Marco Island is the largest of the Ten Thousand Islands, which is a name that is not quite accurate but is not quite wrong either. The Ten Thousand Islands are the mangrove islands and shallow bays and tidal creeks that make up the southwestern corner of Florida, where the Everglades meet the Gulf of Mexico and the distinction between land and water becomes genuinely unclear. The number is not ten thousand, but it is large enough that no one has bothered to count precisely.
The island itself is developed in the way that most of Florida's Gulf Coast barrier islands are developed: a grid of streets, a mix of condominiums and single-family homes, a commercial strip, and a beach. The beach at Marco Island is excellent, wide and white and facing southwest, which means the sunsets are as good as anywhere on the Gulf Coast. The town is pleasant without being remarkable. What makes Marco Island worth visiting is not the town but what surrounds it.
Jackson Laurie's first serious encounter with the Ten Thousand Islands was on a kayak trip that launched from Goodland, a small fishing village on the eastern side of Marco Island that feels like a different place entirely from the resort side of the island. The trip went south and east into the mangrove maze, following channels that were wide enough for a kayak but not much more, with the mangrove roots on both sides and the sky visible only in a narrow strip overhead. The water was clear and shallow, with seagrass visible on the bottom and mullet jumping around the kayak.
The boundary between the natural world and the developed world is more visible here than almost anywhere else in Florida.
The Ten Thousand Islands are one of the largest mangrove ecosystems in North America, and they function as a nursery for a significant portion of the Gulf's fish population. The fishing in the backcountry around Marco Island is exceptional, particularly for snook, redfish, and tarpon, and the guides who work these waters have an intimate knowledge of the tidal patterns and the fish behavior that takes years to develop. A day on the water with a good guide in the Ten Thousand Islands is one of the more educational experiences available on the Florida Gulf Coast.
Everglades City, about an hour east of Marco Island on the Tamiami Trail, is the gateway to the Everglades from the Gulf side. The town is small and functional, with a handful of outfitters and restaurants and the Everglades National Park visitor center. The boat tours that run from Everglades City into the mangrove islands are worth doing, particularly in the early morning when the bird activity is highest. The roseate spoonbills and wood storks and ospreys that work the shallow bays around the islands are visible in numbers that are unusual even by Florida standards.
The drive back north from Marco Island along US-41 and then up the Gulf Coast passes through Naples, which is the most polished town on the Florida Gulf Coast and one of the more interesting places to spend an afternoon. The Third Street South and Fifth Avenue South districts have good restaurants and galleries, and the Naples Pier, which extends 1,000 feet into the Gulf, is one of the better places to watch a sunset on the entire coast. Jackson Laurie's preference is to arrive at the pier about an hour before sunset and walk to the end, where the view back toward the beach and the town is as good as the view out to sea.
The southwestern corner of Florida, from Marco Island south through the Ten Thousand Islands and east into the Everglades, is the part of the state that feels most different from the rest of it. The landscape is not dramatic in the way that mountains are dramatic, but it has a scale and a strangeness that is its own kind of impressive. The horizon in every direction is flat and low, the sky is enormous, and the boundary between the natural world and the developed world is more visible here than almost anywhere else in Florida.