Our Great Loop Adventure: February 2014

Friday, February 28, 2014

Our good friends Bill and Karen flew in on Sunday, February 16th. They were staying at one of the suites right at Legacy Harbour. On Sunday evening we went to Ford's Garage downtown for dinner. Also, today Blue Moon pulled in. We travelled with them during part of our adventure on the rivers and also saw them at the rendezvous at Joe Wheeler. We also saw Eddie from Spiritus. They are staying with friends at the high rise condo next to Legacy. Monday was a quiet day. Tony waxed and I washed. Bill and Karen settled in and relaxed. We grilled salmon and zucchini and ate dinner in Bill and Karen's suite. Tuesday was an exciting day. We took an airboat tour in the Everglades. We drove to a shopping plaza and were picked up by the tour bus. After a few stops to pick up more passengers, we made our way to Imokolee and Lake Traffor, where we boarded the airboat. The guides both on the bus and on the airboat were extremely knowledgeable about the flora and fauna of the Everglades and surrounding area. Guess what? We finally saw alligators. Tony was super excited. We also saw a great variety of birds including three types of Egrets, two types of Heron, two types of Ibis, Roseate Spoonbills, which get their pink color from their diet of shrimp and red algae, storks, a Red-shouldered hawk, and a Black Vulture. We thoroughly enjoyed the ride. When we got back to the dock, we got a hands on experience with some of the wildlife. I held a non-venomous snake and Tony held a baby alligator. It was a great morning and afternoon. On the way back we went to Pinchers Crab Shack for lunch. We all piled into the car on Wednesday and went to Tampa to visit Tony's brother Pat and his wife Sue. They are renting a condo on the beach. We had a great time sitting on the beach and wading in the ocean. The weather was perfect. We had an early dinner at Sea Breeze and arrived back at Legacy around eight. Thursday was shopping day. Karen and I dragged Bill and Tony to Coconut Point Mall in Estero. We shopped and they sat. Dinner that night was at Pastabilities. At the restaurant we met the harbor hosts from Joliet, Illinois, who drove us to the grocery store. It is certainly a small world. What were the chances people we met four months ago would be sitting right next to us in a restaurant in Fort Myers, Florida. Friday was another relaxing day enjoying the glorious weather. We grilled steaks and corn on the cob and again ate in the suite. Sadly, we bid farewell to Bill and Karen. They had an early flight on Saturday. We had a terrific week with them. Saturday, March 22nd, was the looper party. The hosts Karen and Dennis completed the loop in November, 2014 and graciously opened their home to 47 loopers. Paul and Stephanie from Intimate Sea drove us to the party. They are from Oscoda, Michigan and will start the loop next month. The party was fabulous. The food was outstanding. We met gold loopers, loopers in progress, and people who were going to start the loop. We talked with Clay and Sally from SaSea Sally, Bob and Monique from Q's Cabin, and Deb and Rick from What's Next??. We had met these couples during our journey so far. On Sunday, walking home from church and Starbucks, we ran into Mike and Judy from Michigan in the Legacy parking lot. They have a slip close to ours at Belle Maer Harbour. We were excited to see them. Mike and Judy have a condo in Cape Coral. They had errands to run so we agreed to meet at Cabo's downtown for dinner. We had an enjoyable time. They had many questions about our adventure. Tony and I decided that during our last days at Legacy, we would catch up on boat jobs that needed to be done. Tony started with a thorough scrubbing of the outside of the boat. We then proceeded to take out the anchor and all the chain, so we could clean the anchor locker and repaint the chain. We have color combination markers that tell us how much chain has been let out. I did a good cleaning on the interior of the boat included wiping down the cabin floor. I cleaned the isinglass on the stern of the boat. We also rented a car to reprovision. It was not all work however. We had great docktails on Tuesday with Jay and Sharon on Golden Hawk. We traveled with them on the rivers. It was fun to catch up on their news. We had docktails with Clay and Sally on Wednesday evening. We took time out to attend two seminars on Tuesday and Wednesday morning. The first was an overview of the route from here to Norfolk, VA. We heard most of this information at the fall rendezvous, but we got some new insights. The second was an overview of whole loop. This was interesting because everyone had personal experiences to share and we could even answer some questions, since we are no longer the newbies. This brings to a close our month at Legacy Harbor. We really enjoyed being here. We talked to a lot of people. Many of them were not loopers, but all our part of the boating fraternity. Tomorrow we continue moving east to the Atlantic seaboard.

Everglade Highlights

Cattle Egret

Purple Gallinule

Bees nest with dripping honeycomb

Karen and Bill

Judy and Mike

Sunday, February 16, 2014

We have spent these last two weeks at Legacy Harbour Marina in Ft. Myers. It has lived up to its reputation. They have all the amenities including two laundries, showers, a fitness center, a covered gathering area called the "Chiki Hut," pool, friendly and helpful staff, dockside pumpout, and last but not least, location within walking distance to downtown Ft. Myers, a Starbucks, and Publix. We have spent part of our time primping the Summer Recess through cleaning both the inside and outside as well as waxing the super structure. We also spent a lot of time cleaning our deck chairs which were suffering from exposure to all kinds of weather. We rented a car, which allowed us to shop at places not close to the marina like Costco, Total Wine, and West Marine. But it has not been all work and no play. We have taken many walks along the river front as well as downtown. The Ford Edison Estates are within blocks. These are the winter homes of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. The grounds are filled with many buildings as well as a lot of the flora that was brought in by both Ford and Edison for experimental purposes. The very well maintained waterfront is along the Caloosahatchee River. It is the location of not only a Farmers Market every Thursday, but also many weekend activities. We attended the Art Fair on Sunday, February 2nd. The downtown is filled with restaurants and boutiques as well as offices and businesses.
There have been activities at the marina. We attended the Super Bowl Party on February 2nd complete with food and beverages. Becky, our daughter, won $40 in the pool for having the square that matched the First Quarter ending score. On Wednesday, February 5th, there was an Olympic Torch parade on the docks followed on Thursday with a pot luck dinner. Everyone brought a dish to represent their ethnic heritage.We took pierogis and kielbasa. We had a great time. We met the owners of Tortuga. Also, we were surprised to see Hiromi and Mike from Off-Leash. We met them several times on our river travels and into Mobile.
We had a delightful surprise on Friday, February 7th. We were visited by our Belle Maer dock neighbors, Dave and Bonnie. They came with Betsy and Kim, Bonnie's sister and her husband. We had a great conversation accompanied by more than one glass of wine. We were very grateful that they took time out from their Florida vacation to visit us.
Pat and Sue, Tony's brother and his wife, came from Tampa, where they are vacationing, to visit and spend the night at the Legacy Hotel. We took them to Ft. Myers Beach. They are condo hunting for next year. We also walked the beach at Lovers' Key. However, since there is only one way on and off Ft. Myers Beach, we got stuck in a traffic jam and it took us two hours to get back to the boat. They are now thinking twice about leasing a condo there. We walked downtown for dinner at Fords Garage. It was fun. Both Pat and Sue worked at Ford Motor Company. We were going to meet for drinks at the Chiki Hut, but the torrential rains arrived. To top it off the gate to our dock did not work. The harbor master, Eric, literally had to hop the fence to get it open. Tony, who had an umbrella, helped a lady to her boat. The floating dock closest to the river was wobbling in the wind with waves coming over it. He came back soaked to the skin. So much for having another glass of wine at the Chicki Hut. The following morning the rain had cleared out, but it was still breezy. We drove to the Manatee Park. But due to the cool conditions, we did not see many manatees. After lunch at an English Bistro, Pat and Sue left to go back to Tampa. We had a enjoyable visit.
Valentine's Day was celebrated with breakfast at Gwen's Cafe. This was a restaurant recommended by our son-in-law, Jeff, who used to be a co-owner of an engineering business in downtown Ft. Myers. The food was very good.
The Edison Light Parade took place on Saturday, February 15th. We walked downtown to watch it. Beautiful fireworks over the water marked the start of the parade. The parade included representatives of the armed forces, police and fire departments. There were many local high school bands. Of course many local lawmakers were there. The highlight was the Budweiser Clydesdales pulling the truck with their trusty Dalmatian sitting next to the driver. We enjoyed this event. The next posting will be at the end of February just before we leave Ft. Myers.