Day 107: Thursday, December 20, 2012
Port to Port: Shell Island to Fort Myers, Florida
Underway: 9:03 am Motor Off: 11:30 pm Miles Traveled: 7.5 Stayed At: Marina
First Things First: First boat-made scratch pancakes with strawberries, syrup and whipped cream.
Mile to Mile: It’s finally time to say goodbye to serenity and say hello to civilization. We need to move on before the next cold front moves through on Thursday afternoon with 25-30 knot winds and cold temps. We had a favorable wind and were in no rush so we motorsailed most of the way into Matanza’s Marina at Fort Myers Beach. A nice way to help us mentally prepare for “The Beach”.
Matanza’s Marina only has a handful of slips – most of their business is focused on their Inn customers and the dozens of boats in the municipal mooring field. Some of these people have stayed here for years. Everytime they need to come to shore they have to get in their dingy and motor or oar over to the dingy dock. A very unique lifestye. We decided to stay in a slip because its easier to explore and meet people rather than being tied to a mooring buoy.
We got secured to the stationary dock – always a challenge to adjust the lines just right so the boat doesn’t hit the dock and yet there is enough slack to allow for 3+ foot tidal range.
One of our “rules” is that we try to get our projects done before we have fun so we scrubbed the decks and cockpit (grungy after a couple weeks of travel), reorganized our storage, flushed the motor, did laundry and straightened up the cabin. We took much needed hot showers, put on clean (and still warm) clothes and checked out the onsite restaurant for happy hour and a snack. We wandered around the main shopping area for a little while – an interesting mix of touristy old Florida and new condos and hotels along the beach. We even saw bikini girls wandering through McDonald’s after dark. I don’t think there will be many bikinis visible tomorrow with 20+ mph winds, temps in the 60’s and a freeze watch for tomorrow night. Only a couple more days before we pick up Jess and Sarah. We’re counting down the hours.
