Dave and Kelly's Boat Trip: Tuesday, February 27

Woke up bright and early, leaving our anchorage in Marco Island by 7:30 a.m. We continue to see more beautiful homes and I just had to take a few more pictures!

Love the beautiful infinity pool and how the lanai is just an extension of their home.

Check out the outdoor fireplace! Most of the new homes in Marco Island do not have screen
around their lanai, as they use an environmental spray for the noseeums; makes a very pretty picture from the water.

On our way out to the main channel, two dolphins and some osprey greet us good morning!

We are very careful to stay within the channel, as the tide isn't

very high when we are leaving (as you can see!)

After seeing all the exposed mud, we run into this at the end of the channel;

some much needed dredging!

After twenty minutes, we are back out on the Gulf of Mexico! It seems that there are many other boaters that are up early to enjoy the calm waters of the day!

As I look behind us, the morning sun shines on Marco Island as we say goodbye.

Captain Dave sets our course, which looks like this on our navigation screen.

Our boat is at the bottom of the screen (leaving Marco Island) and the checkered
flag is Key West; approximately a 90 mile run.

The waters are very calm, so Captain Dave decides it is a

perfect opportunity to put the boat up on plane!

Did you notice the speck of white in the top left-hand corner of the last picture?

It's the Marco Island, "Big Cat"; the express ferry that goes to Key West . . .

well, I guess we're on the right route!

After thirty miles, we can no longer see Marco Island's high rises;

instead we see beautiful blue everywhere we look!

The water color looks like a pool at times!!!💙

Soon we begin to see this; crab pots . . . and there are A LOT of them almost the whole rest of the way to Key West!!! Whew; who said going to Key West would be a leisure ride? 😉

Out in the distance I see a speck of white; turns out it is the "Key West Express" from Ft. Myers Beach!

We see a total of twelve dolphins today, including this mamma and her baby. It is really difficult to get any photos, as the dolphins just swim by very quickly instead of stopping to play around our boat. We are very excited, however, when we see our first sea turtle; and then not long after that, we see another!

This, however, we are not so excited to see; a Valentine mylar balloon . . .

we actually see another one about a half hour later!😔

Throughout our eight-hour travels, we see about two dozen boats;

fishing, shrimping, and pleasure.

We even see a Coast Guard airplane and helicopter; I don't think it was a joyous trip, however, as we hear on the radio that a man has gone overboard without a life preserver on.☹

We are now only seven miles away from Key West and we can FINALLY see land (much different from Marco Island, as in Key West most buildings are not over five stories tall)!!!

There it is!!! Cruise ships and all!

First we round "Sunset Island",

pass all the mooring boats,

cruise by Mallory Square,

and end up visiting with Charlie Erickson, engineer of the "Key West Express"

(we saw him as we fueled up the first time at "Ballards" when we had just got to Fort Myers Beach - check the blog 😉).

Once we get settled at Galleon Marina, where we'll spend the next four nights, we decide it's time to do some celebrating! This is as far south on the "Great Loop" that the "Johnson & Johnson"

will go (the southern-most point of the United States) . . . woo hoo!!!