Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Boy, what a night last night.  We had torrential rains and strong winds up to 70 miles an hour with tornado warnings in the area.  The wind was so strong it pulled the back cleat out of the dock.  The back end of the boat was about 8 feet from the dock.  We had to use my landing loop to get the boat pulled back to the dock so Keith could redo our lines.  The storn only lasted about 30 minutes but the rains kept up for most of the night.  All part of the adventure.

We are bringing the boat to St. Petersburg to the boat yard tomorrow morning.  We will have to stay in a hotel for the next 2 nights and then we should be able to get back on the boat and stay at a downtown marina while they fabricate our rail.

We have had a wonderful stay here at The Club at Treasure Island but we are both ready to move on.

CO's comments:  Yesterday I said "isn't life great!" and last night "all hell broke loose!"




View of John's Pass from the gulf



Birds under bridge at John's Pass

 

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

PACKERS GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL-GO PACK GO!

Karen and Bill left early this morning; it was a busy week.  Besides the usual tourist things, we went to the National Florida Panther Wildlife Refuge and went on a "Swamp Buggy" ride through the refuse.  We saw alligators, manatees, and deer and we got to pick oranges and grapefruit from wild trees.  Another day we took the Fort Myers Ferry to Key West and did the walking tour of the museums.  We visited "The Bull" Tavern which was quit the experience also.  It was nice going to the island but on the way back it got really, really, rough and half the people on the boat got sea sick, including Karen.  Waves were splashing over the 3 story ferry.  It seems like it took forever to get back to Fort Myers.  The next day we went to Sanibal Island and toured the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge and went to the beach and picked a lot of shells. 

CO's comments:  Isn't life great!



Bill's new girlfriend-they met at the
Maritime Museum on Key West



Duval Street-Key West



The Bull Tavern on Duval Street

Picking shells on Captiva Island-
Alison Hagerup Beach



Lighthouse Museum at Key West



Planning our walking tour

These beautiful pink birds on the
refuge are Roseate Spoonbill

On Key West
The Little White House-Built in 1890 for Navy Officers and later used by the following Presidents:
William H. Taft
Harry S. Truman
Dwight Eisenhower
John F. Kennedy
Jimmy Carter
Bill Clinton

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At Lighthouse Beach-
First the dolphins swim real fast in a
circle to gather up the fish





At Lighthouse Beach-
Then the dolphins swim around
again and eat their catch
(never seen anything like that before)



Sanibel Island Lighthouse