Our one night stopover at Pink Shell Marina turned into two nights. The weather was windy and cloudy, but we had little rain. There was no sense heading south after checking the weather radar.
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Looking a little wet in Marco.
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We spend our day exploring the Fort Myers Beach area, The marina has bikes available for rent, so we take two bikes and ride into "downtown" Fort Myers Beach. There are many souvenir shops, some nicer boutiques and plenty of restaurants.. October is a wonderful time to visit Florida; it is not crowded and the weather is good, except if your destination was Key West this week!
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| Downtown Fort Myers Beach |
We also bike to the tip of Estero Island, Bowditch Point Park. Here the waters from Estero Bay, the Caloosahatchee River and the Gulf of Mexico mix with the tidal changes. This tidal mixture of fresh inland water and the salty water from the Gulf of Mexico form a brackish mixture. This delicate balance of fresh and salty water provides rich nutrients for a diverse group of animal life, especially to fish and birds at low tide.
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| Path on Bowditch Point. Looking at the Matanzas Pass. |
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| Key West Express leaving Matanzas Pass heading into the Gulf of Mexico. View from Bowditch Point. |
The park is also home to the gopher tortoise. The gopher tortoise is medium size and lives a long life of 40 to 60 years. They are considered by the state of Florida to be a threatened species due mainly to their loss of habitat from all the land development. They are not water, but land dwellers and actually have a very unique and distinct trait of making large burrows. The burrows they create are shared by over 350 other species, including snakes, mice, rats, and owls. For this reason, they are considered a keystone species, which means if their population declines so will those of the other species that rely on them for survival.
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| We saw this guy walking in the parking lot. |
On Thursday, we decide we have had enough of Pink Shell Marina. While the Gulf is not as smooth as we prefer, Estero Bay was extremely rough, choppy and windy. The overnight waves slapping the hull and rocking the boat, make us toss and turn getting little sleep. So we throw in our lines and head to Marco. We had enough of this.
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| Strong winds and a small craft advisory make our cruise a little choppy. |
As we near Naples, we turn closer to shore and the waves lessen. Salty dog Buster did not fare well, but with our slow down and a little medication, he feels better.
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| Where's land?? |
The water is much nicer the farther south we head. What a noticeable difference!
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| The waters of the Gulf near Naples, Florida. |
We arrive to the Marco Island and leave the Gulf via the Big Marco Pass.
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| Big Marco Pass |
Once off the Gulf, the inlets and canals of Marco Island are all idle zones.
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| Beautiful homes line the waterways. |
It takes roughly 15 minutes to idle to Esplanade Marina where we will stay for several days.
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| Esplanade Marina |
The marina is very nice. It is part of a complex that includes residences, shops and restaurants. There is also a Winn Dixie across the street that sports a dinghy dock. Perfect! Oh yeah, the sunset views are not bad either!
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| Sunset the night of the solar eclipse. |
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