The trip to Naples was around forty miles. I have spoken about how shallow it is, and there is no ‘inside’ passage to get there, so we had to go out into the Gulf of Mexico. I turned south and stayed pretty much in a straight line. The way the coast curves, we were probably around five miles out into the Gulf at one point, yet we were still in only ten to fifteen feet of water. Our destination was the Naples City Marina, which also had mooring balls available. The charge here was $15/night with a four night maximum stay. The cost was great and we were told they had space available for us, but we had to come to the fuel dock first to check in and get a pump out. They even lock boat discharge valves to ensure no one is discharging waste into the waters. Since we are a ‘Great Lakes’ boat, we do not have the valve/ability to discharge if we wanted to, as it is illegal to do so in all of the Great Lakes. You may discharge three miles out in the oceans, or five miles out in the Gulf. Once we were pumped out and checked in, we made our way to the mooring ball. As we approached we saw another boat we had been meeting up with: Tide Therapy; This is a family traveling on their boat, but not doing the Loop, but this is our third time meeting them since Ft. Walton Beach.
Once we were tied up, our first order of business was to let Tori know we were there. She lives in Marco Island and works in Naples. We had been excited to visit her since we got to Florida. Once she was notified, we took the bikes around town and stopped for a slice of pizza at Napoli on the Bay. Afterward we continued on to the beach. This beach was crowded too, and we walked around and found a spot to sit and relax. We sat there until the sun set, then made our way back to the boat for dinner. We had to run the generator for dinner and to charge the batteries as mooring balls do not have power connections. We have not been tied up to a marina with power since Christmas day in Sarasota, so we have to make sure the batteries are charged.
Day 2- We left the bikes on shore, locked up of course, to make it easier to explore. We took a ride through town and ended up at Tin City. We walked around a bit and ended up going to a place we had passed for lunch: Captain and Krewe. After lunch, we rode to Baker Park which has an amazing bike path through all kinds of wildlife habitats and runs close to the Naples Airport. It was a fun ride around and we scoped out a dog park we might try to get Frank to, but we will need a car to get there with him. We headed back to the boat for dinner and saw a brewery- like I’ve said: they find us! We stopped at Riptide Brewing Company and had a pint on the back patio. We were watching them lay down some sod in the parking lot/ back patio so I inquired about this. Turns out they do it for “Yappy Hour”, where people bring their dogs in for socializing and drinking. We chatted a bit with one of the owners about the sod and if it would work on a boat. Finally we left and continued back. The generator was run and dinner was made, then we retired for the night.
Day 3- This was another beautiful day in paradise. We had made arrangement with Tori, who so graciously let us use her car while she went to work. We met in the morning and I dropped her off at the hospital and returned to the boat. We hung out awhile enjoying the sunshine, then around noon decided to go shopping and re-supply. We went to several stores for groceries and other items we wanted, then came back to unload everything. It took us two trip to get it all back to the boat! At this point it was close to 5pm, so we had to meet Tori to return the car. She dropped us off to the boat and we made plans to meet tomorrow. Since we had the bikes readily available, we decided to go explore some more. We were looking for a tiki bar we had passed a day ago, but couldn’t remember where it was. I had also asked the dock master about where the locals go and he told us about The Parrot Bar and Grill. This is a place where you could get a beverage without paying tourist prices. We had one there and continued on trying to find the tiki bar. We ended up at Shanes Cabana Bar overlooking the water. The prices here were good too, for the beer of the day, which was Founder’s Raspberry beer. Delicious, but we couldn’t drink more than one of them. So our search continued for the elusive tiki bar we had seen. We were trying to retrace our path and ended up finding it, but it was closed now. Oh well, we had a back up plan! Off we went to Tommy Bahama Restaurant and Bar for a nightcap. We found a spot at the bar and a nice couple next to us started up a conversation. Turns out they were from Brecksville, Ohio but were now living here in Naples. We acquainted them with our boats stories and had a good time, then figured it was time to head back for the night.
Day 4- We made plans to meet Tori in the afternoon. She picked us all up (including Frank) and we went to the dog park we had seen on our earlier bike travels. We hung out there for a while and let Frank run around. There were a few dogs there, but it was too hot for any of them to run around. They all just lounged around, trying to get pets from anyone who would pet them. We left and decided to get some lunch. We ended up at a cool spot Turcos Tacos. As we were eating, I saw the sky getting darker and darker. A storm was rolling in, and fast! We were done with lunch and tried to beat the rain- we were close, but it started to come down as we were driving back to the marina. Tori dropped us off and we ran to the dinghy, getting a little wet along the way, but we made it back to the boat just before the big downpour and wind hit. Since we were on a mooring ball, we weren’t worried about dragging. At this point we just hunkered down for the night and looked at the weather. Wind was coming tomorrow, but we had to leave per the marina rules. We felt we could make it to our next destination: Marco Island, via the old intracoastal waterway. This is called the ‘old intracoastal’ because it is no longer maintained to a minimum depth by the Army Corp of Engineers. Huh. NO longer maintained to a minimum depth. The charts show some low areas and everyone I’ve asked has said “I would only do it on a high tide”. So we will leave early tomorrow morning when the tide is rising and hope for the best…
Had so much fun with you guys!!