We arrived in Marco Island on Memorial Day, expecting to stay a few days and find a weather window to make the passage to Key West. When Friday came, we were both pretty worn out from the past week and ready to rest and explore – so we stayed put. Little did we know at the time, we were opting out of a potentially great weather window and ended up having to stick around Marco Island for another six days.
In retrospect, we would have left sooner than we did but our time there was good for a few reasons. It forced us to slow down, literally and figuratively – laws mandate idle speed in the bays and waterways of Marco Island. We observed wildlife and lived in the moment. It helped us settle into this cruising life and cherish the wonder on the kids’ faces, enjoying life on the hook and learning how to adapt when the weather has its plans.
Here are some Marco Island highlights:
- A significant current in the wide channel coming in from the Gulf
- Beautiful beaches, full of shells worth staring at
- The joy of fresh water – washing the boat and our clothes!
- A too-shallow slip assignment in which Agora was sitting on the keel for hours when the tide went out (the marina apologized and refunded the stay)
- Trouble finding Dolphin Tiki Bar & Grill, only to realize that their tagline is half the fun is finding us
- Circling to find an anchorage after option one was too shallow and shifty from the river current
- Manatees and natural beauty & a small-town feeling
- Dolphin close enough to touch from the dinghy (we didn’t)
- Canals for days
- Gold Star rating: the public dinghy dock for boat parking while shopping at Winn-Dixie
Sailing Agora 
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