Indian Key, a perfect place for Izzy.
We left Marco Island and had a choice of two routes choices, one was to go outside back to the gulf or the other through some keys to get to the gulf but was more shallow. We chose to go back around since we had the time. We got to Indian Key and anchored just north of the island. It was a perfect place as it was protected from the wakes of boats going through to Everglades City. The island was also a great place to walk Izzy. This was a perfect stop before going to Cape Sable as it was dog friendly.
Sunset at Indian Key
At Cape Sable we had some rocking but it was not bad. It was calm and quiet and another great place to take Izzy to the beach. There were some beautiful and unusual shells on the beach and I had to remind myself not to take them all.
Anchored at Cape Sable.
We left early for Marathon and arrived by noon. This was the first time we stayed at Faro Blanco Marina. The dockhands were amazing and so helpful when docking. They have fixed docks but were very manageable for us and Izzy. The cleats on the docks are moveable so they can be positioned where you need them.
A 1.5 mile walk to the Seven Mile Bridge.
New Year's Eve at Faro Blanco.
We can not say enough great things about Faro Blanco. The dockhands Pete, John, Josh, Mike and Annie the dock master all go above and beyond. They deliver packages to your boat and pump out the boat at the slip. There are dog treats at the office for Izzy that she dragged us to on every outing.
Game playing poolside.
Another amazing thing about Faro Blanco is the community of boaters there. They welcome everyone with open arms and are so inviting to all the activities. There is docktails every night at 5:00 pm and heavy hors d'oevres on Thursday nights where everyone brings a dish and becomes like a pot luck dinner. A group is always available to play games at the poolside or on the patio. Several people go to pickleball in the mornings. They also organized dinghy crawls each month and some special events such as Spam-O-Rama, a spam cooking contest, and a Chili Cook-off. The group of folks we met there were among the friendliest that we have met at a marina and we will be aiming to go back in the future.
I took a day trip with Kate and Kelly to Islamorda and we stopped at some interesting places.
At Robbie's Fish Camp.
Huge tarpons everywhere.
We went to the Celtic Festival and saw women through huge hay bails over a pole.
Manatees in the basin eating the sea grass.
We went to Crane Point Hammock and had a fish pedicure.
We helped release rehabilitated pelicans back to the gulf.
Steps outside our boat. What a lovely view we had.
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