Everglades and Marathon

Cocktails with the Kays at Shark River anchorage

Our friends and Mystic neighbors, Joyce and David Kay, arrived at Marco Island and cruised to Marathon with us. There are only two places to stay on the way - Flamingo, which is a ghost town having never been rebuilt after a hurricane, and Shark River. The Shark River anchorage is on the gulf shore of Everglades National Park. It's in the middle of NO WHERE, surrounded by mangroves and has no place to go ashore even if you want to, but ... you don't want to, because there are alligators.

There was one boat behind us anchored at Shark River.

So, we anchored and had a lovely, eerily quiet, star-filled, back-to-nature-with-cocktails night.

Raising and spraying the mud off the anchor in the morning

We got underway early the next morning because we had a long day, full of crab pots, ahead of us.



You can not imagine the number of crab pots out there.

Just one of the millions of crab pots

It's stone crab season, and the things literally carpet the surface of the water. You have to keep a constant lookout for them because you don't want to get them tangled around your propeller. If you are familiar with the lobster traps in New England, just multiply their numbers by hundreds of thousands and bunch them so
closely together, that boats have to do a slalom through them. Some fun.

Bob helping us back into our slip

Having successfully avoided the crab trap mire, we arrived at our home for the next month, The Boat House Marina at Coral Lagoon Resort in Marathon. There we were greeted by our friends, Loretta and Bob, from "Carol Ann."

Cold champagne welcome compliments of Bob and Loretta

                               
















The Boat House is a very nice little marina, most inhabited by fishing    boats - I think our two boats are the only ones without tuna towers. There are 25 condos here and a beautiful, nicely heated pool.

Pool at our marina

After a day or so in Marathon, we drove the Kays back to their car at Marco Island where we immediately both backtracked to Everglades City. We headed there, to spend the night at the famed, Rod and Gun Club and take an air boat ride through the Everglades the next morning.

Entrance to Everglades Rod and Gun Club

Unfortunately, this wonderful old place that has hosted presidents and famous actors since 1864, is now for sale and being run by four feuding family members.






Consequently, it is very quirky and quite dysfunctional. For example, the four owners each work separate days. When they do, they bring their own supply of liquor for the bar. That means, there are only half a dozen bottles behind the bar at a time - weird!

Rod and Gun Club dining room

Fortunately, the rooms, which are in small cottages surrounding the inn, were very clean and comfortable and the dinner, served in the old dining room with lacquered wood walls covered with trophy fish, was surprisingly good.

Cottage we and Kays stayed in

Still...it's one, strange place - there is even a flock of vultures that is allowed to hang out at the dumpster every morning.

Morning vulture flock

We checked out, after having had to leave the property for breakfast even though we'd been promised by the night before's crew, that breakfast would be served at 7.



Honestly, we should have known better - they did warn us that the breakfast lady was not a morning person. That was the understatement of the year. She told Pete, when he said to her that we'd been told breakfast was at 7, "you can't believe everything you hear." What a charming, chain-smoking, lovely old thing.

Air boat ride on a chilly morning

Later that morning, we took an air boat ride through the Everglades mangroves. It was cold and sometimes the boat went 35 or so miles per hour, so we were bundled up like we lived up north (or something).

Mangrove raccoon family

Pete and David on air boat

We're looking forward to our month in Marathon, spending time with the other loopers scattered around the island, and the friends who will visit us here.