2-24 to 2-26 Ft. Meyers to Indian Key (in the 10,000 Islands near Everglades City)

The ICW going south from Ft. Meyers is too shallow for our boat so we headed “outside”. It was a beautiful day to be out there, for several hours there was no land in sight. I brought one of our fold up camping chairs to the fore deck and discovered my new favorite place to hang out.



We anchored in an absolutely beautiful spot, tucked in among the undeveloped mangrove islands with no one else in sight.




Sharks, alligators and water moccasins lurking beneath us. We saw another shark attack in the bay we anchored in and decided not to go swimming. For a while it felt like we were being given the 'evil eye'.





The next day we thought we might leave early in the morning, but opted to sleep in instead. It is an 88 mile run to Key West from here, so we have to leave early to make it in daylight. We took down the dinghy and went out to explore the area. This is airboat heaven. In Everglades City we stopped at a restaurant for lunch and watched dozens of airboat tours go by. Then we went over to Chokoloskee Island to get gas for the dinghy. The island is the southernmost point you can drive to on the west coast of Florida. It is also the site of the Ted Smallwood Museum, the original trading post from the 1800’s. I wouldn’t drive all the way to Chokoloskee just to see it, but if you’re there anyway it is worth a look. What a life it must have been, in the middle of nowhere, primitive, mosquito ridden, and a bit of an outlaw hideout.



Late in the afternoon we headed back to the boat, Dave caught ½ dozen salt water catfish and threw them back (not edible), and I sat down to write.











We decided to stay again on the 26th, and took the dinghy out to explore among the islands. For a while Dave turned off the motor and let the current take us around. As we were rounding a corner something went wrong with our motor and we literally crashed into another dinghy that was fishing in the waterway. That is how we met John, Ara, Tabby and Barry. They are traveling on two sailboats that are anchored around the bend from us. The two couples met 5 years ago when Barry and Tabby’s dinghy crashed into John and Ara’s! After a bit of fiddling Dave was able to get the motor started again. The gears weren’t working right, but it was enough to get us back to the boat under our own power. We invited the two couples over for a drink that evening.

While Dave was working on the dinghy (which he was able to fix) Barry and Tabby came by to make sure we made it back ok. We set up a time for them to stop over later that night. The two couples (all in their 40’s) started traveling from Alabama a few months ago, and plan to indefinitely. Barry and Tabby have their sights set on Australia! This turned into an unusually late evening, and Friday we stayed again.