Marco Island Forever?- We hope not!

Blue Heaven Rendezvous #30

Well, I told you we were heading leisurely back to the bay, but we did not want it to be quite this leisurely. We only got to one anchorage past Fort Myers Beach which is Marco Island at Factory Bay. We had planned to stay two nights and it has now been four days longer. We tried to leave on Thursday but the winds piped up to 20 -25 knots out of the south which is the direction we need to go. The waves were 5-7 feet and we were pounding terribly. I was so glad when Saltaire who was ahead of us, said they were turning back. We did too!

Unfortunately, Marco Island is not the most cruiser friendly. If you want to land your dinghy, it costs $5 at Marco River Marina, the only place available in Factory Bay. There are grocery stores, pharmacies and other stores within walking distance, but we did not see one Laundromat.

The first day that we walked around, my foot that I have had trouble with in the past and had been sore since we walked so much in Key West, seemed to be getting worse. So we found a walk-in clinic where I got a cortisone shot. Ooooooooooooooh, how I hate those shots but it did help.

We explored by dinghy to find a public dock at the Esplanade which is an upscale group of shops, restaurants and condominiums located up another bay which we heard about from people on a nearby anchored boat. You can land your dinghy for free and it is near a Winn Dixie grocery store. Unfortunately, we were told the holding is not as good as Factory Bay so we stayed put.

We got to our second Seafood Festival, and Marco Island’s first. It was not as good as Marathon’s but wasn’t bad for their first one. Al and I enjoyed some wonderful Coconut Shrimp. They had various groups playing and people selling crafts and their wares just like in Marathon, just fewer of them.


We have been doing a lot of reading, resting, checking of the weather, watching the pelicans catch their dinners and enjoying the beautiful sunsets. Hopefully we will be able to leave tomorrow, Monday, March 30, 2009 to do those same things, just elsewhere!