Indian River to Marco Island to Fort Myers Beach to Ding Darling
05 June 2014 | Anchored just off the Ding Darling Park on Sanibel Island
John
Osprey ready for take off
After the disastrous anchorage at Cape Sable our subsequent anchorages have been superb. Indian River four days ago was remote, calm, quiet, and scenic, just what you're looking for touring the Everglades. Then Smokehouse Bay in Marco Island the next night, although a little hard to get to, was well worth the 30 minutes of winding around the interior of Marco Island getting there. This beautiful little bay right in the middle of an exclusive housing area has ready dinghy access to a Winn Dixie Supermarket and many other shops and restaurants via the Esplanade and Winn Dixie docks. That evening, we enjoyed a super gourmet meal at CJ's restaurant at the Esplanade. We got back to our roots the next morning with breakfast at MacDonald's. Later in the morning we sailed on to Fort Myers Beach and took up a mooring ball at the Matanzas Inn. This is always one of our favorite stops because the Matanzas Inn provides a great laundry and showers along with a convenient dinghy dock for going into Fort Myers Beach. Pete's Dockside on the second floor of the Matanzas Inn serves great pizza also. And now finally on the fourth day, we are anchored just off Ding Darling Park on Sanibel Island. Although this stop is only a mile or two from Fort Myers and is just off the main channel leading to Pine Island Sound, it is little used and feels like a remote back country anchorage.
Up until today we were able to sail to most of these destinations (except for motoring up the Big Marco River to Marco Island, of course). The winds were light but just adequate for really pleasant sailing. Today, however, going from Fort Myers Beach to Ding Darling, there was barely enough wind to fill the sails and we had to motor. That may be the case from here to our final destination, Port Charlotte. The weather forecast has the winds less than 7 mph for the next week.