Weather today was forecast was not the best… morning would be our only window to move a bit farther south… by afternoon winds would be up to 25 kts with higher gusts… we decided to go to Marco Island approximately 30 nautical miles south of us… approximately 5 hours.

Alarm went off at 0630 about an hour before sunrise… we had pulled anchor and were underway at 0730.

Once out of Big Carlos Inlet and into the Gulf of Mexico we found it a bit rougher than what we had anticipated… seeing solid 2-3 foot waves. Winds were less than 10 knots out of the SE but the waves were coming from the SSW. As the morning progressed the winds picked up to a steady 20 knots plus with higher gusts… waves increased to 3 to 4 feet… NASTY! Thank goodness we were only going to Marco Island.

We arrived at our destination Marco Island and were secure at anchor in Factory Bay at approximately 1230. Our position tonight is N25°57.838', W081°43.445'. We traveled today for 5.0 hours covering 30.64 nautical miles averaging 6.13 knots.

Nice photo of Factory Bay at night...

We left Pelican Bay this morning at 1100 with a destination of Fort Myers Beach. It was quite windy with SE winds 15-20 knots. It was not really rough as there is a lot of protection from land masses.

For a Tuesday there was a lot more traffic than we anticipated… both large and small boats and all were very the most unfriendly and discourteous boaters we have experienced in a long time… crossing our bow at dangerous distances, passing with HUGE WAKES and simply not friendly… no waves as you pass… SAD!

One good thing is that the wind died down some to around 10 knots… :)

We arrived to Fort Myers Beach around 1545 and hoped to get a mooring ball… nothing available… We cruised around Matanzas Pass looking for a spot to anchor… nothing where there was adequate depth and space for SAILS… nothing… :(

There was one anchorage off Bunche Beach just outside Matanzas Pass… Close by and appeared to plenty of space but it was fully exposed to the Gulf Of Mexico… did not want to deal with worry all night about dragging into the beach or shallow water… so we passed on it… We decided to continue to the far south end of Fort Myers Beach and go in Big Carlos Pass and anchor… I knew there would places to anchor there… it’s not as popular a place as the main Fort Myers Beach area.

We arrived at our destination inside Big Carlos Pass and were secure at anchor at approximately 1715. Our position tonight is N26°24.762', W081°52.757'. We traveled today for 6.25 hours covering 37.8 nautical miles averaging 6.05 knots.

Spending another day in Pelican Bay.