Day 142: Thursday, January 24, 2013
Port to Port: Fort Myers Beach
Underway: 0:00 am Motor Off: 0:00 pm Miles Traveled: 0 Stayed At: Marina
First Things First: First time seeing dolphins right behind the boat in the marina (very cool); first time (ever) seeing someone dancing on the dinghy dock.
Mile to Mile: Sunny, cool and calm -looks like another nice day in Fort Myers Beach. We needed to do a few more boat projects this morning. We want to replace the mast light with an LED bulb – they draw 80% less power and run much cooler but this means we need to take the mast down. Easy for us but we haven’t done it for a while. After taking the sails and boom off, the mast was easily lowered to the deck. Of course, the bulb I had bought wasn’t the right size but I still needed to check the radio antennae (the whip was loose again) and the wind indicator (also loose and in need of repair) so taking the mast down was still worth it. I’ll have to order a new light online.
After fixing everything, we re-raised the mast (a little harder than taking it down) and reattached all the sails and boom (just in case we decide to go sailing in the next couple of days) and stowed everything cluttering the cockpit. Time for a nice long walk on the beach and another stop at the library (notice the clock at the library is actually a tide indicator – no question we are at the beach).
The beach was surprising quiet this afternoon – even though it is the high season, the beach has been incredibly peaceful during the week – especially after you get a few blocks down the beach away from the main pier. Knowing that it is below zero back home and we are walking barefoot along the waters edge makes us feel incredibly lucky to be here right now. We try not to take our good fortune for granted.
When we returned to the boat, our friends Eddy and Linda on Spiritus had arrived at the mooring field and we met them over at the dinghy dock. What a nice reunion. (And the first thing they did was dance on the dinghy dock to “Give me, give me, give me a redneck girl” – crazy fun).We walked over to the Times Square area and wandered down the beach to show them some of the sights. We ended up at Nervous Nellies for dinner and spent the entire evening catching up and trading stories. We had a blast – we can’t wait for more adventures tomorrow.
