Got a not-so-early start to Marco Island — 8 am. Amazing how much “stuff” we toted to the boat for just two weeks. Nearly 100 miles to cover. Our new auto-pilot is terrific. Cliff entered details about Dot.Calm when he set it up, i.e., draft, width, length. For today’s cruise, all he had to do was put his finger on the destination mark and enter….and the system establishes a route that takes into account depths along the way. Of course, it does NOT take into account all of the lobster traps that populate Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico this time of year. Yikes! The Esplanade at Marco Island is lovely.
Hard to see in this photo, but lobster pots dotted our route almost the entire way. I thought the majority of traps would be in Florida Bay, but Gulf of Mexico was loaded with them. Steering around them was easy — and then one button was all that was needed to tell the auto-pilot to get us right back on track.
Checking out the auto-pilot route. Amazing technology!
An osprey nest on one of the markers leading us to Esplanade. Quite a circuitous route and complicated markings.