Marco Island
Team
VFH tries to get the most out of spending the least and so our excursions are
usually wroth with activities and exploring adventures with little “down” time.
Relaxing on a vacation is a foreign concept as we run hither, thither, and yon.
Our reasoning is that we’ve spent so
much money we’d BETTER enjoy the trip and see EVERYTHING! Gosh, after our vacations
another vacation is needed for us to recover. With this current thinking about
currency and travel it has been a good long while that our main objective was
to simply relax on a vacation, but this was our very aim for our recent trip to
Marco Island in southwest Florida. We were traveling there with Janet’s
expansive family, including her new grandchild, so our antics would have to be somewhat
curtailed. We would not be able to just flit off on a whim. Janet warned me
that it could be boring, but looking back on our week is was a wonderful
time. Perhaps this is a new concept in
travel for us? Imagine…relaxing while on vacation.
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| Marco Island Beach |
PATRICK TV
Courtesy
of Janet’s cousin the family was arrayed throughout several apartments of the
Charter Club of Marco Beach time share with our balconies overlooking the Gulf
of Mexico. The water was warm and placid the beach hard packed powdery white
sand with sea shells. We spent much of our days at the beach, either lounging
on the chaises we rented for the week from the club or lolling about in the
water just chatting with other family members.
Starfish
and sand dollars could be found in the water and shelling was a week-long
activity for us. Free activities at the Charter Club also included ocean kayaks
and paddleboards and Hobie Cats. We also went Parasailing, rented a Waverunner
for an hour and went on the Calusa Spirit Eco Tour through the 10,000 islands
of the Everglades, these last three, courtesy of the Marco Island Watersports.
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| Sunset from the porch |
By far
though our favorite pastime throughout the week was watching the young Patrick,
Janet’s five month old grandson; frolic in the water or sleep on one of the
rented chaise lounges or flounce about in the pool. Some people like to toss a
ball or a Frisbee on the beach, but we took turns holding onto the cooing
Patrick. (Of course, when Patrick TV switched to the Creature Feature of the
day, he was foisted upon his Mom.)
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| Turtle nest on Marco Island |
TURTLE NESTS
Sea
turtles drag themselves onto land to lay their eggs. Nightly volunteers walk
the beach looking for signs of these large lumbering, endangered creatures and
their nests are cordoned off by police tape so they would remain undisturbed.
After 9 pm the curtains in the apartments are to be drawn tight so no light
would be emitted which would lure the turtle hatchlings away from the sea.
Evidently hatchlings are attracted by the heavenly lights reflected off the
water and any other artificial light will lead them astray and sadly to their
demise. We got a phone call one night telling us to close our curtains and one
time when we were out for dinner someone from the Charter Club entered our
apartment to draw the blinds. We were embarrassed that we had not done our
civic duty! No one wants to hornswoggle a baby turtle.
CRITTERS GALORE
Sadly
the sectioned off nest sites were the only visible signs of the sea turtles. We
did not see any turtles swimming in the waters off shore, like we did last year
in Hawaii, although, we had the great fortune to see a manatee passing by one
morning, looking like a massive swimming potato. Dolphins were a regular
sighting. One afternoon while out on paddleboards, one dolphin breached a few
times within just a yard or two of us.
Little
silvery fish darted about in the surf line to poke at the sand kicked up by our
thrashing and curious schools of larger fish with black stripes on their back
circled us at times. If we remained still enough we could “pet” their tails as
they slowly swirled around us. The water was warm and gentle. On one occasion I
picked up a shell for collecting and discovered it was still occupied by the
original tenant. I had already taken the little fellow up to the room when his
foot nudged my hand looking to make a speedy escape. I marched him back down
to the gulf where incredibly there was another of his kind right there and they
began to fornicate.
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| She's a Manatee! |
CONCH FRITTERS AND GROUPER!
We ate
a lot of seafood while in Florida although we did gravitate to less fancier
restaurants. Nonetheless the food was fresh and good wherever our palate
alighted.
I
insisted on getting conch fritters each time we went out although I was hoping
for a ceviche of the delicacy, but never found it on the menu. We had a full
kitchen in our apartments, but we never used the facilities except to keep our
beer and wine cold.
Here’s a
quick list of some places we ate during our week.
CAPRI
FISH HOUSE
I was
overdressed in my Aloha shirt as we sat at the water’s edge at this very casual
restaurant a few miles off Marco Island proper. The fritters were so so and
expensive, but the Grouper Sandwich was huge and was excellent. Ja net says her
fried oysters were “yummy.” Drinks, like Margaritas were reasonably priced. They
made a very good seafood chowder.
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| Goodland FLA awaits |
LITTLE
BAR RESTAURANT
Locals
in the small community of Goodland, population 267 +/- tool around in golf
carts and the Little Bar Restaurant was hopping. There was a band playing
inside and hundreds of nutcrackers staring down from the walls approved of our
presence. This popular local joint served better fritters and Grouper Balls for
appetizers. Janet and I both had blackened Grouper drizzled with a mango curry
sauce. http://www.littlebarrestaurant.com/
THE
SNOOK INN
A very
popular Marco Island bar and restaurant, The Snook Inn is also located at the
water’s edge, although the seating was all out in the open. The other two had
screened in seating. A busy but convivial setting, the wait staff handled our
large group readily without getting too many of our drink orders wrong. The
menu was massive and varied. There was a seafood buffet but we all ordered. Great
fritters and spicy blackened Caribbean style Grouper for me. Afterwards we
posed for pictures along the dock.
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