Marco Island to Boot Key Harbor

We left Marco Island at 7:00 AM, it is a long passage to our first stop on our way to Marathon.  We had clear weather but no wind.  Our destination was to Little Shark River, in the Everglades about 50 miles as the Pelican flies.  The picture below is of some birds catching a ride, one was with us for almost an hour!

Our course took us offshore of Ten Thousand Islands and it was hazy so we couldn't take any pictures.  We arrived at Little Shark River at about 5:00 PM.  The guide book said that the banks are full of alligators and in bold type warned that it was not a good place to take a dip!  The next pictures are of the Mangroves around our anchorage and a spectacular sunset through the Mangroves.

On Friday morning we got underway a little after 7:00 AM.  The trip across Florida Bay to the Keys was all about avoidingthe "pots".  It was challenging because we had current coming across our course.  I was mostly successful "except" for one!  The next picture is of me cutting the line wrapped around the prop.

When we reached the ICW on the north side of the Keys we headed for the Seven Mile Bridge to cross to the south side of Marathon Key and Boot Key Harbor.

We had a rocky ride to the harbor entrance, the wind was opposed to the current.  I picked up a city mooring, $21 a day.  We are going to stay a few days to do laundry and re-provision, before heading out to Key West.

Greg