds, as combustible engines are not allowed in this section of the park. Despite Jeff's valiant effort rowing against really strong winds and the heartfelt encouragement of the "coxman", we ran out of water and the dinghy pretty much hit bottom.  Darn.  But we did see them from a distance.... we think....

Don't laugh.  Despite our determination this is the best picture we could manage.  Most of the pink birds here are Roseate Spoonbills, native to Florida.  But to the naked eye we could see one was a different shade of pink and bigger.  That was the Flamingo we figure...  That's our story and we're sticking to it!

After much dinghy 'sploring in the mangroves over the past few weeks looking for a crocodile we finally found one swimming just outside the visitor centre in the park.  Jeez.  You can identify them by the pointy snout and flat head.

We made our way north to Shark River and then to Everglade City, where they were having their Seafood Festival. Great live music was enjoyed.  We eventually plotted north and ended up anchored just off the southern tip of Estero Island, where Fort Myers Beach is.  We dinghied the five miles or so up to visit friends we had made there last year and, of course, check out a few happy hours with them.

We were the only boat in our large anchorage, which was open to the west.  We knew a storm was possibly blowing in from the southwest but we figured we'd be slightly protected there. What's the worst that could happen?  (Oh, never mind).  On the radar the storm looked a little north of us and there was only a fifty-nine percent chance it would hit us at all.

Well, winds change.  We got hammered.  At about five in the morning we lay awake side by side with eyes wide open and lightning crashing all around us. The boat was bucking like a bronco.  It was one of the few times I felt nervous on the boat.  But storms are storms. They happen on land or at sea. In a situation like that we usually feel safer anchored out in a big anchorage. The boat can swing with the wind and even if the anchor does drag a bit it usually will catch again. There's nothing around us to bump into!  It passed.  We were fine.  

We arrived in Fort Myers to the welcoming greetings of  tons of friends. This is a popular marina and we were glad to see so many familiar faces. We're booked in here for a month, which will give us a chance to get a few boat projects done, catch up with friends and just relax.  Perfect. Sounds like a Gran Vida to us!