Day 148: Wednesday, January 30, 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 someone fall in from their dinghy; first tortoise sighting (Bowditch Park).

Mile to Mile: Breakfast, long walk along the beach, pancakes for lunch, pull someone out who fell in from their dinghy, watch movies, go to bed, and rock and roll (wind and waves). Just a normal day in Fort Myers Beach.

Today was another spectacular day on the beach – bright sunshine, warm south breeze and no pressing projects that need to get done right now. A strong cold front is supposed to pass by tonight and tomorrow so we need to take advantage of the day while we can.

Probably the most interesting part of the day was helping pull a woman out of the channel after she fell out of her dinghy.  She somehow lost her balance and fell in well out in the channel. She was bringing her dog to shore for a walk and, like most people, was not wearing her life preserver. Luckily she didn’t get injured or bump her head on the way in so she was able to grab onto the side of her hard dinghy and float along with the current (which was extremely strong). A guy passing by in a dinghy towed her to the dock at Nervous Nellies where someone else grabbed her arm. I went over to grab her other arm but it was impossible to lift her up onto the dock. It amazing how slippery a person is when wet. She was way too overconfident – she wanted us to let go so she could swim way down current to another dock that might have had a ladder – not a great idea with how strong the outgoing current was and with no flotation. I’m guessing alcohol may have been involved. We held her there until another dinghy came over and she was able to swing her leg up the side and we pulled her into the boat. Lots of “what ifs” went through our minds – What if it had been dark? What if other people weren’t around with boats to help? What if she had knocked herself out? It was a big reminder why we try to wear life preservers on the boat and even in the dinghy.

Thankfully she was able to enjoy another beautiful sunset at Fort Myers Beach. We did too.