Key-10,000 Islands-Lovers Key TB

I maintain records on my trackables. They have the goal to circulate more than five years and to be moved by at least 25 cachers. That is a target rate of five drops per year for five years, or a drop every 73 days. The average drop rate of my trackables in the US is 124 days, in Europe it is 71 days. As of 31-Jul-23 this trackable had survived for 2.7 years and had been moved by 6 cachers, for an average drop every 164 days. Please keep it moving, then drop it in a safe place!

No permission is needed to leave the U.S. While in the U.S., please drop it in a Premium Member only OR a rural cache near a busy trail or road. Do not place it in an urban cache or abandon it at a caching event where there is no security. Transport the bug in the original plastic bag for as long as the bag lasts; the bag keeps the trackable clean and dry, protects the number and prevents tangling with other items. Otherwise, take the trackable anywhere you wish.

This decorative key trackable commemorates one of the so-called 10,000 Islands, a chain of islands and mangrove islets off the coast of southwest Florida.  They occur between Cape Romano (at the south end of Marco Island) and the mouth of the Lostman's River. Some of the islands are high spots on a submergent coastline. Others were produced by mangroves growing on oyster bars. Despite the name, the islets in the chain only number in the hundreds. I found only about 35 names on maps, but there are probably local names for all of them.  Many of the islands at the southern end are part of Everglades National Park, while some in the north figure prominently in the Doc Ford Mysteries by Randy Wayne White, one of my favorite authors.