report from Marathon

Hello, dear blog readers,
We have made it to Boot Key Harbor in Marathon, FL, in the "middle keys".  I am unable to upload my photos from Fort Meyers to here into the blog at this time.  Not sure what to do next, so I am going to write a brief narrative, just to get something down, and hope we can resolve the issue soon. 

From Fort Meyers, we went to Fort Meyers Beach and scored a mooring ball.  We had a mini Minnesota reunion at Bonita Bills, meeting up with Kay and Bob, neighbor Paul, and Dean and Missy.  Bought 5 pounds of shrimp at $14/pound at Trico Seafood, nestled among the shrimping fleet. 

Next stop was the Naples City Dock, where we had not stopped before, a lovely and very upscale city, we wandered about, went to a great Farmers Market and had some good pizza.  From there we tried to take the old Naples-Marco ICW back channel, but after running around twice, decided there was just too much shoaling, the tide was too low, so we came out and went to Marco Island on the outside.  Calm seas, it was a good cruise, but we still prefer the ICW routes to the open water, just more to look at.  At Marco Island, we anchored in a small back bay, where there was a dinghy dock at the Winn Dixie (nice!) ...

We were traveling with Once Upon a Time, their guests had left at Naples, and by this time we were all sick with a wicked "cold" or "flu" or whatever.  But travel we must, so on we went to Everglades City.  This little community is less than an hour from Naples, but when you go there by boat, it feels like you are in the middle of nowhere.  We wanted to visit the Rod and Gun Club, a historic inn on the water, so we spent the night at their dock.  Overpriced, the shower had no light, no TP, no paper towels.  In the early morning the fishing boats went out with no regard for their wakes, bouncing us off the pilings.  But we saw the Club and toured the museum. 

From there, boats traveling to the Keys almost all stop at the Little Shark River, one of our favorites, in the middle of the Everglades, very remote.  The next day, we crossed Florida Bay and came into Marathon.  There was a waiting list of 20 to get on a mooring ball, so we are anchored adjacent to the mooring field and are now #11 on the list.  We've been out a bit with Susan and Brent, but we are all still recovering our health.  Today our niece, Pam and her husband Darin are arriving to stay with us for a week.  It's been cloudy, but today the blue skies returned.  As always, stay well.