10,000 Islands and Everglades City

The 10,000 Islands is comprised of over 230 square miles of mangrove forest. It is located between Marco Island and Everglades City. There are twisty turny kayak trails through red, black and white mangroves. Birds, fish, oysters, muscles, clams and more.

Never do I feel more connected to wildlife and nature than when we are living on Seaquel. The gentle lap of the water on the hull, the starry nights, beautiful sunrises and sunsets and wildlife. I think I’ll let the pics speak for our anchorage at West Pass where we were the only boat anchored out. Plenty of day fisherman but no one anchored out.

We spent time exploring on Zoom and on our kayaks. Have I said how glad I am that we bought 2 single new to us kayaks. I like it so much better being in the single kayak than I did in the double. The kayak is more nimble and the ability to paddle at my speed and in quiet is a huge bonus.

A friendly visitor on our cruise

Treated to a beautiful sunset our first night

Exploring gulf beaches by dinghy

This weird gelish stuff was all over the bottom at low tide on the gulf beaches. Some was purple, some was grey and this heart is rust. I had never seen it before. It’s called sea pork. They are a species of tunicates, which are invertebrates that siphon, filter and squirt water.

We kayaked over to an island that was full of brown pelicans. They are funny to watch. Another day we paddled into a small cove and watched them fish for a while. On the day by the island I was surprised that a manatee literally came to visit right next to me . I wasn’t fast enough with my camera to get her picture before she was back under the water.

White Pelicans are migratory birds and spend winters in the Everglades and summers in the Dakotas

Morning Glories are literally everywhere but they are out all day. Does that make them all day glories?!

View looking towards Seaquel

Paddling back against the current! Hooray! Back to Seaquel.

Oops! Captain got off his kayak and forgot to cleat her! Zoom to the rescue. She moved fast!

Playing around in the mangroves

There are some things that we can’t take pictures of. Every night falling asleep listening to the pistol shrimp crackling under the boat. And also, driving ourselves nuts trying to figure out what the loud grunting sound was under the boat. Turned out to be a frog or maybe a couple of frogs ribbiting back and forth. So very loud.

When there is no light pollution, the night sky is magnificent. And the calm water was a perfect back drop for the reflection of the stars on the water. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen the stars shimmering on the water. We loved West Pass!

Our next stop is Everglades City where we had a marina reservation for 3 nights at the Everglades City RV Park and Marina. We had an uneventful cruise and decided to rename the Gulf of Mexico to Lake GOM. It was sunny and FLAT.

Coming into Everglades City

Well, first some marina details. We had a helluva time docking on their face dock. We didn’t realize we were trying to dock against a strong current. Had a very hard time to get docked with 2 guys on shore helping us. Finally, got all tied up only to find out that we needed to move in order to reach the pump out. So we untied and backed up and turned into another slip. That time we docked with no problem.

The marina is really a fancy RV Resort with a few slips. This is no ordinary RV park. They only allow Class A or Super C Motor coaches, at least 36’ long, 12 years old or younger and in excellent condition. It is landscaped beautifully, not a speck of trash in sight with bougainvillea and lush foliage everywhere. There is a pool, club house with bar, movie theater, free laundry and country club showers. The marina part is just a few slips, most of which were empty. Many people own their lots in which case they have built tiki huts and shade structures. The owners come down for the winter. Others rent their spot for a few weeks and then keep moving. Everyone tows something - motorcycles, Jeep’s, cars and it seemed everyone had golf carts for moving around the park and town.

I guess if I had any negatives to say about this stop it would be that it is the location of at least 3 air boat tours. They are LOUD. The RVers told us it’s just background noise, that they don’t even hear it any more. By the third day I was used to it more than Eddie was. We did not go on an airboat ride. Eddie has been before and I had no interest.

We rented an electric golf cart for a couple of days to tour Everglades City. Sum total of zero traffic lights. A sleepy town along the water. There’s not really much to Everglades City. A few blocks of homes, a grocery store, hardware store and a few restaurants. Most people are into fishing. Everglades City is the Stone Crab Capitol of the world! At least they say they are! We carried in from the Triad Seafood Market. Yummy dinner!

Must be good - that’s the local PoPo going for lunch!

One thing that impressed me in this sleepy town is that they had converted all their street lights to solar ones. Then they auctioned off the old style street lights as a fundraiser. Great idea!

Some sights from our golf cart tour.

This was the back yard. There were two more in the front yard!

We knew we had to go to Chokoloskee while we were there as it’s Seaquel’s home port. The water is so shallow that we couldn’t get Seaquel in even if we tried. You aren’t allowed to take the golf carts on the main road so we got on our bikes and pedaled the 5 miles. It was a gorgeous day and an easy pedal.

About half way there. Stopped on the bridge for a Kodak moment and a drink!

Pelicans hanging out waiting for the fisherman to come back so they can get the scraps while they clean the fish.

There were 2 highlights of Chokoloskie the first was the Smallwood Museum and store. Chokoloskee was the home of the Calusa Indians who traversed the water and canals in dugout canoes. There was no land access to the island. After the Calusas died out in the 1700’s the Seminoles arrived. Later, families came to the island for hunting, fishing and farming. This settlement necessitated a trading post and in 1906 The Smallwood Store was built by Ted Smallwood. His granddaughter is now the proprietor of the small museum and store which was turned into a historic site in the 70’s. It was like stepping back in time and has been preserved as it had originally been. It was the post office, pharmacy, trading post for skins and furs, market and every other need imagined!

Gail & her new BFF Ted Smallwood!

Behind the museum.

The museum director suggested this book! It was excellent. I read it then Eddie, Deb and Keith read it also.

The second highlight of Chokoloskee was a delicious lunch at the Havana Cuban restaurant. Sadly, no pics but it was a lovely outdoor patio draped in more bougainvillea and delicious lunch.

The captain said his trip wouldn’t be complete without eating alligator. Back to Triad seafood for carry out dinner for him. I had no interest. What did he say? Tastes like chicken!

We left the next day on the rising tide, headed to Shark River anchorage, a popular way point to break up the trip between Everglades City and the Florida Keys. Dolphins, fish jumping but 2 weeks in the Everglades and not one alligator! We arrived at the anchorage at sunset with a dozen or so dolphins who seemed really glad to see us, port side, starboard side, in front and all around the entrance. What a joy! Anchored with one boat across the anchorage, a 34’ cat, Poco Loco who we met in Everglades City.