Friday 18 December 2015

St. Petersburg to Fort Myers

We left St Petersburg and headed toward Fort Myers Beach, Florida.  We said goodbye to our new friends, Ben and Jane from Jammin Jane and Tim and Carol from Liquid Assets.  We also said goodbye to Liz and Bob from Not Sew Easy that we met previously at the rendezvous at Joe Wheeler Park.

Heading back out to the ICW from Tampa Bay we passed some pretty big ships.
 Back on the ICW (Inter Costal Waterway).  It was a beautiful day and the homes along the ICW are fantastic! 



 We were getting close to Fort Myers and the pleasure boats passing us were getting much larger.  The wakes from these boats were huge and sent us rocking, but it was all good. 


Fort Myers Beach!
 We arrived at the Marina just in time to see this charter boat come in after a few hours out at sea.  We watched as the crew climbed up and tucked away the sails.  They are only standing on lines and they are not tethered to anything.  If they fall it's gonna hurt. 
When we arrived at the Marina we went stern in.  Steve loves his back porch but didn't like the view much because we were facing the dock.  We decided the next morning to turn the boat around.  It's a little tricky getting on and off....nothing we can't handle.....and the view is much better from the back porch.  
 When we first started this journey, we talked to another Looper that told us we would never be further than 5 miles from a Walmart when ever we hit land.  I remember thinking at the time....how can that be true....but it is. 

So with Christmas approaching we thought we would venture in to Walmart....2.5 miles away.  There is a trolley from the Marina that takes you right to Walmart for 75 cents.  Back porch is all decked out for Christmas! 
 Fort Myers Beach is actually an island.  It runs approximately 8 - 10 miles.  The next day we took the dinghy and drove completely around the island.....or the key as they call it here. There were canals off the waterway that lead to homes with docks.  We took a detour up one of the canals to check out the homes.  Not many grew grass.  They were maintenance free with stones. 



 We found a floating coconut as there were many trees with many coconuts.  Little bit of trivia here.....did you know that more people die from coconuts falling out of trees than from shark attacks? 

Just as we got to the bottom of the island there were dolphins swimming all around.  We never get tired of watching them play.  We were so much closer in the dinghy. 

We stopped at the tip of  the island to give Dexter a little run.  The beaches here are dog friendly.  The beaches closer to our Marina are closer to restaurants and all the tourist activity so they don't allow dogs there.  Dexter was in heaven here.  

We went full circle and arrived back at the Marina only to find that we had friends we had met before.  Friends that we will always have a special bond with because we crossed the gulf with them.  Kay and Charlie from Plane to Sea and Bob and Lynn from American Pie. 
I decided I wanted to get to work on my coconut right away.  Cracked that baby! 
Steve said it looked like Wilson.  I thought it looked like it was singing.  Put some eyebrows and a moustache on him.  Now Steve thinks he looks like a seal. 
 We let the face live one night then the next morning I cracked it open to find nice white coconut meat. 
The next night we decided to have dinner together with American Pie and Plane to Sea.  After dinner we found this ice cream/fudge shop.  They make the fudge and chocolate there from scratch.  Charlie (Plane to Sea) bought some chocolate.   He bought 3/4 of a pound and it was $27  and change but worth every penny I'm sure.  



So excited for the next couple of weeks.  Our girls and their guys are visiting for Christmas.   So very grateful...every day....for our family that support us on this journey.  We look forward to seeing our girls and their guys but we will miss our family and friends that we won't be seeing this Christmas. 

The pink dot at the top of this maps represents our starting point and closer to the bottom is where we are today......waiting for our visitors.....One Bay at a Time.

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