Keewaydin Island - Naples, FL

[southkogs]

First off - I got some great help from Sasto, Scott Danforth & Igyjastabay in THIS topic - HUGE help. Thank you guys very much.

We stayed at a home on Keewaydin Island about 30 min by boat South of Naples, FL. Plug 26.032872, -81.771605 into your Google Maps and you'll see where we stayed. I learned a few things about navigating the ICW, fishing in saltwater and staying on an island

I have been on the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean as an operator before, but both were pretty short runs. Being on the ICW for a week, and having to go inland a couple of times was a new experience in Navigation. Some early reading about tide water and this link from Scott Danforth -

...watch your tides, watch your charts and use polarized sun glasses. do not forget the sunscreen. http://coastmariner.com/bin/chart2.p...819&locId=4212

were incredibly helpful. I did carry my VHF with me, though our host said cell phones were much more widely used any longer. I did hear a substantial amount of VHF traffic, mostly hailing and a few emergency calls one day when the weather was a bit sketchy.

I also used my Navionics App more than ever before, and while it won't replace a real system, inshore, inland or for backup it was really slick. I did a little write up on it HERE.

Heading south on the ICW to the house:


Mangrove along the way:

 

[southkogs]

Fishing went well enough, but not too much to tell.

We couldn't get a charter to work out with the weather, so we wound up trying to work from where we were.

FWIW, I have caught more fish on land at the break walls in the channels during an outgoing tide than I have from the boats

And that wound up being our best route.

Wednesday and Thursday we saw what I think were snook running in small groups down the shore line about 15 yards out from the surf. We had plans those days, and we weren't going to get to fish much - so we set our licenses for later in the week. <== Mistake

Go to the southern most point of the island where the current bottle necks. Good spot. The flats hold permit and pomano. Warning: you will not want to leave. Beatiful area where you will be.

Igy - we went down to this spot, and putted around a bit. I got a little concerned because of a shoal marking on the charts and probably didn't get out quite to where you were thinking. We monkeyed around in the inlet and didn't get much going. Pretty soon we had more dolphins around us than anything else, so we bagged it.

We rigged out pretty much like Sasto suggested and worked the surf and the pier.

The fish we saw running on Wednesday and Thursday didn't seem to be running the rest of the week. We still saw the dolphins, but not as many birds fishing in the area. So, some condition or another changed. As a result - and for lack of experience - we didn't catch much. We rigged up pretty much like Sasto suggested, and caught some catfish and a flounder (little guy, but I'd never seen one before aside from pictures). We got a couple of good hits, but the best was one my father in law got. Whatever it was cut the line pretty quick and carried the hook and bait away. It's possible it was dolphins as there was a pod close by that we could see - but we honestly don't know.

Otherwise, fishing was a bit of a bust ... but fun trying.

 

[southkogs]

We had a 20' Hurricane deck style boat for our use all week. It was a little under powered with only a 115HP on it, but ran well enough for what we needed. Most of our runs were from the Island back to where the cars were parked in Naples, or one trip over to Marco Island to grab some groceries.

remember, there are two kinds of boaters in the ICW. those that have run aground, and those that will run aground.

Scott - I'm now a member of at least the second group (probably the first too, if I get to go back again).

I got used to reading the channel markers, even in the bays, pretty quickly. However, on the trip down to Marco Island after I crossed the bay I had to go inland into Collier Bay. I was noticing the water looked more shallow than I had seen, but didn't look at one of the channel markers correctly ... and wound up putting the bow into a sand bar at low speed. :facepalm:

Oh well - it was easier to pull the motor up, get out of the boat and push it off the sand bar toward the channel and jump back in ... and within a few moments I started looking like I knew what I was doing again. It was pretty fun docking at the Winn Dixie to get groceries

 

[southkogs]

Hint: if you're ever given the opportunity to stay on an island, pack a toothbrush, swim trunks and a couple of dry sets of clothes. Leave everything else you can at home.

Staying on the island was very cool. We had kayaks and SUPs for playing out on the gulf (I kayaked every morning and evening), I went snorkeling for a while and played with boogie boards. The kids built all kinds of stuff in the sand, collected sea shells, chased a few crabs and played with the mollusks. We had a great time, grilled some killer ribs, slept with the sea breeze blowing into our room through the french doors and enjoyed the wildlife. Igy was right ... we didn't really want to leave.

The view from the house looked like:


And the sunsets were beautiful:


Looking south down the beach toward Marco Island:


Love the sound of ocean waves:



But ... haulin' yer' luggage out to the island was a pain in the sterndrive Our hosts helped us out with an extra boat, but we WAY over-packed.

Anywhoo ... we had a fantastic trip.

 

[sphelps]

Glad ya'll had a good time down here SK ! Did the place you stayed have power ? Did you try fishing from the beach ?
I've been wanting to take the boat down here for a stay .. https://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rentals/florida/cayo-costa-island/r50489
How was Disney ? We were down there Thursday and Friday ...

 

[Scott Danforth]

glad to help. I remember running aground at the tip of AMI late one evening, I was even following my GPS tracks, however the channel had shifted with a recent storm. when pushing the boat, was in 15" of water, then 15'. when I cam back up, I hit my head on the outdrive. got back onto the edge of the channel, pushed the boat out again, and this time hopped onto the swim ladder, then cranked er up and idled out a bit prior to putting the drive back down.

 

[southkogs]

Did the place you stayed have power?

Actually - the house we stayed at was solar powered. Completely off the grid (water, power, etc.), but they had a generator backup which we needed because of all the cloud cover we had. We used about 80kwh for 11 people over 6 days, doing some movie watching, charging phones and running fans and some lights.

Did you try fishing from the beach ?

That's where we fished from the most - where we caught the flounder, catfish and (likely) a dolphin If we'd done so earlier in the week, we probably would have done better (snook at least and maybe tarpon). Lots of folks were fishing Marco Bay when we were over there too.

I've been wanting to take the boat down here for a stay .. https://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rentals/florida/cayo-costa-island/r50489

Sanibel was a "maybe" day trip for us, but we never had the need/time. That's about an hour north of where we were, and assuming the area like where we were - it'll be gorgeous. I think my Bayliner would have been okay on the waters I went on - even the big bay down on Marco - but it would have been one of the smallest boats out there.

How was Disney ? We were down there Thursday and Friday ...

I hope Thursday and Friday were a little less crowded for you Wednesday was PACKED ... busiest I've experienced in the 3 times that I've been there. We had a few rides where we only had to wait about 30 minutes, but most of the stuff we wanted to do required a 45min to hour wait. To me that made the park kinda' overwhelming (we were at Magic Kingdom). The other times I was there we kinda' scored well and wound up there nearly alone. I like Disney (was even tryin' to draw for 'em for a while), but the parks can be a little much.

None the less, the family had a good time and made some good memories.

Hope y'all had a good time!

 

[southkogs]

... was in 15" of water, then 15'...

LOL ... I did manage to be smart enough to look at the other end of the boat and realize that the drop off that sand bar was pretty steep. I pulled the stern around and shoved from the front

... idled out a bit prior to putting the drive back down.

When I fueled up on Marco Island, I had the outboard tilted up for shallow water (I had just come back through Collier Bay). The guy on the fuel dock kinda' looked at me funny and started to suggest that I tilt my motor back down ... then he changed his mind when he remembered that I was going back up toward Keewaydin. Apparently there are plenty of things that'll come up from the bottom and getcha'.

 

[jbcurt00]

If you go again, go ahead and overpack. I know a guy that can act a porter, for room and board

Also available for hammock warming, watercraft wash down duty and head marguerita maker.

Glad you had a good trip.

 

[Igyjastabay]

Hey there. Glad you hand a good time. The shallow water that pops up between Marco and K island is where the permit hangout. Yes it does get shallow in spots so you have to watch it. Right now the water is clear in North Naples which means it is crystal clear where you were. Wife and i will be making the same boat trip you made and will be camping on the south end of the island soon. I want to go to 10 thousand islands soon and camp for a few days. Now that place is a a maze, definately need gps. Nice ohotos by the way.

 

[southkogs]

The water was beautiful on the gulf side. The ICW side was a little less so, but not dirty lookin'.

I would have explored by boat a little more, but - we really were there to be on the beach with family, and we didn't have a boat that would handle the gulf well. But I did look at 10,000 islands on the maps before we went ... thought it woulda' been cool to find a couple of geocaches in there and try to locate 'em.

So, now I have to have two more trips down: one for fishin' and one for boatin'.

 

[aspeck]

We ventured out in the 10,000 Island area when we stayed in Ft. Myers and that was REALLY cool. Sanibel island was beautiful. Jealous of your trip. Was so wishing I had MY boat there and could just spend the week in the gulf.

 

[southkogs]

Dunno' that I woulda' taken the Bayliner out there. It was pretty smooth most of the time, but it did get a little bouncy about 1,000 yards out. Mine is about the same size boat as we had as part of the rental and they wouldn't let us take that out on the Gulf (mostly 'cuz of insurance, I think).

We talked about a trip over to Sanibel, but it wound up looking like nearly a full days' trip, so we stayed put.

It wasn't a cheap trip, but to be honest - two families splitting the cost, for 4 to 6 nights it was really very reasonable.

 

[Bad Pete]

Dunno' that I woulda' taken the Bayliner out there. It was pretty smooth most of the time, but it did get a little bouncy about 1,000 yards out. Mine is about the same size boat as we had as part of the rental and they wouldn't let us take that out on the Gulf (mostly 'cuz of insurance, I think).

Southkogs I love reading your post. As a boy and young man I spent a number of times at KeeKeewaydin we stayed at the KeeKeewaydin Club (I don't know if its still there) at end of the island on the Naples side. I fished from the shore on the inlet between Naples and the Island and caught Snook and mackerel.

Your pictures of the beach are exactly as I remember it and I was there 40 years ago. One of the best vacations I ever had, I was 22 and there were three beautiful sisters all competing for my attention and no other guys (it was isolated so they had to be entertained!). No cars, no cell phones, radio to some extent and no TVs.

 

[southkogs]

I'll chime in so ya' don't have some grumpy MOD hollerin' at ya' about opening an old topic

You should go again. There are a few rental places down there on the island, and with a few friends along they're only a little expensive. It really was nice to totally disconnect and enjoy the ocean. I coulda' ridden around on the ICW and burned a lot more gas than I did.

... we stayed at the KeeKeewaydin Club (I don't know if its still there) at end of the island on the Naples side. I fished from the shore on the inlet between Naples and the Island and caught Snook and mackerel.

I think up at the north end of the island there is still a resort of some kind there, but it was so far from where we were - easily 20 min by boat up the intercostal and then West toward the open Gulf - that I never saw it. We were much further south where there are about 7 or 8 houses spread at intervals to the south down the island. Either spot would be pretty, but I think we were even more remote from all of the activity.

... I was 22 and there were three beautiful sisters all competing for my attention...

LOL ... I took my own women with. The Admiral may have shoved me off on some sisters if it meant giving her a break for a while

 

[Bad Pete]

I'll chime in so ya' don't have some grumpy MOD hollerin' at ya' about opening an old topic

thanks nice to hear about the island maybe will go some time