Marco Island Visit

We had a great visit on Marco Island. We stayed 8 nights at Rose Marina. Johns brother Paul and his wife Helen live on Marco Island. We spent a couple of nights with them and it was a nice break to get off of the boat. Paul and Robin spent a couple of afternoons fishing while John worked. One day we caught 5 keeper trout’s and Paul cooked them up for a wonderful dinner. We enjoyed long walks on the beach and got to spend time with our niece Lauren and her children….so cute! Robin’s sister Tricia and her boyfriend Michael joined us a couple days before leaving Marco to make the trip to the Keys with us. On the way to Marathon Key, we stopped and anchored at Shark River in the Everglades. It was a beautiful spot but once the sun went down, the no-see-um bugs showed up in great force so we spent the rest of the evening down below in the cabin with everything closed up! We fired up the generator, the air conditioning was turned on, we cooked dinner and played cards….a fun night in the middle of nowhere in the Everglades. It was also one of the strongest tidal currents we’ve experienced so far – quite a force on our boat. On our way into Shark River we came upon a large pod of dolphins. Tricia decides to swim with them, so jumps in the water. They got within about 15 feet of her…..it was crazy!!!! We are now in Marathon Key and have been here for a couple of weeks. We are at Marlin Bay Resort and Yacht Club and feel like we have been on vacation…it’s a very nice place. We will share more about our keys visit in the next blog post. FYI – we were asking ourselves “what’s the difference between an island and a key (or cay)”. After some quick research – it’s based on the island’s origin. First, a key is an island, but a traditional island is either formed by volcanic action, or is part of a continental plate floating on top of the Earth's mantle. A key (or cay) is composed mainly of ancient coral reef and sediment stone beds that are formed behind the reef. Since coral growth thrives in warm, shallow water, keys are in fact low islands that are found in warm tropical regions.

Brother Paul with a shark he caught!

Puffer Fish Paul caught!

I enjoy fishing with Paul....you never know what your going to catch!

The trout we caught.

Fishing in the Everglade Canals

Walking Marco Beach...one of my favorite beaches to walk

Lauren and Mithun's kids....Troy and Eva

Rose Marina - Marco Island

Marco Island as we left

Sister Tricia enjoying the boat ride

Captain Michael......I think he is hooked on boating!

Dolphins were happy to see us!

Tricia is swimming with the dolphins

Our boat in Everglades National Park - Shark River

Shark River view to the West

Sunset pictures just before the no-see-ums bombarded us

Shark River sunset picture

Marlin Bay Resort and Yacht Club - its awesome!