February at Snook Bight Marina, Fort Myers Beach, FL

We haven't posted a blog in a while so I am combining the whole month in one.

Karen, Keith's sister and her husband Bill, flew in on Feb. 1st, and left on Feb. 9th. We had a busy but enjoyable time. We went for daily walks on the beach and looked for shell and did some sight seeing.  We went to Edison and Ford’s Winter Estates and did the self-paced audio walking tour on the other side of the street this time. It was very good.  Every time I go there I learn something new.  Karen, Bill, and I also went to Manatee Park and met our friends Aline and Nick.  Nick is a volunteer at the park and gave us an excellent tour of the park.  It was very interesting and enjoyable. On one of the days, Keith, Karen and Bill did a half day of kayaking in the Mangroves across from the marina.  We ate really good while they were here.  There is way too much good food down here and it seems like all we do is eat!  Keith grilled some fresh, colossal, shrimp one night and they were out of this world.


A day and a half after Karen and Bill left, my sister Annie and her husband Mark came down to visit.  They spent the night before going back to Mark’s dad’s place which is north of Orlando, FL.  We did the walks on the beach again each morning looking for shells and also went out to eat.  So glad my sister got to come down here.  It is always good to have company but it is also good to be by ourselves once in a while.  We were both exhausted and didn’t do much of anything for a few days after everyone left.

This past week or so we finally had time to get together with our friends Chuck and Barbara of Gold Watch who we met at Pebble Isle 3 years ago. They are also Gold Loopers. They took their dinghy down to our marina and we had lunch at Bay Front Bistro.  Excellent restaurant, would recommend it to all. Had a real good visit. Then on the 17th they picked us up early and we went shopping for most of the day; Walmart, West Marina, etc. We got most of our supplies for our Bahamas trip. 


On the 20th, the marina had a customer appreciation night that we went to.  Got together with Dave and Carol from D Cea who slip here.  We met them last summer at Pebble Isle.  Our last weekend here we took the dinghy down to Chuck and Barbara’s marina; The Pink Shell, and Barbara fixed a delicious brunch.  We spent the afternoon and had an enjoyable visit.  The other day we went to Docktails at Sharon and Todd’s on Sun Drum.  There were lots of boaters there and all had a good time.  The rest of the month we prepared for our Bahamas trip.  Before leaving we took the dinghy back down to Trico Shrimp Company and stocked up on shrimp and scallops; their sea food is awesome.
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CO's comments:  Well, this past month has been fun for me.  I got to watch many, skillful, captains bringing their 50' Yachts into the marina.  Most all did excellent jobs.  Then, one of many pontoon boats with old guy driving, run bow first, smack-dab into the dock.  People try to tell them to slow down and after it is all over, the old guys get out of the boat and try to tell everyone that boats don't have breaks and that is why they hit the dock.  Very few of the weekend boaters can read the signs that are posted all over saying; No Wake, Idle Speed.  On warm weekends, there are a million boats going by the marina.  It seems like the weather has been so bad up north that every one is coming down here to visit their friends and are taken for a boat ride.

2-2-2014:  Karen taking Keith's kayak for a trial run before the 3 went out together.

2-2-2014:  Karen and Bill; first day on the beach.

2-3-2014:  Posing with Edison at the Edison Winter Estates.

2-3-2014:  Edison's Family Seminole Lodge.

 

2-3-2014:  Ford's Estate, Edison's winter neighbor.

2-3-2014:  Model T Ford:  1919.

2-6-2014:  Out to dinner.

2-7-2014:  Star Fish Bill found on the beach.

2-8-2014:  Love this T-Shirt!  It says it all about our country's weather lately.

2-8-2014: On Fort Myers Beach Pier with Bill's friend Mr. Pelican.

2-12-2014  Annie and Mark at Snook Bight, Fort Myers Beach.

2-13-2014:  Me at the beach after Karen and Bill and Annie and Mark left.  Up to this point we had perfect weather.  Today we had 5 foot waves and 30 mph winds.

 

2-17-2014:  Beautiful sun rise at the marina.

January 11 through 25, 2014; Fort Myers, FL

1-11 through 1-15-2014; City of Fort Myers Yacht Basin Marina, Florida, Mile 136.0.  Now that we are finally here we have a lot of things to get done.  Top priority is to get my labs and blood work done and 2nd on the list is to get a new refrigerator.  On Sunday, our friends Nick and Aline come over and took us to Lowe’s and we bought a refrigerator.  They will not deliver it until we can find someone to install it on the boat because Lowe’s policy does not let them come onto boats.  Monday morning the 13th, we called Owl Creek Boat Works and arranged for them to take the old one out and put the new one in.  They cannot put it in until January 22nd, Wednesday so we will have the refrigerator delivered to Owl Creek then.  On the afternoon of the 13th, we walked down Cleveland Avenue to the Lee Memorial Hospital (1.6 miles) thinking could finally get that out of the way; wrong.  We got there and I could not have my tests as I needed to do some preliminary work before the tests so we had to come back on Wednesday the 15th.  Thankfully, that’s finally done for another month.

On Friday through Monday morning, January 17 through 20, we rented a car from Enterprise.  Friday we went out to the airport where US Customs and Border Patrol offices are located.  We went there to get a Vessel Reporting ID number.  We filled out a bunch of forms and showed them our Pass Ports so now we are in their computer system and it will be much easier returning to the US after our Bahamas trip. 

On Monday and Tuesday, the 20th and 21st, Felix Marine was here and fixed our air/heating system so we now have heat and air.  For several months now we have just been using our little space heaters. 

1/22//2014 through 1/25/2014: We took the boat up to Owl Creek Boat Works and they removed our old refrigerator and replaced our new one.  It took them about 2 hours.  They had to hoist it up over the back railing, bring it through the salon and down into the galley.  They had to take the handrail off the stairs down into the galley and take the handles and doors off both the old and the new refrigerator so it would fit down the stairway.  They had about 1" of wiggle room.  So glad we hired it done.  Little by little things are getting done.  After finishing with the refrigerators, we took the boat over to our friends house on the Caloosahatchee River and spent a few days tied up outside their place.  Had a nice visit.  We came back to the marina on Saturday the 25th.

CO's comments:  I am slowly replacing light bulbs with LED's.  They are more efficient and they last longer.  Our new refrigerator uses 1/4 the amps that our old one did.  Amazing!  With our new bulbs and refrigerator our batteries will last a lot longer while anchoring out.  Downtown Fort Myers always has something going on.

 

 

 

Our friends Nick and Aline have all kinds of fruit trees in their yard; bananas, avocado, and many more.  These little bananas are just right for a bowl of cereal.

 

 

1-23-2014:  Tied up at our friends house.

 

 

 

 

 

 1-25-2014:  Car Show in downtown Fort Myers.

January 7 through 10, 2014

1-7 and 8-2014: Gulfport, due to the winds and waves on Tampa Bay we did not leave until Thursday the 9th. 

1-9-2014:   After 2 week at Gulfport we were finally on our way by 07:00 this morning.  First we had to wait on our boat maintenance to get completed and new house and boat batteries put in and then we had to wait on the weather to cooperate.   We decided to do 2 long days so we could get to Fort Myers before Saturday when it was supposed to rain and be very windy.  We made it through Tampa Bay without much problem; waves started out at 2 - 2 ½' and ended up at about 3' high with the winds 14 to 16 knots.  After that, all was smooth.  We got to our Cape Haze anchorage by about 17:00,  a long day.  Fixed dinner and had a quiet night.

1-10-2014, Fort Myers: We pulled anchor by 07:15 and made it to our last bridge to be opened of this trip by 07:30; the Boca Grande Bridge, yea!  My Doziers Waterway Guide (2010) had several of the bridges the wrong height but Keith picked up a new Florida Waterway Guide and they were all correct in that.  We made it under 2, 22' bridges today without having them opened but just barely.  Yesterday and today we traveled with our large antenna down and that made the difference.  Charlotte Harbor was smooth and calm with less than ½' waves.  Pine Island Sound was also very smooth.  From Cayo Costa State Park all the way down to the “miserable mile”,  Mile 0 on the GIWW, we saw a lot of dolphins.  They were following our boat again and jumping our wake.  They seem to like to dive under the boat and come up on the opposite side.  We think one hit the boat when he tried to go underneath.  Keith saw him dive under, then come up again and go back down under real quick.  That is when it felt like the boat rocked or was pushed a little.  I thought they had built in sonar so stuff like that doesn’t happen.  He seemed to be OK.  We got to Fort Myers Yacht Basin Marina by about 12:30, filled up with fuel and into our slip by 14:00.

CO's comments: After having a lot our electric systems updated, things are working a lot better.

City of Fort Myers Yacht Basin Marina.  We are on the east side of the marina this year.

January 1 through 6, 2014

We are still hanging out at Gulfport, FL.  Our original plans were to leave here on Saturday the 4th but we had to stay over the weekend to have more work done on the boat on Monday the 6th.  When Charlie and Bob finished up our scheduled work Keith asked them to look at and test our house and starter batteries.  They found that both set were close to being dead.  Our very old battery charger was not set right and therefore not charging our batteries properly causing the charger to kill them or Charlie said murder them.  To make a long story short, we got new house and starter batteries and a new battery charger on Monday.  We should be good to go now (at least I sure hope so).

CO's comments:  Update on plane crash.  The pilot was in his 70's and  lost power.  He could have landed on the gulf course but he decided to put it in the water.  He is OK but his plane isn't.

Now we might not be able to leave on Tuesday because the weather is not cooperating for us.  High winds, cold temperatures, and waves over 5' in Tamps Bay are predicted for tomorrow.  The XO doesn't think we will ever get to Fort Myers.

Evening out at O'Mally's restaurant

 

 

View from O'Mally's porch