March 22 Indian key to Marco

From Indian Key we powered for lack of a sailing wind. We cruised along the edge of the Ten Thousand Islands about 15 miles. These islands are not entirely just mangrove. Many of them have nice beaches. They are all part of the Everglades National Park. None are accessible by road except Everglades City and Chokoloskee, and there are very very few boats down there.

Marco Island marks the beginning of civilization cruising north along the coast. There are two ways to approach Marco. You can either sail around Cape Romano and then turn back east into Marco or go straight northwest along the Ten Thousand Islands and enter the Coon Key Pass and Big Marco River which wind about 10 miles through wilderness before reaching the town of Goodland and then on to the back door of Marco. We decided on the inside route, and although there were many tricky bend in the river and shoals to avoid, we managed to get through without incident. I navigated this route once before though it was 40 years ago when I was bolder. I also had the comforting ignorance of lacking a depth finder at that time. Along this route there were many dolphins and once we reached Goodland there were quite a few excursion boats full of excited dolphin watchers.

Having successfully made our way through a difficult winding waterway, we turned left to the marina where the sign said to do so, and ran aground so hard it registered about 5 on the Richter scale. My usual technique of reverse gear and full steam did not get us loose, but did cause some aftershocks. I loaded the anchor into the dinghy and rowed  it out to the full length of the anchor rode, dropped it, and then got back on board. Once we got the boat turned around I winched in the anchor line while  sandy applied forward engine power. The combination pulled us off handily. We docked at the Rose Marina which turned out to be an excellent facility. We put the bike together and rode to a nearby grocery store, then rode a couple of miles to church, then a short distance to an excellent Italian dinner. Back at the boat it was getting late but sandy still did 2 loads of laundry before we got to bed but not before we were ready for it. We slept like logs, but the sunrise at 730 precluded sleeping late.