to Fort Myers

The social life at Fort Pierce continued.  We had dinner on our boat with Jim and Gloria, who we spent time with last winter in the Bahamas, and Susan and Brent. 

 

We went caroling one evening on the docks, I lip sinc'd and played my toy tambourine from the Dollar Tree and Steve opted out altogether, but it was fun.  We had a quiet Christmas Eve with Susan and Brent and their visiting friends, Bob and Lynette.  Susan and I organized a pot luck Christmas Brunch, which was delicious and well attended by about 35.

 

Our plans were to leave on 12/28, but when Steve went to fire up our engine, we got nothing.  A bad starter was the diagnosis.  He pulled the 60 pound beast out and began researching replacement/rebuilding options. 

I just set the beer bottle next to it to illustrate how big it is, but must admit, after wrestling that thing out of the engine room, Steve did drink the well deserved beer.  After having no luck finding one at the typical places, he brought it up to Tim at Florida Marine Diesel about 2 blocks from the marina.  It's the kinda place that looks like a complete mess with piles of stuff every where, but when you go in and ask "do you have one of these thingamajigs", Tim walks over to the thingamajig pile and pulls out exactly the right one.  So he got us one, added the new starter to the old nose piece on ours and Steve put it in.  We were just three days behind our friends and booked across the Okechobee waterway to Fort Myers (150+miles and 5 locks) in three days.

 

We giggle about the way the lock chambers are filled  and emptied.  No fancy pumps here, the lock master just opens the door a foot or so in the direction they want the water to flow and lets it rip. Here it is raising us up. 

We fueled up at American Custom Yacht where diesel was a remarkable $2.71 a gallon, cheaper that it was when we did our Great Loop.  New Years Eve was a quiet night for us at Indiantown Marina.

 

We love seeing the Cypress trees with Spanish moss drapped over the branches....

 

 

... and the occasional air boat. 

 

 

 

The marinas in Fort Myers are all full with the annual Gold Looper Reunion coming up in a couple of weeks.  So we joined Once Upon a Time,

 

Quimby,

 

 

 and new friends, George and Mary, from Green Bay, on Beach Quest

 

in a great anchorage just across the main channel from downtown.  The Fort Myers Yacht Basin (aka City Marina) has 6 mooring balls in the anchorage and there is room for many more boats to anchor.  We have use of their dinghy dock, just blocks from the vibrant downtown and Publix.  The mooring balls are only good for boats less than 22,000 pounds and even the humble Shingebiss, the smallest boat in our little fleet, is bigger than that.  The solar panels have been very efficient in meeting our electrical needs and it's great to not listen to the generator run first thing in the morning and last thing at night. 

 

The last few days have been a whirlwind of shopping, social hours, dinners, and dining out.  We had lunch with Tom and Diann, who we looped with, great to see them.  The weather has been stellar with near record highs and it feels great to be out of the marina bobbing on anchor.

 

Our plans are to head to Fort Myers Beach with Brent and Susan, Once Uupon a Time ... unfortunately, it's their turn to have boat problems and they are awaiting a part to be delivered tomorrow.  If it fixes the problem, we'll be outa here.  Meanwhile, a relaxing day aboard, maybe town later.