MONDAY JANUARY 4

Ross and I took a short walk this morning on Cabbage Key. It is a resort island only accessible by boat or water taxi. Along with the Inn where we had dinner last night, there are raised cottages sprinkled around the island. Some of the vegetation and sites are marked with informational plaques so at least we knew what we were looking at.



One of the things we saw was
this wooden water tower.
Many of the islands use to
have them. This is the only
one remaining in the area.
The few that did remain
were wiped out in
2004 by Hurricane Charley.












It is very cold here this
morning by Florida
standards. Heck, its
cold here even by our
standards! Notice the hat
and ski gloves modeled
by our captain.








Cabbage Key is actually a huge shell mound built by Calusa Indians hundreds of years ago. The Calusa lived along the shoreline of southwestern Florida and built large mounds with shells and clay. Probably as protection against high tides and possibly insects. It is believed the Calusa numbered around 50,000 before the French and Spanish arrived. The Calusa had no natural resistance to the smallpox or measles virus carried by the foreigners and it decimated their population.

We travelled to Ft. Meyers Beach today so will spend a couple of days at Moss Marine. Very windy out so it's noisy inside the boat with the slapping of waves against the hull. We crossed paths once again with our Looper friends Diann and Tom Lanham from Noah Genda. Good to see them again.