On your mark, get set......Marathon!!

We arrived in Boot Key Harbor late Wednesday afternoon, and were happy to see the familiar landmarks -- Seven Mile Bridge, Lazy Days, Panchos, Burdines, etc. One new sight was Summer Wind, our friends Rusty and Nancy's new boat, anchored outside the harbor. They were waiting to come into Dockside the next day and spotted us as we arrived. We were able to get our first glimpse of their new boat through the binoculars.

When we arrived at Dockside, we had a great welcoming committee and dock hands. William and Judy were already docked, and Bob and Stephanie (m/v September Song) and Bob and Katie (m/v Floating Stone), friends from last year in Marathon, were all on the dock to help us tie up. What a great sight (and great help)! We tried our best to catch up on what had happened over the past year, but it may take more time over the next month. Bob and Stephanie were kind enough to host happy hour on September Song so we could begin. Their lovely girls, Cassie and Godiva, were excellent hostesses, although Godiva was too sleepy to pose.







































We can't wait to visit with all the friends we met last year, and begin to set up our Hospitality Station on the dock. Our table (kindly donated from One Palm Tree Court last year) is waiting for our personal touches before it can resume its job as potluck, hors d'oeuvres, and adult beverage holder. The Captain seems to think it will also be a sewing table, but serious negotiations will have to take place before that happens.

Out to sea

Monday morning was fuel-up and water-up at Ballard's (best place to get diesel), then out to sea! Goodbye to Ft. Myers mooring field for a while, anyway.

The weather was beautiful, warm and sunny with just a little rocking and rolling. We were able to put up the genoa for most of the day, and made good time to our first anchorage in the impressive Marco Island bay.

Day two was also beautiful, winds of course not always as predicted, but still some good motor sailing and we made good time. Our anchorage on the second night was outside Shark River (we could maybe have gotten in, but would have waited a looooong time for the tide to come up before we could've gotten out -- we did a light touch on the way out of the anchorage), and after the winds shifted we had a comfortable rock to sleep. On Wednesday, we flew not only the genoa, but the MAIN! Yes, that big white thing we usually use to store dirt daubers! Caught Optimystique with sails flying ahead of us, and had three gorgeous days of travel south.


We're happy to report that even though we saw many, many crab pots on the way (and not all of them out of the usual traffic lanes), we missed them all! Well....we did slice the marker of one in half, but no animals were harmed in the filming or production.

Goodbye to Ft. Myers

It was hard to leave, because we always have fun here; it's a great mooring field with dinghy dock, nice laundry/shower facilities, and lots of fun places at the beach. But....we must head south. Freundship Marine came through for us yet again -- Todd made a house (boat) call to help figure out why the XM weather wasn't coming in, and also to try and diagnose our battery charging problem. Even though he felt miserable with allergies, he worked into the night and almost all the next day getting us ready to roll (float) again. We're pretty sure they'll start screening their calls better from now on.

We were invited to a fish fry Sunday night at Steve and Kelly's apartment, which isn't an unusual event at the beach. But you have to understand Southern boys to know why Steve would catch his fish in Tennessee then clean and freeze them so he could bring them to the beach. But we're sure glad he did! What a spread -- crappie filets, hushpuppies, slaw......some good eatin!! We'll miss those crazy kids (well, at least for a week or so till we meet them in Key West). Serendipity's crew was late to the fish fry, since we were trying to catch up on everything before our departure Monday morning, but at least some attendees were able to be there when the sun was still out (photo credit to William).











Steve took some great sunrise shots of the mooring field while we were there, and was kind enough to share them.

Sand between our toes....and other places

This beach is gorgeous, and apparently well known, since it's usually very busy and full on pretty days (and even on some not-so-pretty ones). We've enjoyed walking and visiting on the beach, and will, as always, miss Ft. Myers Beach when we leave. Steve and Kelly, our friends from Tennessee, are regulars on the beach -- same location, same time, every day. They're now golden brown and sandy and loving every minute of it.

Visits and eats and beaching

We had a great visit Tuesday with Pat and Dan, friends we met in Marathon on our first cruise. They've recently bought a sailboat, and are excited to start boating again after a hiatus from being liveaboards for several years (one of which included their 4 kids and a dog!). Their time on land is well-spent though, since they're keeping new great-grandbaby Gabriel so his mom can finish school. It's time to get that baby on the boat now so he can learn to sail his great-grandparents around when they're old and goofy. Just in the nick of time!





William and Judy joined us, and we took Pat and Dan on a sort-of typical day tour for us. We did a beach stroll, saw a truly one-man band in the plaza, had lunch at Bonita Bills, drinks on top of Lani Kai (where we could spot Serendipity and Optimystique in the mooring field), brews at Wicked Wings, and pizza at Surf Pie (they serve all-you-can-eat on Tuesdays as a cruiser appreciation gesture). Too full and nearly freezing from the wind and dampness, we deposited them back on the dinghy dock so they could drive back to North Ft. Myers.

A second home?

We've had so much fun at Wicked Wings; it was one of our favorite haunts last year, and we're so regular there now that they call if we don't show up (not really, but we're sure they would if they had our number....actually they DO have our number, but not our phone number). It's a cozy place on the beach with a great view, some really wicked wings, and of course cold brews (entices Jaybird and William like dogs to a fire hydrant).

The owner, Eric, is very friendly and the staff is wonderful. It's such a fun place to people-watch, enjoy the beach view, and get to know the staff, who are all young and friendly and cute and hard working and very interesting. They have jet skis, beach chairs and umbrellas, parasailing, and lots of great sand to play in and on. There are lots of places to stop while beach-walking, but Wicked Wings is by far our favorite.
































They now have a new volleyball net, and since it's a Miller Lite logo product, Jay and William are pretty sure they're personally
responsible for it.

Sooper Bowl Sunday

We started the afternoon with a visit to LaOla in Times Square, where Steve and Laurie were playing (we're shameless groupies). The owners of LaOla are relatively new (a little less than a year), and anxious to provide great quality and food and service and fun. They're succeeding! Fresh and tasty guacamole and salsa, really cold drafts, and of course excellent music. We found ourselves in the gallery on their facebook site (www.laolafmb.com) on Monday. Yet another good reason to visit Ft. Myers Beach (the restaurant, not us dancing).

We were invited to a Super Bowl party, and even though we have no strong alliance to either team it's an excuse to meet new people and have a party, so who are we to say no?? We joined Jerry and Sharon in their gorgeous and unique home on the bay, Steve and Kelly, William and Judy, and long-time friends and neighbors of Jerry and Sharon. There was too much good food (a lot of which is now in our big round bellies), lots of chatter, and a good game. We were able to tie our dinghies up at Jerry and Sharon's dock (instead of walking from the dinghy dock), but had quite a jump down into them when we left, since the tide was VERY low.

Night music

We were so happy to find the Laurie Star duo still in Ft. Myers, as we've been fans for over 6 years and have totally worn out their CDs purchased here on our first cruise. We've been to hear them 3 times so far this week, with plans to go back today (Sunday) for their afternoon debut in the town square. Even though we didn't think it was possible, their sound has gotten even better over the years and it's such a treat to hear them. We've now added 3 more CDs to our collection, and look forward to wearing them out as well. There are plenty of good reasons to come to Ft. Myers Beach, and they're certainly one of the best.

When we heard them Friday evening at Nervous Nellie's, Steve had a maraca-type shaker that totally entranced the Admiral. Hoping to figure out the construction, I watched and listened to each shake and noticed that it had a wooden handle, metal cylinder, and what appeared to be strings of metal beads circling the cylinder. Imagine my delight when we went to Bonita Bill's Saturday afternoon to watch the old northern snowbirds dance and body-spell to Peppermint Patty (this is not made up!!) and they handed out shakers for a song....made of beer cans filled with BBs (ours was a Miller can) that closely resembled the sound of Steve's maraca. For those of you who know the Captain, you know that getting a beer can full of BBs is much more likely than getting a musical instrument (particularly since the Admiral has a tin ear and no rhythm). Can't wait to start my own band!!












In front of us in the mooring field are Gary and Micky on m/v Little Mick from North Carolina. We met them last year and are happy to visit with them again (and to also hear someone with no accent).

Snow? what snow?

We've heard the weather is bad all over the country, even in mid-Georgia (where one snowflake is an event). You'd never guess it to look outside our portholes and hatches, though; it's been either 80 or very near all week, sunny and gorgeous. The beach is beautiful, with white sand finer than sugar and enough breeze to keep you cool (sometimes even chilly, but we don't dare complain). The sky is a beautiful bright blue, and the clouds wispy and snow white. Oops, mentioned snow again.

We're enjoying walks on the beach, people-watching on the beach and streets (you know...the people who think they look good in things on vacation that they look REALLY bad in at home?), listening to good music, eating great seafood (and some wicked wings), meeting new friends, and NOT doing boat projects. This is the rest period between getting the boat ready to travel again and our arrival in Marathon (where we hear the party's already started). The mooring field is mostly full but not overcrowded, we've always been able to tie up at the dinghy dock, and the Miller brewing company was obviously notified in advance that Jay and William would be here.

We were happy to reconnect with friends Steve and Kelly, who we met here last year. They're from Tennessee (we found them because they were the only people who didn't have an accent) and rent a house on Estero Island every February. Kelly keeps a running list of which restaurants have the best deals, happy hours, and specials, and she's our source of knowledge for the fun and food on the island. We'd like her a lot better if she didn't look so good in her swimsuit.











We called old friends Norm and Sally (dock neighbors at Blue Springs Marina in TN), who have recently bought a condo in North Ft. Myers. They drove down to visit for happy hour one afternoon and then again for a beach day. We caught up on what we could remember (didn't take very long) and enjoyed the company and the weather. We kidnapped them and wouldn't let them go back home till they'd been initiated at Wicked Wings (where Jay and William have saved thousands of dollars on buy-one-get-ones). They're happy to be snowbirds, and seem to be happy off the sailboat (they took a trip south from Tennessee, which was aborted after much boat trouble and last year's cold winter).

Serendipity unplugged

Ah, the water, the sky, the birds, the waves.....it's good to be moving again. We traveled straight through from Bradenton to Ft. Myers Beach, covering the distance in about 21 hours. We left Twin Dolphin around 11:00 a.m. Saturday and arrived in the mooring field about 8:00 a.m. Sunday. It was an uneventful trip, with very little boat traffic on the water and good weather for travel. At least that's what the Captain said; the Admiral took a Bonine at noon (just in case), and she was blissfully asleep during his watch, her watch, their watch, and sometimes in between. She managed about 2 hours' watch between 3:00 and 5:00 a.m., but that's it. Highly recommended way to crew!

We were met in the mooring field by William and Judy in their dinghy, and they spared us the agony of defeat and the possibility of losing our boat hook (and the Captain's patience) by handing us the pennant for the mooring ball......best hookup we've ever made! It's great to be back in Ft. Myers, and after a brief nap (for the Captain; for some reason the Admiral is very well rested) it will be time to explore. And call friends here. And enjoy the great appetizers and happy hours we've come to know and love. On our first visit here we planned to stay a day or two and spent more than a week. Since then we've been known to spend more than two weeks......we'll just have to see how the weather cooperates and how much we can get into.

Special thanks to Melinda for the navigational aid before we left.