The 10,000 islands are a place to escape. You will probably see kayakers and they are OK. They are out to escape. It will be in your best interest to avoid the loud, fast, macho fisherman that race down to the 10,000 islands to ruin it under the pretense that they came to fish. Avoid these knuckleheads and you will find a great escape.
I'm not sure if anyone actually counted them or not, but 10,000 islands is descriptive of what you see. If the number is under 10k who cares. 10,000 makes the point about what you will see and enjoy. Some are very small clumps of trees with blotches of land and others land areas where you can get to and explore. Unlike some Florida attraction, this for real, so watch where you step.
We wanted to get into Everglades City, not to be confused with the entrance to the Park. Everglades City is really a place people live in the Glades. Sure tourists show up and wonder where they can feed the gators and take airboat rides while hanging onto their comb-overs, but you also really getaway here if you do it right. There is some top notch history at this place and some genuine characters and not the costumed types.
We tied up the dinghy at the City Seafood. This is a real seafood market and you can eat there. We watched a crab boat pull up and unload, so we ordered crab. The Kid thinks that maybe some just made the walk from dock to kettle by themselves. I think that was a comment about how fresh and how good they were. Some guy at the outside picnic eating style place had shrimp and I asked how they were.
"Mmm Mmm!"
I took that for good. Captain D. ( I suggested he change that) was getting ready to go out. I asked how the fishing was.
"Good."
"Whattaya gettin'?"
"Fish."
"Do you sell them local?"
"Yep."
"Were out onna hook in the Pass, and that's our dinghy over there, so I just wondered if we can hook something for later."
At this point Capt D. opened up. Somehow he took us for tourists. He told us about a few spots he likes that he can't get his commercial boat into. It seems he has been a man of the Glades for a long time. For Capt D. the rest of the world pretty much does not exist. He puts himself into his preferred persona and let's the world spin away from his life.
The Kid asked him about hurricanes. He has been through several.
"I don't leave. This is where I live and work. The weather is part of what I like about here. You just tie everything down and sometimes that means you too and hold on. It passes."
You go to Everglades City to getaway. Don't go to ruin it. If you must tourist, then stop in Ft Myers, or continue over to the Park. But, Everglades City wants to be a place of escape. Some folks there want it to be more touristy, but they don't get it. You can function and survive by being a place to getaway to and escape without ruining it. Don't encourage them. Go to Everglades City, eat local, think local, drink local, and blend. When you do this there is something about this place that will take you far away, and often back in time. It will remain an experience that most people miss because they want other places to be like them and cater to them. This is not one of those places. So, the people who come and don't blend, don't get it. I'm sure that's why this little place has survived.
The Captain and The Kid
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