Goodland/Everglades City

4/5/12. Arrived in Goodland (Calusa Island Marina) @ noon. It is a nice marina on a mangrove swamp. The walk to find grass for Duke is about 1/4 mile on a dock built through the mangroves.Because there is a small craft warning, we are staying 2 nights. We rode our bikes into town (1/2 mile)for lunch at Marker 8 and had a great grouper wrap. Then for dinner, we rode in again to the Old Marco Lodge. The Buicuit Boys (guys our age) played some good music. Once back in the marina, we found several manatees playing in the harbor. We watched foe a few minutes until the "no see ums " chased us inside. They are mean little insects smaller than gnats...but they bite like pirannas. There were also what appeared to be large spiders crawling across the dock in the mangrove....they turned out to be small crabs.
4/7/12today we are heading for Everglades City's Rod and Gun Club...about 25 miles away. Wave predictions were 2 to3 feet, but the wind was from the east so there was very little fetch. We pulled onto the wall in front of the rod and gun club around noon. It is a beautiful old Victorian building that is currently a bed and breakfast and a restaurant.
4/8/12. Easter Sunday....we rode our bikes to Holy Family Church....very small. The priest came from Marco Island to say the mass. We were asked to take the gifts to the altar.....very nice that they invited guests to do that.Pat Knight will be happy to know that the musicians (a couple)drive 90 miles round trip every Sunday from early December through the end of April, and have done this for 15 years. They have only missed services 4 times in 15 years. She played a keyboard and sang, and he played the cello and led the choir. Today was their final day. They were quitting to spend more time with family.
We were invited to join 2 couples for Easter dinner at The Depot. one couple is from Wisconsin and the other from Indiana, but all are Florida residents now. We had a great time sharing boating stories......and we joined them at the lodge for a late dessert. One boat that came in late this afternoon ran aground 40feet off the channel in Goodland last night. extremely low tides were predicted because of the full moon. The wife did not want to stay on the boat so she went with a couple on their 20 ft boat and she bought them dinner (they were locals). After dinner, they were taking her back to her marina, and they ran aground and were stuck for 3 1/2 hours......WATCH THOSE TIDES!