We said good bye to our friends Brenda and Sonny. They were headed across the Ocochobee to Ft Pierce to finish their loop and get back for Christmas. We are going to miss them dearly but we know we will see them soon.
Well we started out from Ft. Myers going to Naples, but since the weather forecast for the upcoming week wasn't looking good for us to get to Marathon we changed our plans. We wanted to get as far south as we could so when we got the weather window we could get across to the Keys. We went to Marco Island to the anchorage and made out reservations at Everglades Isle Marina longer so we would have a nice place to stay waiting on the wind.
Dolphins traveling with us.
Smokehouse Bay was located right near an area with a marina that had a dinghy dock for guests patronizing the restaurants and shops. There was also a dock area for a Winn Dixie. The bay was surrounded by condos and gorgeous homes. We anchored and Cashelmara rafted up to us. We got our dinghy in the water so we were ready to explore the next day.
We had two peaceful nights on the anchor. The bay was calm and peaceful. There wasn't a lot of boat traffic either day. There was a dinner cruise boat that came by at night all lit up but did not rock us at all.
There were a few nice shops, including a cheese shop. Hal bought some brie and crackers. We took the dinghy over to Winn Dixie and tied against the wall with a ladder. We walked across a small area of the parking lot and went right in. It was a really nice store and had Hal's pretzels but unfortunately no Snapple.
Hal and I took a dinghy ride in the afternoon to explore the area. The homes are magnificent with most having a huge lanai surrounding their pools and hot tubs. Almost all the boats are on lifts since there is a huge growth of barnacles on the pilings and the bulkheads.
We enjoyed a really nice dinner with Chris, Mary and Skipper and then walked around a little more before returning to the boat to put the dinghy up. It is such a pleasure to put the dinghy in and out of the water since we switched to a lighter boat and a new winch. The remote control works great. Hal actually put it in and out of the water by himself.
After the dinghy was stowed we relaxed and were set to travel the next day.
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