Frankly Andre, I can't recommend those cruising grounds very highly.
I'm used to more variety or at least more deep water. If you're
looking for a road trip on water with restaurants, you may find it's
just what you're looking for.

If you are cruising when a low moves through, be attentive to tide and
time. A fellow two slips down was high and dry one morning and more
than once I heard [after the fact] "Oh yeah, it's always like that when
a low moves through." Mark at SWFY was kind enough to provide us with
a partial tide chart print-out. Fortunately we had full tide chart
data including local reports. Without that we'd have been in a pickle.

The travel up and down that patch of the ICW was no big deal. I'm not
sure why people did it. I happend to be down there and wanted to spend
a few days on the water. There wasn't enough of interest to return.
Maybe I missed the good stuff.

Had some windy days and wen't booting around Charlotte Harbor but
that's probably not of interest to you.

If you're looking for a slow paced motor cruise following the ICW
markers your on the right road. Of course you could explore the Peace
River I guess. I saw it on the charts but didn't see any mention in
the local guide books.

We called at Boca Grande Marina, formerly called Miller's marina. The
dockmaster told us she had never worked at a marina before so if it's
the same one, take that into account when you request//receive
information. The entrance channel is silted up so on entry you must
proceed with caution and on making the turn to port we had to hug the
the houses and docks to starboard. We learned this by trial and error.
There's an anchorage back in the bayou area. Go there by bearing
right on entry.

Dined at at very good restaurant called The Loose Caboose. Slip fee is
$2.50'. If you're health conscious be careful of the fried [though
delicious] appetizers.

We called at Cabbage Key, nice little marina with restaurant. Watch
your depth. Dockage about $1.50. Tame waterfowl are fun.

We call at 'Tween Waters Marina, Captiva Island. There's also room to
anchor there judging by some of the boats we saw but not having local
knowledge we chose to tie up. It's an hour off the ICW watching the
channel markers all the way .... slow is smart.

As to SWFY - check everything and top your own tanks before you head
out. The previous charterer is suppposed to do it, but they don't
check and in our case, the previous folks hadn't done their duty. The
boat was equipped with an autopilot that did not function. The TV did
function though and I got to see the Bears beat the Bucs and that was
more important than the autopilot.

Best of luck.