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Ninth Floor of Pink Shell Resort Overlooking Marina
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There's Kathryn
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In our last blog entry, we were enjoying all the sights
and entertainment in Ft. Meyers Beach.
Before I enter into my above mentioned title, I must include our final
days in Ft. Meyers. Last Tuesday was a
GLORIOUS 80 plus degree day and that, of course, brought out all the tourists
and boaters. There was a virtual boat
parade behind our boat! Dick and Cindy
Jordan had planned a drive up from Bonita Springs for a visit and dinner! They got into the typical Ft. Meyers Beach
traffic jam that occurs when everyone wants to be on the beach. They sat for over an hour in traffic just
trying to get to our marina (and we thought Chicago traffic was bad!!!) After finally arriving, we spent an hour or
so just enjoying some adult beverages and talk on our boat. Since their experience with traffic was not a
good one, we decided on Nemo’s Restaurant on the beach for dinner (close by and
not much driving!). We got introduced to
“bang, bang shrimp” which is now becoming a favorite of ours. Dick and Cindy are both originally from
Chicago and Indiana, so our memories go way back. Wednesday, our friends the
Smiths wanted to do dinner again. So,
believe it or not, it was Bang, Bang Shrimp night at Bonefish Grill and we were
just the group who wanted to enjoy it!
Of course, most of the restaurants start their happy hours at four
o’clock because of the “older set” that are their regular customers. Needless to say, the place was packed! Good meal…again!!!
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Good Times, Good Friends the Smiths
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Dick and Cindy Jordan. Catching up on Old Times
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| Bring on the Bang Bang Shrimp! |
Our plans were to leave Ft. Meyers on Thursday, but the
weather did not cooperate! That seems to
be okay when you are retired and don’t really have to be somewhere. So, we sat
out the rain and found some fun activities to keep us busy. The Smiths came to our rescue on Friday,
again! Elaine is a good shopper and
treated me to two of her favorite shops…shopping heaven! They are, also, great at picking out good
places to eat and Friday night was no exception. When does that diet start????
Saturday, we awakened to beautiful sunny skies and we
were off to Marco Island. Our final
destination is going to be Marathon Key, but it is a three day adventure to get
there. Marco Island was a lovely
anchorage just to the north of all the hotels and high rises. The boaters and
parisailers were enjoying the day, also.
Yesterday morning, we left on the second “leg” of the journey and ended
up at Little Shark River. For those of
you who maybe want to know where that is…almost at the end of Florida and where
the Keys begin to wind out into the Gulf.
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Marco Island from our Anchorage
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Now I can tell you about crab pots. For those of you who love crab meat, the crab
industry seems to be booming on the Gulf.
Ever since we left Clearwater back in December, we have seen our share
of crab pots. I like to describe them as
little “time bombs” sticking out of the water (or perhaps a “cherry bomb”) They
have a little hook or “fuse” at the top so that the boats can come by and pick
them up. At the bottom of this ball is a
long line attached to the crab cage. Now
we have decided that some crab fishermen are rather methodical in their
placement of their pots. Others, sorry
to say, seem to scatter them helter skelter all over the water. So, for boaters you are constantly trying to
dodge these little guys. Why, you may
ask? If you would hit one, their line
could get tangled in the prop of your boat.
Then the boat STOPS and someone has to go down in the water and get this
“problem” untangled. NOT a good
thing! So, lots of your day is spent
dodging these guys. And when I say there
are a lot of them, I can’t make that more clear. So,in the midst of this yesterday, Steve
decided to try out his new hobby…fishing.
He has his Florida fishing license, a new pole and all the equipment
that goes along with this new found sport.
We just drag a line along and hope for the best. Well, yesterday we’d get so excited when the
line started to unwind as if a fish were attached. Only to find out we had snagged an above
mentioned POT! BUT finally, success! Steve pulled out a barracuda. At least that is the picture we found in our
fish book that looked the most like our catch.
It was a “catch and release” since we were dodging pots and had no time
to take care of a fish.
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The New Pole
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Steve's First Catch... A Bit Too Small to Keep
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Last night, we anchored at the Little Shark River (no
sharks spotted…he, he!) After a lovely
sunset and a dinner from the grill, we tried listening to the Super Bowl on the
radio, but it was a bit scratchy. There
was not internet, no TV, or phone reception because we were far from any other
cities or towers. An old fashion kind of night, I believe. We left early this AM for Marathon Key and
will arrive around three o’clock. We’ll
once again be back in civilization J So,we are back watching out for pots and
enjoying a beautiful, calm, sunny Gulf.
Life doesn’t get much better than that, right!
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Two of the 10 Billion Crab Pots We Dodged
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