Marco Island, Florida

Marco Island is about an hour drive from here but I've always heard great things about the island and the beach so I thought I would make the drive down there this weekend and check it out.  Before I went down there I researched public beaches and parking then I came across an advertisement for a Dolphin Encounter boat tour and decided to sign up for that too.

I went to Tigertail Beach on Marco Island.  Along with most of the beaches in this part of Florida, there were a lot of shells along the beach which is fun to look for the best ones.  I think it is funny because on other beaches the most beautiful shells are the same ones that I pass up on this beach because there are so many complete and fancy shells that I never see else where!  It was a little bit of a walk to get to the actual beach which made the fact that my beach chair is also a backpack with a built in cooler, perfect for the adventure.  The waves were crashing onto the beach much more than they normally do on the Gulf side of the state but I love sitting there listening to the ocean so it was perfect for me.

My afternoon started with the Dolphin Encounter boat ride.  It was a 3 hour ride around the intracoastal waterway and into the Gulf that took us to a little uninhabited island to spend about 45 minutes walking around and feeling like it was our own private space.  We saw 12 dolphins on our tour including several mommas and their babies and watched a few surf the wake of our boat.  One of the dolphins caught a fish in front of us! 

 Momma and her baby

 Dolphin with a fish in its mouth

 Dolphins riding our wake

It's the time of year for Osprey hatchlings to show themselves and there were many nests settled onto the top of the channel markers with little heads popping up and looking out into the world.

 Osprey

Baby Osprey in its nest