How about anchoring near Fort Myers Beach??

[p323ms]

A friend is moving to Fort Myers. She knows nothing about boats. Anyway we are thinking about sailing that way to visit. It looks like a nice anchorage in the channel inside of Estero Island (sp) but the maptech guidebook says that it may soon have mooring balls and I guess mandatory use of the balls. Any current first hand knowledge. Any alternate anchorages in the area. My boat draws 4.5' but from the charts it looks like a lot of water is even thinner than that. Does fort Myers Beach welcome cruisers??Tom

 

[Autumn Wind]

Anchoring @ Ft. Myers Bch

We go there each year to stay with some friends and were amazed @ all of the sailboats that were anchored in the ICW. This was inside the North entrance, just south of the big bridge. They didn't mooring balls but they needed too. They were everywhere and some of the boats were sitting on the bottom at low tide. So be careful!