What’s Happening? (Life On a Boat in Ft. Meyers, FL)

I’ve decided I was a much better blogger when we brought the boat down the river systems a year and a half ago.  Each day was usually a new location, so there seemed to be more to write about or comment on!  At least it sounds like a good excuse for my lack of new blog journals.

Good-bye Burnt Store Harbor

Hello Pink Shell Marina & Resort in Ft Myers Beach

Kathryn pulled out of Burnt Store Marina on Thursday, January 23^rd.  We had a 35 mile sail down the Inter Coastal Waterway, which was a smoother ride than going out on the Gulf on a somewhat windy day.  (It doesn’t take much wind for ME to feel like it is too windy!!!)  Along the way, we sailed past Captiva and Sanibel Islands.  There are some lovely homes and landscapes along that stretch of islands.  After going under the Sanibel Bay Bridge, we were soon at our new marina, Pink Shell Resort and Marina.  It’s a lovely place with many pools, restaurants, water activities and a long, white sandy beach.  In fact, just this AM, Steve and I were out there walking and picking up shells. (I think the “early birds” got the best ones, but my pockets were full.)  There is, also, a trolley that you can ride to all the places on Ft. Meyers Beach.  I had a chuckle on our first ride because I had been told that people over 65 could ride for a quarter.  Well, I’m always one to get a good “deal”, so I had my driver’s license all ready for the driver.  NO…they only accept Medicare cards….are you kidding me?  I was too lazy to dig through my purse for that with others waiting behind me, but I’ll be ready the next time …he, he, he!  The streets of town are packed these days with all of the snow birds down here for warm weather.  Until today, they have been a bit disappointed!  Today the high is to be almost 80, so no one is complaining.

Not Quite 80 Degrees Yet

We are lucky to have several couple friends who live in or near Ft. Meyers.  We have spent several days so far with our friends RJ and Elaine Smith. Wonderful food always abounds at their home and we have been treated like royalty!  They have a new hobby of wine making and we now have several of their bottles sitting in our wine rack on the boat.  We even got to visit the facility where this process takes place….I never knew what went into making wine!  Very interesting and tasty!

Is This Heaven, or a Place You Can Make Your Own Wine?



Lots of Wine

 Our other adventure on Saturday, was a visit to the Edison and Ford Winter Estates.  Thomas Edison bought his winter home in 1885 and moved his new bride there in 1886.  Henry Ford purchased his home in 1916, providing him the opportunity to vacation with his good friend Edison.  These homes are overlooking the river and the friends explored southwest Florida, fished, boated and even square danced on their trips to Florida.  Both men, of course, were inventers and there is a museum with hundreds of ideas and products invented by Edison.  Also, some of Ford’s cars are parked in his garage.  Edison was, also, a botanist and his botanic research lab is located on the property.  I loved seeing his banyan tree that was planted in 1925 and is now HUGE.  All in all, it was a great afternoon and we all learned a few new facts!

Henry Ford's Winter Home

Thomas Edison's Home

Note the Electric Light Fixtures

RJ & Nancy Under the Fig Tree

The Banyan Tree

Nancy, Tom, and Elaine

Edison Museum

Old Friends

As I mentioned above, today is a lovely warm day in Florida, so Steve and I decided to get our dingy out for a ride.  There are hundreds of boats in this stretch of waterway here on the northern tip of Ft. Meyers Beach.  It is fun to “dingy around” and see the boats up close and ”drive” into the canals where there are little restaurants and bars tucked into any little spaces available!  People love the water, it seems!  Like we don’t know that J

We plan to be here until Thursday and then head down to the Keys.  Our friends, the Jordans, are spending tomorrow with us, so we will be up for a new adventure.  We love friends with “wheels”.  I’ll keep you posted on what else there is to do in Ft. Meyers in my next blog.  The weather up north is awful, we hear, so let’s hope it warms up quickly!



HCS (Happy Champagne Sunday) at the Smith's

South Florida…Here We Come!

Good-bye Bradenton

January 12^th we departed Twin Dolphin Marina headed for all points south!  It was sunny and clear, but as usual, cool!  (I promise, I won’t keep bringing this subject up anymore.  Florida has and is experiencing unseasonably cool temps for January.  Enough said!!!)  Due to tides and winds, our first stop was an anchorage just next to Tampa Bay by Snead Island.  I’m not a big fan of anchorages since it is very quiet and you stay put!  In other words, you need to make your own “fun”.  It’s great for reading, meditating and just talking!  We did have a number of “neighbors” in other boats to watch that evening.  Our biggest excitement was watching the sailboat races, with their course or route not far from our boat.

On Monday, we sailed from Anna Maria Island down to Venice, FL .  It is amazing how that whole trip along the shoreline is completely covered with high rises, homes, resorts, etc and not one inch of undeveloped space.  Those beautiful white sand beaches “call” to everyone.  We anchored in Venice at the Crow’s Nest Marina right off of the Gulf.  For our Lake Michigan boater friends, I maintain that the entrance to Venice is exactly like going into New Buffalo or other towns along the Michigan boarder of the Lake.  So, it kind of felt like “home”.  Just a note about Venice…it is known as “Shark’s Tooth Capital of the World”.  They even have a festival in April to celebrate that fact. Our grandsons would love it here, since they are big fans of the shark tooth necklaces we bought them on North Padre. We have friends who live in a community not too far away, so they came over to give us “wheels”.  The Crow’s Nest Restaurant is quite famous in the area and lived up to its fame.  On Monday evening, it was packed.  I might add a lot of the customers had white hair, but it must be the place to eat good seafood!  Augie and Rena gave us a tour of Venice and you could tell the “snow birds” had arrived in town…busy, busy, busy!

Venice Entrance from the Gulf

Crow's Nest Restaurant

Venice from the Water

The seas and winds were calling us, so we were off to Charlotte Harbor after two days in Venice.  The winds called a little too hard, because the Gulf was choppy, so my sea sickness problem started to bother me a bit.  Being the trooper I am ( he, he ), we made it to Burnt Store Marina and Golf Community in about 6 ½ hours.  Burnt Store is quite a name, right???  Well, I just had to find out the story behind the name.  It seems that this area (which is very close to Punta Gorda, FL) was inhabited by Native Americans with a chief called Billy Bow Legs.  They were quite happy and lived in peace with the other settlers.  Soon, a trading post was established which acted as the General Store.  All was peaceful until Lt. Gil Harstuff, the new commander, came to the area and was not respectful of the Indians.  One night Billy Bowlegs and his men led an assault on the Trading Post burning it to the ground.  Both the settlers and the Indians took heavy casualties in the attack and shortly afterwards the Indians fled the area.  The Trading Post was never rebuilt, but from that day on, the surrounding area was known as Burnt Store.  Today the area has a 525 slip marina, 27 hole golf course, athletic club and great restaurant!  We are enjoying our time here and plan to leave for Ft, Meyers Beach on Wednesday morning.  Our above mentioned friends, have been over to “pick us up” and give us tours of the surrounding areas.  I just love watching the license plates on the cars from Canada to Georgia that inhabit Florida in “the season” as they call it here.



Sailing to Charlotte Harbor

Our Welcoming Committee at Burn Store Marina

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Augie & Rena Took Great Care of Us





Pizza & Football at Burnt Store Bar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next blog will find us in Ft. Meyers Beach.  You can tell this is an area that tourists/boaters love, It’s very hard to find marina space!  Steve is the master of the internet, etc. so he has our next location all lined up and waiting for us to arrive.  So long!!!!

A LONG CHRISTMAS VACATION!

When I last wrote on the blog, we were packed and ready to head north for Christmas with family and friends.  Since our return, I have not gotten back into the writing craze.  My excuse, I guess, is having too much fun.  But today is the day to bring everyone up to date on our December and January activities.

Considering the mid-west has had horrible weather this year, our trip to and from Florida to Indiana to Iowa was excellent.  No snow, wind or horrific cold temperatures.  We arrived in Schererville, IN on Dec. 13^th and spent the rest of the month moving to and from Melissa, Jon and Andrew’s homes.  (My Dad always said, “Company and fish are just alike.  After three days they both stink!”)  Gee, I hope that wasn’t their thoughts J  We were able to do our Christmas shopping, attend Ava’s choir concert, celebrate Melissa’s birthday, and spend both Christmas Eve and Christmas day with our children and grandchildren.  It really doesn’t get any better than that.  Also, tucked into those weeks, we were able to have dinner and conversation with lots of dear, dear friends in the area.

On Dec. 26^th, we headed for Iowa to visit my brothers and their families, Steve’s Mom and his sister’s family.  My brothers and I had a neighbor couple whom we have known our whole lives.  Wilmer is gone now, but Betty resides in a nursing facility.  So, all of us were able to spend an afternoon with her, which was special to all of us. (We call her our second Mom!)

The awful cold spell moved into Iowa on the last days of December, so we packed it up and moved it out!  We left and the thermometer read -6 degrees and was going down from there! As I mentioned, the two day drive to Florida was long but uneventful.  We arrived back at Bradenton, FL to nice warm temps.  Steve’s Christmas present was awaiting him.  Before leaving, we had met and secured a company to clean, polish and buff the whole outside of our boat.  In addition, they stripped, sanded and finished the wood on the entire boat with four coats of Cetol.  Do I have a happy husband…Merry Christmas Dear!!!!  For non-boaters, this would be a huge amount of work, so to leave and come back to a finished product is amazing.  We have found that salt water is VERY hard on any surface and especially a boat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed the first two weeks in Bradenton in preparation for our sail down the west coast of Florida.  January 6^th, I celebrated my birthday with a lovely dinner with my husband.  The “weather God’s” must of wanted me to remember celebrating my day up north, because the winds began to blow and the temps dropped to freezing.  Once again, rather unusual for Florida, but it happens.  Since then, the whole state has been experiencing below normal temperatures and it doesn’t seem to improve!  You know my old theory, take lemons and make lemonade.  As I told a friend this AM, I am getting tired of lemonade and need to move on to a new tropical drink!  Sailing life is tough, folks.

One Year Older Isn't Too Bad

Leonardo da Vinci Exhibit in Bradenton

Lunch at Fav's

David & Jane from Texas Stopped for a Visit

As I write, we have moved farther south and are currently in Charlotte Harbor.  In my next blog writing, I will bring you up to date on our adventures from Bradenton to Charlotte Harbor.  I promise to be a bit more prompt from now on.

Have a great day from sunny, but very cool, Florida!