Day 195 – Naples City Dock to Esplanade Marina, Smokehouse Bay, Marco Island - January 17, 2012

We had hoped to take the “inside route” from Naples to Marco Island today, but a call to the local Boat U.S. representative caused us to change our minds.  He reported that with the low winter tides that are going on right now, we would be very lucky not to go aground in Boreas and that Once Around and Brandy IV who draw more than we do would surely run into trouble.  So, we decided not to take the chance and took the outside route instead.

It was an easy ride and we were tied up at Esplanade Marina by 1:00pm.  Having checked out Esplanade Marina in early January when we drove through here on our way to our Everglades airboat tour, I knew that there was a salon/spa right next door to the marina. As soon as we were tied up, I ran over to see if they had any open appointments for a pedicure.  I was in luck and a 3:30pm appointment was scheduled.  We then had a nice lunch with Larry and Pat from Midland who spend their winter here on Marco Island (in fact it was Larry who told us about Smokehouse Bay and the Esplanade Marina – thanks Larry, this was a great stop!).  Fred and I both use to work for Larry before he retired from Dow Chemical.

I then hurried off to my appointment at Rick’s Island Salon and Day Spa while Fred continued catching up with Larry and Pat.  My toes and feet are now VERY happy.  Rick’s did pretty well pulling in Loopers today – there were lots of toes and a few fingers painted and two haircuts were done (including Fred’s).

Esplanade Marina was an excellent stop and I would recommend it to anyone passing this way. Anchoring in Smokehouse Bay would be excellent also.

             Miles: 14.2      Bridges: 0        Locks: 0

We saw so many beautiful homes on the way to Naples City Dock that we thought we'd take pictures of a few more.