Marco and Beyond

Following a bumpy ride south we anchored for a couple of nights off of the inland route between Naples & Marco Island. We of course had to traverse this section of waterway on a Sunday. Lots of traffic and all in a hurry. At one point a pontoon boat thought he was a Nascar driver and tried to make it three wide while passing 2 other boats while coming at us. Once he realized he didn't have the horses to make the pass he swung wildly back to his right and bounced off of a wooden piling that holds the red channel marker. Unfazed, he kept going while the red placard fell into the water! Knucklehead!

Wednesday found us heading into Marco for a couple nights at the Marina at Factory Bay (http://www.themarinaatfactorybay.com/) to wash the salt off of Tourist and top off the fuel tanks. Pam quickly fell in love with this place. Clean, friendly, quiet, and free laundry! The marina is part of a condo complex and isn't very crowded now that the snowbirds have gone home. Summer rates are in effect and provided for some of the least expensive dockage since we got off the river system. Less than a block away is a place to rent bikes, scooters, or electric oversized golf carts. Next trip! We walked this time and there's a trail of sweat to prove it! All in all a nice stop topped off the last night with dinner at Arturos', a nice little Italian restaurant a few blocks from the marina.

Thursday found us casting off at 6:45am. Destination...Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas! (http://www.fortjefferson.com/) We had a nice ride across 124 miles of open water and arrived at the fort around 1:30pm. Sometimes Tourist just has to stretch her legs. We dropped anchor just off the main dock and proceeded to get ready to tour the fort. Open from sunrise to sunset our timing was good since the ferry boats with the majority of the tourists were starting to load for the run back to Key West. Once they left it was just us, about 5 other boats in the anchorage, a few campers, staff, and some construction workers who are there trying to fortify the structure since it is slowly sinking and crumbling into the sea. There was one other group out there in the middle of nowhere... Several thousand birds that inhabit Bush Key right next to Garden Key which the fort sits atop. Quite noisy during the day but not a bother if you know what I mean!

The moat.

Our anchorage.

Fort interior grounds.