Anchoring near Marco Island FL

1/29/2017

We departed Naples, Florida at 1215 headed for Factory Bay to drop anchor by Marco Island. We had a lazy morning and left late in hopes that the weather would clear as predicted. Alas, we had cloudy skies with off- and- on rain (mostly on)  yielding extremely poor visibility. With crab traps appearing at random times and in large quantities, we had to be extra diligent throughout the voyage watching the water through the rain-covered plastic enclosure.

As we approached our chosen anchorage, we could see the clouds lifting behind us on the horizon. The weather finally classed for us just as we dropped anchor at 1440 hours. We saw a few marinas along the way to our anchorage that we had called in the area, but none had been able to accommodate us for the night. It worked out well as we found our anchorage spot to be a quiet and calm place to spend the night.

We have stopped at or near Marco Island twice now and not yet toured the area. Last year, we tied up at a marina just long enough to bike to West Marine and back. This time, we did not even get off the boat! Maybe someday we can come be tourists here.

Dinner consisted mostly of leftovers, which made for an easy meal.  Afterwards, I relaxed with my Kindle and Android card games while Clark read user guides for boat electronics.  Before retiring for the night, we watched a little "Madam Secretary" and then "Elementary" on TV.

Since this was our first attempt at an overnight anchorage with this boat, we had no experience with amp hour usage,  i.e. we did not know how much electricity we had available for our use. We minimized our power usage to be conservative. At some point after we have taken care of more critical items, Clark will replace some of the halogen bulbs with LED to save energy usage.

With overnight temperatures predicted to be in the 40s, we put extra blankets on our bed. I looked for thermal underwear, but did not find any in my closet.  I guess I decided I would not need it in Florida!  I anticipated a pretty cold night and wore socks to bed.