With some regret (for lost dining opportunities), we cast off from Naples and headed south down the Gordon River. We had thought to take the Rookery Bay ICW route on the inside but within a hundred yards or so of that turn-off, we ran into depths of 4 feet or so and decided that we didn't want to get grounded that day. So we turned around and went out the Gordon Pass to the Gulf and headed south 15 miles to Marco Island. The water was fairly smooth and we entered Big Marco Pass without much problem and followed it up to just before the Judge Jolly Bridge and turned into the Marco Island Marina / Marco Island Yacht Club. The marina is well-maintained and guests have access to the Yacht Club restaurant and the heated pool.

Approaching the Big Marco Pass

Marco Island Marina & Yacht Club from outside

Salty tied up at Marco Island Marina


We had had the impression that Marco Island was going to be more of an extension of Naples with further ostentatious displays of wealth, but it was not- it is a much more modest place - that probably makes it more likable in the long run. That disappointment probably shaded our initial view of the island - but Marco quickly made up for it in its well-kept streets, bike paths and general pleasantness - and great sunny weather. Like Sanibel, it seems that Marco was designed for car traffic (and there is a lot of it) with no discernible town center (just strip malls and box stores all along Collier Boulevard). There are number of nice restaurants on Marco -Snook Inn, Island Cafe, CJ's on the Bay, Mangos - the latter two particularly in that they are in a very attractive residential, commercial complex on the water with its own marina.


Marco Island has a very interesting history however - the Marco Island Historical Museum has a fascinating exhibit on the Calusa Indians and the aboriginal group that inhabited this island for thousands of years. Of particular interest are artifacts discovered in the lat 19th century, including the Key Marco Cat - a modern looking wooden cat sculpture believed to be several centuries old - along with other ceremonial wooden bird figures.

Key Marco Cat


The Museum also has an exhibit on the development of the island, first by the Colliers (Captain Bill and later Barron, after whom Collier County is named) in the early 20th century and then, in the 1960's and 1970's by the Deltona Corporation - which wholesale leveled the original islands, built canals, bridges, hotels, houses and churches and then mass-marketed the development as a Tahitian-themed paradise. Only the work of Florida conservationist Marjorie Stoneman Douglas and others prevented the completion of the Deltona Corporation's dream to pave the Florida Everglades with similar developments. Although Marco is pleasant enough, weighed against the destruction of one of the last surviving natural environments in southern Florida, probably best that Deltona's vision lost out.

Captain Bill Collier's 1883 Olde Marco Inn


We biked around a lot of the island - visiting the west side of the island with its enormous resort hotels as well as Tigertail Beach with its extraordinarily wide beachfront.

The very wide Tigertail Beach


We had only planned to stay four days in Marco Island, but on the morning we were to leave we discovered a fairly sizable hydraulic fluid leak (this time on the port side and what looked like a few quarts of fluid) while preparing to depart for Everglades City. Unfortunately, the nearest service was in Naples and they couldn't come for four days - so it looked like we were in for a much longer stay on Marco. We decided to skip taking the boat to Everglades City and rent a car to visit the sights there - so that we'd be able to keep our relatively fragile reservation at Key West for the next week.


One day we drove out to Everglades City, along the Tamiami Trail (built by Barron Collier), the down Route 29. We continued initially on down Route 29 as far as Chokoloskee Island and went to the family-run exhibit at the Smallwood Store, built in 1906, providing a great feeling for 'old Florida' trading post.

Smallwood Store, Chokoloskee


We headed back up and after touring around the sights of Everglades City, we ate lunch on the veranda of the historic Everglades Rod & Gun Club (also built by Barron Collier). The Club was just down the same inlet from the Everglades Isle Marina where we had intended to stay had Salty been up to it.

Everglades Rod & Gun Club.


After lunch, we took a 3.5 hour ecotour out of the Port of the Islands Marina (roughly midway between Marco and Everglades City) where we toured the long canal and found several manatees and alligators and headed out to the mangrove islands of the Ten Thousand Island National Wildlife Sanctuary in the Fakahatchee Bay.

Manatee on the Port of the Islands inlet

Visiting the Hog Key in the Ten Thousand Islands National Park


On the next day, we drove back out to Everglades City for an hour-long Speedy's Airboat tour which brought us through the tunnels of the mangrove islands near the City. The draft of the airboat being nonexistent, you get the impression of hovering over the water in maneuvers that would be impossible for big ole Salty.

Tunnels through the mangroves of Everglades City


After that breathtaking ride, we drove out to the Big Cyprus National Preserve, and saw an amazing gathering of alligators, birds and fish at the HP Williams Roadside Park on the Tamiami Trail - well worth the stop!

Not so friendly locals.

Anhinga and blue heron.


We then headed north for a very slow 15-mile drive through the back country of the preserve & everglades - a lot of it being flat scrub covered land interspersed with some water, looking more like an African savannah - not what you think of as the Everglades.

Big Cyprus National Preserve grasslands


Finally, once the Naples service guy did arrive - he confirmed there was a problem, but did not have the knowledge to fix it, came with no tools and left after half an hour. It was highly annoying when he said that they outsourced all their work to a company in Cape Coral, which we had not called because Naples said they could do this! In the meanwhile, we caught up on some boat maintenance, adding water to the house batteries; cleaning the four sea strainers and then dealing with a minor infestation of tiny brown mites in the pantry (likely from a pasta box), which required throwing most of the stuff out that wasn't sealed or canned and washing everything with bleach. Again - finally, after a 5-day wait - the guy from Cape Coral came and repaired the hydraulic leak on the port pod drive. He taught us a few things about the hydraulic system, such that we could hope to repair it ourselves, should the need arise.


We made good use of our down time with the side trips to the Everglades and prepared to depart for Key West next day after the repair.