STILL IN FT MYERS

Since being in Ft Myers we have been back to CT for a week.  We were even treated to a 5 inch snowstorm while we were there!  But we found everything to be in good order.  Our good friend Jeanne has been looking in on the house and keeping after things that might go astray.  That sure makes our being away from home for an extended period of time easier on the nerves.

The Ft Myers Yacht Basin is located very close to downtown which makes life easy.  Sue's brother, Richard works here in town and has made his car available for use for shopping, etc.  Last Friday Connie drove over from Boca Raton to visit and see the boat.  Saturday, being a fantastic weather day, Richard, Connie, Sue and I were able to get away from the dock with the boat and made our way down the Caloosahatchee River about 10 miles and ducked into a small inlet where we found a beautiful marina and the Nauti Mermaid Dockside Bar and Grill which turned out to be great place to stop for lunch. While traveling back and forth on the river we saw four other Great Loop in transit.  Connie left to return to Boca on Sunday afternoon and Richard drove Sue up to Venice so that she could attend an overnight party with a group of her fellow AA retirees and a few gals who are still flying. She said she had a good visit and of course there were numerous 'war stories' exchanged. Monday I used Richard's car to pick her up and bring her back to the boat.  Yesterday our Dick and Chery, boating buddies from CT,  drove down from Reddington Shores to spend the day.  They were anxious to preview our boat before we get back to Long Island Sound next spring.  Unfortunately, due to the work we are having done on the boat, we were not able to get away from the dock.  Regardless we had a great visit that included lunch and supper on the boat.  We have tickets to the Florida RepertoryTheater presentation of Alfred Hitchcock's "The 39 Steps" tonight which is a very short walk away.  So as you can see there is not a shortage of things to do here in Ft Myers.

We still have work to be finished on the boat before we can leave.  We are having new batteries and a charger/inverter installed and Sue is having some upholstery work done.  We will probably be here another 10 days before heading south to Marathon Island in the Florida Keys.  That is a change of plans because originally we planned to go through the Okeechobee Waterway to Florida's east coast.   Now we plan to make our way north after Marathon.  Sooner or later we will be back in New England.

Meanwhile, while we are here we continue to see several other GL boats daily and the boats come in all sizes and shapes.  This marina is a popular fuel stop.  As I type this blog I see M/V ABREOJOS pulling into the marina. This is the crew we Spent Christmas with in Gulf Shores, AL when Colby was aboard with us.  It will be good to chat with them for awhile.

I'll get back to regular blogging when we get underway. I may even learn to include pictures!

Y'all stay vertical,

 Capt John and First Mate Sue