Left Marathon and spending time in Ft Myers Beach

Our last sunset in Marathon

What's left of our Dock Dynasty - last night for some

 Capt & Hook heading out

Will this be our last trip under the
Seven Mile Bridge??

Scenery in Shark River - beautiful

Beautiful night on anchor in Shark River

Sunrise in Factory Bay
Marco Island

Getting it all ready
before we head out

Our welcoming committee

One of my favorites at
the car show

Mike's favorite!

So many to see

Would this one pull our camper

Very cool show at Salty Sam's

Dinghy ride down one
of the canals

I could live here!

lots to see and lots of canals!

I think this may have been here awhile

Sunset cruise

Never gets old

Didn't want to share!

Beautiful beach!

Had to take a selfie on the beach!

Lots of wave action today

No caption needed......

Can you see the piano on the bow??

Let's play count the umbrellas 

Two Hands playing the blues 

Wednesday, April 13  After spending another great winter in the Keys (Marathon) at Sombrero Dockside with our boating comrades, it was time to cast our lines and head out for another great adventure.  We left the dock about 9:00 a.m.  Rick and Terese left about 7:00 a.m. getting a much earlier start even though they travel much faster!  However, we’re only going about 50 miles today and they’re planning to go much farther for their first stop. It was hard saying goodbye to those left at the dock.  We doubt if we’ll be back next year.  However, who knows!  If NautiNell hasn’t sold we may be back -  but we might own an RV instead by this fall!  We just don’t know yet!

It was a calm and clear day.  It seemed to take forever to get to the Seven Mile Bridge at Moser Pass where we can go under – probably about an hour.  Then we’re free to go but we still have to watch for the crab traps.  Although, the season is still open, there weren’t nearly as many as usual.  Yea!  We saw lot of sea turtles and dolphins along the way.  We anchored in Little Shark River by 3:15.  Here we planned to launch the dinghy and do a little more sightseeing but we just didn’t have the energy.  Instead we sat out on the sundeck and watched the entertainment that nature provides us in the everglades.  We saw lots of fish jumping so Mike did give fishing a try.  We also saw a couple of sharks!  Well, it is called Shark River!  We are told that there are several alligators there, but we have yet to see any.  We enjoyed a beautiful sunset while having our “crockpot” dinner on the sundeck.  Then the mosquitoes came out and forced us inside.  Still a very nice night on anchor – there were six boats in all.

Thursday, April 14   After a very uneventful night (the kind we like), we were up and ready to go.  We have 66 miles to go today to Marco Island where we’ll drop the anchor again.  When we were weighing the anchor, we found out the deck wash down pump was no longer working.  Worked find 5 months ago!  Anyway, Mike had to do it the hard way – lowering a bucket into the water and rinsing the chain and anchor by hand!  SO, we didn’t get away quite as early but it was still about 8:30 a.m.  Another calm day to travel the Gulf of Mexico.  Following seas, long day, slow moving, no cell, no land in sight – wouldn’t trade it!

We made it to Factory Bay at Marco Island and were finally at anchor at 4:00 p.m.  It was a crowded anchorage this time and it was a little tricky finding a good spot but Capt. Chappy can work wonders. 

Friday, April 15  We left this morning at 7:30.  We only have 45 miles to go to Fort Myers Beach but we need to hit the Marina at slack tide.  We had another day of beautiful calm seas.  Except for one jerk in a big boat that came way too close and rocked us big time.   “Captain Kid”.  If you see him out there – beware!  From his response on the radio – he did it on purpose.  There are bad apples everywhere in all sizes and kinds of boats.  We were about 15 miles out when a weather alert came on from the Coast Guard telling us to take cover immediately.  We couldn’t figure it out.  And of course where do you take cover when you’re out in the Gulf!  The skies were a little gray but didn’t look bad.  We had friends there waiting for us so we texted them.  We were trying to determine if we should stay out and wait it out or to continue heading in that direction.  Well, we kept coming  - nothing on their radar either.   Nothing ever developed!  Thank goodness!

Now like I said earlier, we had friends there waiting to greet us.  Well, we should have been there easily by 1:00 p.m.  But just as we were getting to where we turn to go to Ft Myers Beach we kept going under the big bridge and was heading for Ft Myers and the Okeechobee Waterway!  We were just realizing things didn’t look right (we’ve been here several times, yeah I know) when Judy texts me asking where in the world are we!  Well, we had to turn around and regroup.  Luckily, we travel slowly so we hadn’t traveled all that far in distance just in time…..  Anyway we turned around and our GPS said we were at least 45 minutes out.  BUT now we knew where we were going!  We made it to the dock by 2:00.  We stopped at the fuel dock first and unloaded the scooters.  We were in our slip finally by 3:00.  Just before the tide started going out.  Yea!  Oh and our “welcoming committee”?  That motley crew gave up on us and was having lunch and beers at Bonita Bills!   Now thanks to having witnesses, we’re now known as “Which Way Nell” and also “Wrong Way Nell”!   That’s okay.  I’m just glad we got here and it wasn’t storming. Never did figure out what that was all about – think it must have gone north of us.

Our first stop with our buddies was Happy Hour at Pete’s Time Out.  Great happy hour and people watching.  The beach is beautiful – looks like we’ll have some fun here for the next month.  We spent a little time that evening saying our goodbyes to Q’s End and Conched Out Too.  They’re leaving in the morning. 

Saturday and Sunday  April 16, 17.  The weekend was spent relaxing and hitting several Happy Hours.  William and Judy are here till Monday and so are John and Susan.  We hit Lani Kai on the beach and of course, our favorite Bonita Bills.  We got a lot of suggestions of where to go and what to do here at FMB.  We’ve been here before but we’ve only spent a few days at a time.  Now that we have a month, we’re going to do a lot of exploring!

Monday, April 18   The last of our friends here headed out this morning.  I guess we’re on our own now.  No problem!  I know we’ll figure it out.  There was a great car show over at Salty Sam’ Marina this evening.  Of course, we had to check that out.  We went over there by dinghy.  Much easier than getting there by scooters.  Mike was in heaven.  Classic custom car show and drafts for $1.75!  We stopped at the Parrot Key Grill and then Bootleggers for food.  $5.00 HH food!

The last couple of days, we’ve been hanging on the boat.  Mike has been working on the wash down pump.  Finally he realized that it’s under warranty!  So he had to make a trip by scooter to West Marine for an exchange.  That took a while!  Not sure where all he stopped, but I do know he found a place named Maria’s where he made friends!

Later that evening we decided to take a dinghy ride and explore the canals.  We found Maria’s by water!  We went around the island and spent quite a bit of time exploring.  Then the ride turned into a Sunset Cruise.  What a gorgeous sky! 

Today, (April 20) Mike is still working on the pump.  Nothing is ever easy…..  Anyway later today we’re going to the beach for Happy Hour and sunset.   That’s it for now Stay tuned!

Okay, I’m back! 

Thursday we explored the island on our scooters.  It’s a busy little place here.  And it’s not even Spring Break.  They tell us that this is really the slow season now.  All the snowbirds have left and the family vacationers aren’t here yet.  Wow, this place must really be popping during the winter months!  Anyway we hit the Tiki Bar just in time for Happy Hour.

The next morning we walked the beach.  It was really windy on the Gulf side.  We stopped at Pete’s Time Out for a drink then over to the Salty Crab for lunch.  We had originally planned to go to the Farmers Market but it wasn’t there today.  No market during the “slow season”.  Hmmm, that doesn’t stop Fort Pierce!  Anyway, we had a good time.  We rode out to Bowditch Park which is on the west part of the island.  Very cool and a beautiful beach area.  Later on we were back over to the beach at Times Square for the Sunset Celebration. We hit a few places then it was the SOB (Smoked Oyster Brewery) for dinner.  It was a good evening.  We spent the rest of it sitting on the sundeck watching the full moon rise up over the bridge.  A beautiful sight.

Since it’s still too windy to go out in the dinghy we spent Saturday on the scooters again and then watched the “circus of boaters” coming in and out of our marina.  You can tell it’s the weekend! 

Finally on Sunday the winds had laid so we dinked out into the Gulf along the beaches.  Perfect day for people watching!  There was this huge catamaran (homemade?) that had a fantastic stereo and Frankenstein on his tower along with a baby grand piano on the bow that was being used as a cooler!  Now that’s being creative!

We ended up back on the inside at Bonita Bills for a late lunch that turned into Happy Hour.  Two Hands was playing there and we really enjoy him.  A fun filled day!

Yesterday (Tuesday 4/26) we shared a car with Terese to pick up our cars in Marathon.  Rick and Terese are in Sarasota which is about 2 hours north of here so she picked us up at the marina.  We made it in time to see our friends who are still at Dockside (Phred, Candy, Joey, Rhonda, Steve and Cindy)!  It was so good to see them all!  We walked over to the Country Club for Happy Hour food and drink.  We only stayed a short time because we wanted to head on back to NautiNell.  Terese spent the night there but we drove on back.  We were safely back on the boat at 11:00 p.m.  That’s a full day!  Anyway we now have our car here.  Don’t really need it because we have the scooters, but it will free us up a bit to do more sightseeing maybe.  At least wherever we end up now for the summer the car isn’t so far away to retrieve again.

It’s been two weeks today since we left Dockside in Marathon.  How time does fly!  We’re here in Ft Myers Beach until May 15.  We’ll decide sometime before then where we’re heading next!  Stayed tuned!

Till next time!

Admiral "C"