Cape Romano Dome House

September 9, 2018 tarannosaurus

Epic Travel → North America → The South → Florida → Everglades Area → Cape Romano Dome House

Location: Marco Island, Florida

Time Required: 4 – 6 hours (for boat rental, travel to and from the domes, and snorkeling)

Red Tape/Notes: We rented a boat from Calusa Island Marina; you’ll need to make a reservation a couple of months in advance. Make sure the boat you’re renting comes with a gps and depth sounder – they’re necessary to navigate the maze of shallow water passageways. We rented the larger of the two boats they offer (a 21′ Ebbtide, which fit 8 people comfortably) for the day, and it was ~$400 plus an additional $40 for fuel. If you’re interested in what the home originally looked like, check out this interesting post showing the home through the years (including some interior photos – it was a really pretty home).

What’s Nearby?: Skunk Ape Research Center

I’ve wanted to visit the famous Cape Romano Dome House for years, and I panicked a little bit when hurricane Irma caused two of the domes to collapse into the ocean in September of 2017. So in the summer of 2018, before any more domes could collapse, we rented a boat in Goodland and drove 45 minutes through a maze of water passages and around the tip of Cape Romano to our destination. They looked exactly like we thought they would. What we weren’t expecting, though, was to find such awesome snorkeling! Virtually everyone else who came by the site was there on a tour, and they did a few passes and then left. Don’t make this mistake unless you have no other option. The snorkeling is the best part. Visibility isn’t great, but that’s pretty normal for Florida waters (it’s not the Bahamas, sorry). But it’s really cool (and kind of creepy) being able to see the open windows and doors of the collapsed domes, and swimming under the domes is like entering another world. Once your eyes adjust to the lower light, there are SO MANY FISH. They’re everywhere. There was a big school of angel fish, a number of snook, snapper, and several large tarpon; Tom even had the bejeezus scared out of him by a Goliath Grouper (did I mention it’s a little creepy under there? Imagine a massive dark shape brushing past you…). Bring a dive light so you can see what’s inside the collapsed domes – like idiots, we forgot ours. Heck, that could be where the Skunk Ape lives now. Needless to say, we’ll be back. With lights.