Where does the time go? February has turned into March...and I seem to have missed it! And while I love my IPad, it is not conducive to posting photos. So you will just need to be a little patient. Floyd did take great photos of our new canvas...and once we settle in...I promise to post them!

We managed to leave Ft Myers and motor to Marco Island...a short lay over and we headed south ...with the Everglades on our port side, we went in at New Turkey Key...the only stop that indicated you could take a dog ashore....boy, was it a rough place. Very shallow going in...and we were at almost high tide. We anchored and went ashore...which by the way was R O U G H...beach filled with huge, broken shells and two groups of men camping and fishing. One fella advised us to move in more...deeper water. They also advised us to wait in the morning to leave until after the tide reversed. Conflict ...we have a 70 mile run...which makes for a really late arrival if we wait til 10ish to get started. Compromise...leave at 10... Drive a little faster than usual...which we did.

Sunday was not to be one of our better days of cruising. We carefully and slowly left New Turkey Key on the rising tide...stirring up sand most of the way. The further south we went the stronger the winds and waves...but hey, we had kicked it up to 10 mph...and nothing but green Everglades on our port...and crab pots everywhere else...seriously, rows and rows of crab pots...amazing! As we left the protection of the land, the winds and waves really kicked up...and our auto pilot refused to engage...still we were on track to arrive at the marina before they closed at 5.... Big seven mile bridge of highway one was really a jumble of current and pillars...somehow we managed to get through without crashing into cement...but then we went right where we should have gone left...or left where we should have gone right...grinding noise of gravel, weeds...yep, we were soft aground. Floyd was amazing as he managed to float us over and off...power up a little ...drift a little ...but the vibrations let us know that we'd done some damage.

Mariana was still open...and they are a full service facility...while it is pricey ...they had a 2 bedroom, 2 bath unit available...and could pull our boat Monday afternoon. So we moved out/in Monday morning...they pulled the boat at 3... Props off and headed to ft Lauderdale for fixing. We can play tourist from here...and with luck, be back on our way this weekend.  So happy anniversary to us...prop work!!