.

February 23, 2015  Day 94 South for Winter

At Anchor, Smokehouse Bay
Marco Island, FL

After five days, we departed the Fort Myers Yacht Basin Marina (after stopping to fill our fuel tanks for $2.85/gal) on Saturday. We cruised for exactly two hours and anchored in the lovely setting of Glover Bight, off Cape Coral.  The Tarpon Point Marina, the Westin, and condos formed a border along one side of the cove. Several small boats came and went during the day but we anchored with just two other sailboats for a peaceful, calm evening.

On Sunday, we left the anchorage and worked our way back to the channel on the river that led to the Gulf. We were happy to have a calm six hour day cruising south on the Gulf, most of it 3-4 miles off shore.

We arrived at Marco Island and chose an anchorage in the protected Smokehouse Bay, near the Esplanade Marina.  It is a beautiful anchorage! We cooked a steak dinner on the grill and had a relaxing evening watching Downton Abbey and the Oscars.

On Monday morning, we took the dinghy to Winn Dixie and took advantage of their dinghy dock. Even though we provisioned on Saturday, we managed to fill a few bags of food to bring back to the boat!

We will depart early on Tuesday morning and go to Everglades City. We will stay at the Rod & Gun Club Marina and plan to take an airboat ride in the afternoon!