We were anchored in relatively remote locations in the Ten Thousand Islands for a total of 10 nights – 5 in Russell Pass near Indian Key and 5 in the Little Shark River near Cape Sable. This provided a base for exploring this wild area by dinghy.
This area gets its name from the innumerable mangrove islands that dot the entire area; I don’t know that anyone has ever really counted them, but there are a lot!
From Indian Key we explored with our dinghy up Russell Pass to the Indian Key (main) channel and up Russell Bay to West Pass Bay using our marine chart for the area and a hand-held GPS. It is worthy to note that although these may be called ‘passes’, other than the main channel to Everglades City, there are no markers and ‘local knowledge’ (or a good chart) is required to travel them.
As we have in the past, we were amazed by how much detail is provided on the marine charts, although these areas are not typically considered navigable waters. Still it is a challenge to follow the twists and turns while avoiding the shoals.
We were escorted out of Russell Pass by dolphins that were swimming in our bow wake. We like to think that they ‘texted’ their relatives in Little Shark River to welcome us, since there were more dolphins near the entrance of the river to help us find our anchorage.
At Little Shark River we explored in the dinghy up the river to Oyster Bay in hopes of finding the Oyster Bay Chickee (camping hut), but were unsuccessful in finding it. Although this area is more remote than Russell Pass, the waters are more open and we did not find it as interesting.
We did weather a very strong cold front at Little Shark River. It is amazing how the mangroves block the wind. Although winds were forecast up in the 30 knot range, we have been very comfortable. We will let the front blow itself out before we head down to Marathon in the Florida Keys.
We have also shared this part of the river with a couple great blue herons, who have made their home on the shore nearby. At the same time, we saw a couple manatees (our first this winter), who were headed up the river for protection from the winds. It seems like we were all getting ready to ride out the storm together. 
Tom
S/V Barefoot
Pineland, FL
(Currently anchored Little Shark River, Monroe County, FL)
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