Upon arriving back to Punta Gorda at Esther's home, we enjoyed Esther's company & hospitality. We biked & played pickle ball. We tried some new restaurants with Esther & attended another symphony performance. We got together with Esther's friends @ the Celtic Ray and Esther treated us to dinner at her Yacht Club. After enjoying Esther's company for 2 weeks, it was time to move south in order to make our reservations @ Stock Island. We said our good-byes, thank you's & see you again to Esther & we were once again on the water.
On January 14, we left Punta Gorda and cruised to Cayo Costa State Park, Pelican Bay anchorage. The tide was too low when we arrived ( we had to leave Esther's on a high tide due to shallows in the canal & outside the channel) and one needs moderate to high tide to enter Pelican Bay. We threw our anchor temporarily just off the GICW nearby and relaxed until the tide rose. On our way in, we encountered a double decker tour boat coming out and he squeezed us against the beach, luckily its deep enough, that was not fun but we did OK. There were lots of boats in the anchorage this visit-Doug counted 40! We found a spot in the deep water hole where we have anchored many times before-so all was good! The weather was perfect, a calm warm night. Usually when we are here, the winds pick up and a surprise storm erupts-so far so good!The next day, we splurged and took the dinghy to Cabbage Key, the neighboring island that has a well known restaurant & small marina on it. This was a splurge day & we ordered the 1 pound Stone Crab Claws for an appetizer: a mere $45 dollars! But we enjoyed our drinks, food and the walk around the island & watching the resident big turtles explore. On our way back from Cabbage Key, we found the Tunnel of Love but did not go through it because the last hurricane damaged & knocked down some of the mangroves. We enjoyed another pretty day with perfect temperatures.
We made it 2 nights in Pelican Bay without a storm-I think that's a record! We left the following afternoon when the tide was up 0.6. We saw 0.7 depth below us near the sign on our way out of the anchorage. That is why we never enter or leave at low tide! We enjoyed a slightly breezy 2 hour ride to Tween Waters on Sanibel Island. Entering their channel, our depth finder read 0.0-ugh, luckily we have a slight cushion on our reading and did not hit bottom in the channel. Even though it wasn't low tide, the dockmaster assured us it was the 20 mph east wind that made it that shallow. The wind had picked up and we had to have help getting off the fuel dock-we had pumped out prior to going to our slip. The only slips that were available were stern in on the back side of their dock run. Due to the winds picking up and the tight approach, Doug was able to steer us into the empty dock next to the one we were supposed to go in-all was fine-we got to stay in that one! I hate sterning into a dock, especially one with pilings that I'm supposed to lasso!
We love Sanibel & Captiva Island, we used to come here & camp many years ago. After cocktail hour, we walked to the Mucky Duck & Bubble Room. Along the way, we stopped at Key Lime Bistro and sipped a glass of wine & munched on some bacon wrapped scallops. From the Bubble Room, we bought a piece of their delicious Orange Cake to go, which is as big as buying a whole cake.
Our second day, we borrowed bikes & dined @ The Green Flash for lunch-always a good meal there and then biked to the far end of Captiva to explore South Seas Plantation. We had stayed here once on land with Joe & Geri Kovalesky on our way to a Turner conference. We biked the mile back to the Marina to check it out. The docks are very nice but in talking to the dock boy, they don't encourage transient boaters. The facilities are clean & well cared for & it would be fun to stay here. When we returned to Tween Waters, we took a dip in their nice serenity pool, one of two pools on site. Our friends from Indian Hill Boat Club in Maumee, winter in Cape Coral & drove to meet us for dinner. We took them out in the dinghy for cocktails and then dined right @ the Crows Nest Bar & Grill on site. The meal was just OK & the live music was too, but the company was great!
We left Tween Waters on a tide of almost a foot up & saw more water than when we arrived. We didn't see below 1.4 feet under us exiting the channel. We cruised to Ft Myers Beach & grabbed a mooring operated by Matanzas Inn. You can call the morning you are due to arrive. Another pretty day & there were many boats out joy riding. The woman @ the Inn assigned us #63 mooring ball over the phone but that was occupied so we took #64 which is situated in the far east mooring field. Note to self: #57 mooring is too shallow for us. After getting settled, we took the dinghy in to register and stretch our legs. The facilities here are ok, there is a shower & laundry building. Ft Myers Beach area was packed with people, the sidewalks, bars, restaurants, shops and especially the beach. Not our kind of place anymore-would be fun for 20 somethings.
We stayed 3 nights here, my brother & sis in law drove from Cape Coral to meet us for lunch @ Doc Ford's. We all read Randy Wayne Wright's books whose main character is Doc Ford. It was my brother Tom's birthday so we celebrated at lunch. Doug & I took the dinghy around & explored the island; there are lots of boats anchored & a few fun outside bar/restaurants. The weather has changed-much cooler-down in the 40's & 30's @ night. We both wore clothes to bed since we were on a mooring & didn't run the generator to run the furnace. 
Left Ft Myers, cruised out in the beautiful Gulf. Sunny & getting warmer-70 degrees. Docked @ Esplanade Marina in Collier Bay on Marco Island. This is our first time at this Marina & the Harbor Master Joe is a good guy. He assigned us Slip A117, right in front of Mangos Restaurant. We stayed 3 nights because we have lots of friends to visit here. Our first night, we met Diane & Doug Thober at Mango's bar. They are also from Indian Hill Boat Club and now live on Marco. We had a drink then they drove us to Isle of Capri and we ate at Pelican Bay and enjoyed a nice visit.
The next day while at Esplanade Marina on MI, we met Steve & Peggy Klepper at Mango's for lunch. Steve & Doug used to work together @ Lathrop. They are snowbirds & still have a house/condo in the Toledo area. After lunch, I used the laundry & we walked across the street to the Winn Dixie. There is a sidewalk that takes you under the bridge so you don't even have to cross the busy street to get there-very convenient.
Two years ago, while in the Bahama's moored in Hopetown, we met fellow Kadey Krogen owners Teri & Rob Pike on Kadence. Rob is the one that invented & I think, patented the apparatus that was used on Doug for his cardiac ablation. Rob also had trained Doug's electrophysiologist on the piece of equipment. We are very grateful for Rob! Teri & Rob have a beautiful home, that they recently remodeled on Marco and they keep their KK Kadence in a dock behind their house. They picked us up & took us to their home for drinks, dinner & wonderful conversation. We really enjoyed our visit! Sad note: they had just signed a contract to sell their Krogen, it was still at their dock but not for much longer.
On our departure from Esplanade Marina, we waited till the tide was up some, there are 2 spots in the channel that are a bit shallow. We picked up a Grand Banks on our way out the inlet. They called us on the radio for a bit of advice & to ask our destination. This was their first time going south to the Keys & they asked if they could follow us. We said sure and away we went. We had to dodge some pots but not as many as some seasons in the past. We anchored in Russel Pass in the Everglades, which is one of my favorite anchorages. I was shocked in the morning, when I went out to bring up the anchor & I was not attacked by no-see-ums! Belle was continuing to tag along behind us. We had a little excitement under way, the sump pump light came on in the engine room. I quickly shut the water off while Doug investigated. He found that the hose to the stern faucet under the ladder in the cockpit had detached & the water was draining into the engine room. In order to fix it, he had to unload our canned goods from the couch cupboard in the salon so he could lift up the hatch under the end of the couch to get to the hose fitting. He is so good-he knows this boat so well and is able to fix so much-truly grateful for him!Our next anchorage was Little Shark River, still in the Everglades. The Everglades National Park covers a lot of land. Here, we did have bugs: knats & No-see-ums both. It still is such a lovely quiet place & a wonderful place to stargaze!
After dodging quite a few crab pots along the way, we neared Marathon & our new friends on Belle, waved good-bye & veered off to Faro Blanco, a marina on the Gulf side in Marathon. We continued cruising under the 7 mile bridge and then turned into Marathon Marina where our dear friends: David & Tricia on Lauryl Anne welcomed us. After we were settled, David & Tricia took us out for a full night of fun: cocktail dinghy ride, Burdines for dinner and then to Dockside to listen to Yo Mama, a band. We had met one of the members of this trio last time we were in Marathon. John & his wife Rose used to own a Krogen & still attend the weekly Krogen breakfasts. It was a beautiful star studded night for a dinghy ride home-even if the last stretch was by paddle due to running out of gas!
We played the next day with Lauryl Anne's kayaks & standup boards and took a dip in the pool. Waterford arrived after a 32 hour off shore run & made it in time to enjoy a home cooked meal on Lauryl Anne with Acadia too. There were other Krogens docked at Marathon Marina & we met up with them at a docktail party:Acadia, Lili, Papione, Lauryl Anne & Waterford. Other boaters joined us but I can't remember their names. Notice, I don't have as many pictures, our Canon camera broke again and I don't think the phones take as great a pic, so I end up not having memories. We need to buy another camera.
