1-19 We arrived at Pelican Bay just off of Cayo Costa State Park at 1700 hours with the sun shining right in our eyes making it more difficult to make our anchorage and not run aground. Fortunately there was a nice boater who came to our assistance via radio and instructed us where the deeper water was. Unfortunately he was gone the next morning so I was not able to thank him in person. Upon anchoring we did get to see M/V Young at Heart, M/V Serenity and M/V Seahorse before it was too late. It was great to see them again, some we haven’t seen since Grafton Illinois or Demopolis Alabama. Karen and I had Pina Colada’s via the Tailgator and we slept the night away in a picture perfect calm anchorage.
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| Cayo Costa Ferry Dock. The only way to the State Park |
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| The "Real Florida" I'm not sure |
1-20 Morning came and we woke up to the serene beauty of this place the State Park calls true Florida. Many of the boats that were here the night before had left or were leaving for points south of here. I watched the Osprey and Brown Pelicans catching breakfast while I ate my oatmeal. Karen was busy cleaning up the boat from yesterdays travel.
After breakfast we took the dinghy to the island and hiked around and over to the beach. Karen finally found a couple of sand dollars, we’ve been looking for them for a while but have never found them fully intact until today. After our hiking we were speaking to the rangers and volunteers that run the park. One of the park volunteers actually lives on the park grounds in a tent for 6 months, that’s hard core. We spoke with another couple who live on their boat outside the park for 3 months while volunteering.
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| Karen leading the way on the path across the island. |
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| Beautiful empty beach |
We rowed back to the boat and had it closed up thinking it was going to rain. Luckily it did not rain and the sun came out, unfortunately it was 88 degrees below decks. We opened all the hatches and cooled things down. I dove in the water to check the underwater parts of Last Mango. I found the prop and frigaboat heat exchanger was growing barnacles and the zinc was starting to get eaten away. Time to clean the prop and get a new zinc. After the dive I took and shower and shortly thereafter S/V Fracas was entering the anchorage and invited us to dinner. Mary Lynn made a great dinner and we always enjoy her and Greg's company. Before we knew it 2100 hours rolled around and I forgot to turn on the anchor light. We had a dark row back to Last Mango and the water was as calm as a mill pond but in the darkness the bio-illuninesent algae lit up the water with every stroke of the oar. Karen crawled up into Last Mango and as I was prepping the dinghy to be put on the davits I dropped the dinghy painter in the water and it seemed as though a sparkler was lit. Sparkles everywhere. I grabbed a pail out of the dinghy, filled it with water and poured it back into the bay, it was like fireworks going off. Truly incredible! While tying up the dinghy I could squeeze the line that was in the water and see the algae lighting in my hand.
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| Karen Captured this dolphin off the bow. |
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| More empty beach |
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| Gorgeous Day for a walk |
1-22 We decided to stay a few days in Fort Meyers Beach due to a possible wind event coming Friday or Saturday. We decided it’s best to be here on a mooring ball protected from the winds rather than anchored in the Little Shark River. Looks like the weather should settle down enough to leave Sunday morning, lets hope. Today we went grocery shopping with Greg and Mary Lynn were kind enough to be the dinghy taxi and boy did we need it. The Publix was 1.5 miles by dinghy from our boats and it would have been a real chore for me to row Karen and I to and fro. However after everyones shopping the dinghy was too loaded for the 4 of us. The decision was made that Greg and I would take the groceries back to Fracas and Last Mango and the girls would walk the town of Fort Meyers Beach and call us to request a pickup. I got a few boat tasks done when we got the call that the two were ready for a pickup at the bar. Well, that’s where we found them drinking rum punches. We had few more rums and appetizers and we were on our way back to the boat. I got a few more boat tasks done and tried again to post a video to YouTube with no luck. These marinas have wireless access but very limited bandwidth, I’ll try late tonight when most people are hopefully sleeping.
One of my new boat neighbors here in the mooring field is the interesting sort. When we first pulled in and were getting settled we heard screaming coming from the sailboat 25 yards away. It seemed a teenage boy on the boat was having a disagreement with what we think is his mom. Later the argument continued but this time the yelling and screaming came from inside the boat. It’s an older dirty white beat up sailboat with bicycles, fishing poles and assorted items that you might find in someones backyard shed. These items are laying about the deck making me believe they live aboard the vessel. The residents of the boat are what one would expect to find in the movie Deliverance and Karen noticed the name on the side of the boat. It’s fading and scratched up but I think it’s a great name for a sailboat, “BLOW ME”.
1-23 Today we ventured out into the world of Fort Myer’s Beach public transportation to make stops at West Marine and anywhere else Karen and Mary Lynn wanted. We left the boats at 10:30 in the morning thinking I would be back to do some boat chores. Started out taking a trolley to the bus which should take us to a transportation center which puts us on another bus to get to West Marine. Speaking with some local kids they advised us to get off the bus at Florida Southwest State College and walk a quarter mile or so to West Marine. Turns out it was more like three quarters of a mile but the it was good advise all the same. Fortunately the West was next to a 5 Guys Burger joint and we ate lunch, This is shortly after 1 PM. After lunch we stopped at Radio Shack and learned why they filed for bankruptcy and Karen wanted to stop by the pet store to get her dog fix, no dogs just cats, birds and other small furry things. Off we are back to the bus stop and there we learn we just missed the bus we wanted and the other bus on our line was in an accident which makes everything run later. Long story short we made it back to the marina area in time to see the sun going down and to meet a few people we hadn’t seen since Mobile AL. We were back aboard Last Mango by 7:30 PM in time to prepare her for the storms coming later tonight. The strong winds and rain started shortly after midnight I think, I didn’t look at the clock but rolled over and went back to sleep.
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| Fort Myer Beach water Taxi |
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| Interesting |
1-26 The days have been coming and going as we wait for the weather to improve. The cold fronts have been whipping through the area which is not really the problem except for the strong winds they bring. We’ve seen winds the past couple of days up to 30 knots and the seas outside our mooring field here are over 7 feet so we choose to stay another night or two. The jump down from Fort Myers Beach to Marathon is not too far but does have some hazards especially for deeper draft boats. We’re hoping to leave here and scoot down to Marco Island and spend the night (Hopefully we can find an anchorage with enough water for us). After that we’d like to make it to Little Shark River and anchor for the night before jumping to Marathon. Unfortunately we think everyone else is thinking the same thing and there’s the question of enough anchoring space. Little Shark does not have a lot of water, no marinas and very isolated. So here Karen and I sit reading and watching the world, current of the tides go by, at least we have sun now. I should say that yesterday Karen learned how to can meat with Mary Lynn and we now have several jars of meat for the Bahamas.
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| We were on the main street in Fort Myers Beach and I just found this funny |
1-27 Jeff and Susan on M/V Gran Vida were kind enough to take us to a Chase Bank for some cash to use in the Bahamas and a Super Target for some other items. Karen did laundry and we both took good showers, I think we’re ready for points south hopefully the weather will cooperate.
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