Marco Island

It is Spring Break time in Florida. Ft. Myers Beach was nice because we had so much fun seeing my Aunt Marilyn, Uncle Wes, Brian and Dixie Smith all from Minnesota. But the place was full of college kids and it was time we moved south. It is an easy 35 miles run down the west coast of Florida to Marco Island. We are glad we are here, as it is great.

The Big Cat Express (above) is docked each night, at the marina we are staying at in Marco. This big cat runs 80-100 people down to Key West each morning in about two hours. You can gamble on the way down, enjoy Key West, and come back the same evening. The photos don't do it justice. Each hull stands 15 ft. above the water line, so it easily handles the Gulf at speeds around 40 kts.

We have really enjoyed Marco Island. It has all the things we enjoy/want/need in a location. We can ride our bikes just 10 minutes to all the shopping we need....a Publix, West Marine, and wine store. We can take the dinghy out to a number of beautiful white soft beaches for shelling, or just enjoying the scenery. We found a spot today off Capri Pass that we could pull the ding on to the backside of a beach with great soft white sand, but walk over to the ocean side where there are tons of shells. This would be a perfect gunk-hole to spend the day with the grandkids. They would love it.

The last two days have been beautiful with light winds and the temperature in the mid 80's. But we wanted to enjoy Marco and not rush our way south. Tomorrow we are ready to move to Goodland, then anchor in the Shark River, and wait for the forecast winds to get below 15. Crossing Florida Bay on the way to Marathon would be no fun at all with seas at 3-4 ft. and 15+ kt. winds. Unfortunately that is the forecast for the next three days. Patience...right? Maybe we'll hang in Marco for a while longer and enjoy this island while we wait for King Neptune to behave. Patience