Ft Myers Beach to Marco Island - Now will we ever leave?

Sanibel Lighthouse

Ft Myers Beach on the horizon

An old military landing ship
that has been renovated and is now
a cruiser - one of our neighbors at Bonita Bills

Doc Fords - enjoying the music!

Several of the shrimp boats here in Ft Myers Beach

View of the beach from our dinghy

Look out!  Here comes a pirate ship!

Cool cloud while we were cruising
kind of looks like a jelly fish!

NautiNell at home at Bonita Bills

I'm always amazed at all the rigging on these boats

Heading out in the Gulf in the dinghy

November 14   Friday   We left Casey Key Marina in Venice at 9:00 a.m.  Jeff and Linda came by to see us off.  J  We hate to leave them but we need to get south.  Hopefully we’ll see them again in a few months.  We stopped at Gulf Harbor Marina (aka Pops) for fuel and were on our way again about 10:00 a.m.  We had a 40 mile trip back to Pelican Bay where we dropped a hook about 2:30.  It was a cloudy and cool day but a pretty easy one.  Not quite as nice as the last night we were here but you can’t win them all.  There were way over 30 boats in here this time.  Still not crowded though.  The night was a bit restless – it ended up being pretty windy so between the water lapping and the chain creaking – it wasn’t the ideal night.  Oh well…..

November 15  Saturday   Left our anchorage about 9:30 and headed on to Ft Myers Beach – about a 30 mile trip today.  The weather was much better for traveling.  The dolphins were more than happy to travel along with us and play!  We saw several mamas and their babies.  It was so cool!  We made it to our slip at Bonita Bills by 1:30.  Bonita Bills is a restaurant here in Ft Myers Beach that has a few slips available.  Every time we come through here we try to stay there.  We love the bar/restaurant and the price.  Of course the price seems to change every time but the bar is the same!  This time they only charged us a flat rate of $35 a night including electric!  After we got tied up we immediately went to hear Peppermint Patty who was playing in the bar.  She is quite the entertainer.  It was her birthday so we ended up having birthday cake with our beer.  J  We ended up having dinner there too.  Tomorrow hopefully we’ll get to the beach.

November 16  Sunday   They were having a flea market on the parking lot this morning!  Good timing!  I ended up buying some Christmas decorations for NautiNell!  Can’t have too many!  They were also selling really good Bloody Marys for $2.00!  Perfect!  When we were wandering around the market – Mike heard someone call his name.  Knowing that we didn’t know anyone there we quite surprised to find Randy from Black Tickle there yelling at us!  We met Randy when we were on the Loop in 2011.  He’s one of the several Canadians that we traveled with.  Small world!  Since we had seen him last he has sold his boat and bought a fifth wheel.  He’s traveling around the US by road now.  That’s what I think we’ll end up doing one of these days.  Anyway it was great visiting with him. 

We finally made it to Doc Fords Rum Bar and Grille for lunch.  We have tried to go there every time we’ve been in Ft Myers Beach but something always changed our plans.  We weren’t disappointed! Doc Ford is the main character is a series of books by Randy Wayne White.  The restaurant is owned by the author.  I’ve been reading the books so I really wanted to check out the place.  When we got there we found that it wasn’t very crowded, however, within about 30 minutes the place was packed.  The big draw was the band that was playing.  They were really really good!  We stayed around and listened to them – probably a bit too long!  Oh and like I’ve said before – it’s a small world – well, we see this guy that has on an Ugly John’s – Thunder Bay hat.  Ugly John’s is a marina/boat dealer on Grand Lake in Oklahoma!  Only about 30 minutes from our home!  Come to find out – he was from Kentucky but had bought a boat from Ugly John.  The couple invited us to sit down and tell them about the Great Loop.  Very nice couple. 

After Doc’s we decided it was time to take a dinghy ride out to the beach.  It was a nice ride but a little bumpy outside.  We stopped in Moss Marine on the way back to visit with Tom and Linda from Q’s End.  We had met them a couple of years ago in Marathon.  It was really good to see them.  I wish we had had more time to visit but we needed to get back to NautiNell and get ready for our departure tomorrow.  We did manage to squeeze in dinner again at Bonita Bills!

November 17  Monday   We left Ft Myers after fueling up at Ballard’s at 8:30 a.m.  It was a nice day on the outside and we had about 41 miles to go.  The Coast Guard kept notifying on the radio that there was really bad weather expected on the west coast of Florida.  We decided to anchor in Smokehouse Bay in Marco Island.  We made it there at 2:15 p.m. and dropped an anchor.  In the past we have stayed in an area called Factory Bay which a little easier getting into but Smokehouse Bay is much more protected.  It’s a bit tricky getting into but once we did we found that we pretty much have protection in all directions and we have it all to ourselves.  It’s a good thing too because now they’re saying the wind is really going to blow.  They are predicting 5-7+ foot waves out there tomorrow SO we are staying put.  We’ll either stay till Wednesday or maybe even Thursday – depending on how it goes.  I just heard on the VHF that a gale warning has been issued for up in the Panhandle.  Glad we’re not up there!!  Hope it’s a quiet night here…….

November 18  Tuesday   It was a pretty uneventful night.  We like that!  We spent the day on anchor trying to keep busy doing things around here that need to be done.  We really can’t run the heater much while on anchor so we’re hoping the forecast is a bit wrong.  They are saying that it is going to get down in the 50s tonight – and only to 65 tomorrow.  I know that may sound warm to you all in Missouri but with no heat – the wind howling and on the water – it’s cold!  After looking at the weather websites, we’ve decided that we are for sure staying through Wednesday and Thursday doesn’t look so good either!  I had a big pot of soup in the crockpot.  That helped keep up warm!

November 19   Wednesday   Hanging in the boat trying to stay warm.   As of now we’re going to try to leave in the morning.  There is an inside passage that would take us part of the way to Little Shark River where we’ll spend tomorrow night.  This may be the way to go – so we will miss some of the wind.  Hopefully it will not be too bad.  We will stay in Little Shark Thursday night and cross Florida Bay to Marathon on Friday hopefully.  Keeping our fingers crossed!

Stay tuned!

Till next time!

Admiral “C”