Ft. Myers to Smokehouse Bay (Marco Island)
We left Ft. Myers Yacht Basin early this morning, restarting our Southward journey. Leaving behind many friends, we hope to see them again in Savannah when they come our way. Many boaters turn eastward from Ft. Myers, crossing the Okeechobee Canal and Lake instead of rounding the tip of Florida. Our hope is to go to the Keys, so we continued south down the west coast of Florida, instead. We will travel to Marathon, Florida, and then spend approximately a month there, Lord willing, exploring the rest of the keys, all the way to Key West. Doing the math, we found it would be much more economical to stay at one marina, paying the monthly rate, than staying 1 or 2 nights at various marinas at the transient rate. The Keys have a bus system that runs the whole Keys, so we can travel for $2.00 each, from one end to the other. The marina, Marlin Bay, is also a resort, so we will enjoy the privileges of a nice pool and fitness center, as well, while we stay. The marina will also serve as our prep location for crossing over to the Bahamas, which is our desired destination in April.
We arrived at Smokehouse Bay around 3:30 or so. It was such a beautiful setting with very nice homes and condos on all sides. The mildest of breezes provided the air conditioning we needed for the whole night. I changed a fuel filter after the engine shut off on us in the Gulf today. When this happened to us in June (Chesapeake Bay), it was a MUCH bigger deal than today. Today, I knew what was wrong. In the Chesapeake, I was clueless. Today, winds were 5-10 knots and 1-2’ seas. Then, winds were 30-40 and seas were 8 feet. With the filter system I have on board, I can manually switch filters underway, which allowed us to be up and running within 2 minutes. If I had only known that last summer…. I wouldn’t have the adventure and experience I do now.
These osprey, like many, take advantage of channel markers as homes for raising their families. 
A local party boat/pirate ship was blasting music as it cruised around us in the basin. They were having a good time. 
This area is great and would make our list as a potential home in the future. 
The color schemes reminded us of homes along the Amalfi Coast in Italy. 
The night was as peaceful as any we have ever enjoyed. With just a handful of other boats on the hook, we enjoyed plenty of space, even when the wind and tide changed during the night. It was so nice that we wanted to stay another day and explore Marco Island, but the good weather window for traveling dictates that we move on.