January 21: Marco Island

We saw some very strange things before leaving Naples. First it was the weirdest duck we had ever seen. Then the unique seahorses hanging in the ship's store near our dock. And a sailboat sitting on the bottom due to the extra low tides we had last night (a range of 4 feet - not usual). The real interesting sighting was on the way to Marco Island: a pig swimming across the channel in front of us! I knew there were wild pigs in Florida but didn't expect to see one swimming. I thought maybe it was an alligator but the ears just weren't right :-) After waiting for the fog to lift and the water to rise, we headed the back way through the mangroves 15 miles to Marco Island. Too bad it wasn't sunny. Steve enjoyed the ride today instead of working the whole time. Lots of nests and birds along the way - the osprey really like the waterway markers for nesting places. And as always they just sit and watch us go by. It was really a nice ride (and only 2 hours). The arrival at Marco Island could not have been better timed. The downpour started just as we were finishing up tying up the boat and connecting the electric - we knew the rain was coming but were very happy it held off until we were in! It really IS raining in the second picture even though it's hard to see. What we now truly appreciate: floating docks instead of fixed docks. The floating docks move up and down with the tide so we can just tie the boat directly to the cleats on the dock as we have always done. A 4 foot change in tide means Steve (the main rope tying person - he's very good at it :-) ) has to run lines all over the place so the boat has room to move through the tidal range yet not be too loose at any given time to allow the boat to bump on any of the docks or poles we are tied to. It's an art for sure!