We’re at Naples, Fl, the last civilization before the Keys!

We went outside in the Gulf today. Waves were only about 2 ft. and I went fishing by trolling at idle speed for an hour or so with no luck. I lost a lure and planer by trolling it on too light tackle, and then trolled an artificial purple squid rig about half the way to Naples. That little black tab on the upright post has the line from the trolling rod and reel clamped into it. If a fish strikes, it'll pull the line out of the clamp and it drops down the pole, which is a handy way to know if you get a strike. The little clamp stayed right there the whole time. At the Naples inlet, the river channel system, marinas and downtown are really much more fancy than I expected.
The homes along the channels are spectacular large estates with big boats at their private boat docks and it goes and goes for miles until you reach downtown Naples. Our marina is about an 8 block walk from the old downtown Naples. It’s a walk through fancy condos and very large old palm tree lined streets. It seems like everything that grows, grows big and leafy here. It has the real feel of the tropics, including the 80 degree weather. It’s still 72 out tonight at 9:30 PM as I write this. Like most of the “beach” areas we’ve been in, there are no bugs to speak of. We leave the boat open and the lights on at night with no problem. This Old Naples Seaport marina is really a dockominium (condos with boat slips) that rents dock space to transient boaters like us. You can buy a 3,300 sq. ft. condo here for $1.7 million and add and have title to a 70 foot boat slip for a mere $1 million more. A bit pricey for me.

The “historic district” is historic in architecture only, and only about half of that is actually old. The entire downtown seems to be all high end fashion boutiques (like Armani, Gucci, Evelyn Piccone, Tomy Bahama, plus high end restaurants and art stores (anybody want a $3,400 dolphin sculpture?) plus the ever present fudge shops and hand made ice cream shops. It just goes and goes for blocks and blocks! Kay would love the shopping here, not that she’d want a $3,400 dolphin, but would just like the looking. The residential area surrounding the historic district is mostly expensive multi-family units with extremely well kept grounds and landscaping with huge old palm lined streets. I really believe that it’s the “Lincoln Park” of Naples. At 5:00 PM you see people with briefcases walking home from the downtown to their homes. I just didn’t realize there was so much money here.

We’ll be here 2 days and then cruise to stay overnight “on the hook” at the Little Shark River, which is a river on the southwest edge of the Everglades. We’ll have to keep Daisy from being lunch for alligators! The river is a huge maze of channels and estuaries protected by 60 ft. tall mangroves everywhere, extending out into the water. It should be interesting trying to find a spot to even land the dinghy. The mosquitoes and no-see-ums are supposed to be there in force too, so bug repellent will be the order of the day.