GL: Punta Gorda to Marathon

[Randy Pickelmann]

I like the Goodland route and think it is worth waiting for the tide.  Its a
LOOOONG way around Cape Romano Shoals, if you want to enjoy Everglades City.
Panther Key and Russell Bay are good anchorages.  The Rod and Gun Club in
Everglades City is a nice stop and reasonable dockage (cash, no credit cards)
...a chance to see some of old Florida.  There is a good, small museum in EC
in the old laundry building and almost next door is "Susie's" (looks like a
gas station) where you can have a wonderful piece of Key Lime pie.  We use
Susie's as the benchmark by which we measure all other Key Lime pies!

Little Shark River is a nice stop.  Make sure you have screens.  The bugs are
world-class!  I have been told that it get pretty well bruised from the last
few hurricanes and has lost some of its beauty.  I'm sure that it will come
back in time.  Mother Nature has a way of doing that.  Take the boat up river
for a tour, or at least splash the dinghy, but take a handheld GPS because one
mangrove tree looks like all the others!

Finally, you can run directly from Cape Sable to Marathon or you can take
Yacht Channel which takes you east toward Long Key.  It makes the trip a bit
longer but there are two advantages.  There are channel markers periodically
along the way to help put the nervous navigator at ease.  Also, you can avoid
the crab and lobster traps (most of them anyway) by staying inside the
boundaries of the National Park, where crabbing is theoretically not allowed.

Enjoy the trip!

Regards,
Randy Pickelmann
MORNING STAR
lying in Solomon's, MD
www.morningstar.talkspot.com