Day 153: Monday, February 4, 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 dinghy tour of Estero Bay.

Mile to Mile: We woke up today with no real plans and no pressing projects. It’s a really weird feeling not having anything that we have to do. (There are lots of things we could do but we can let them simmer for a while longer). It’s also very easy to get lazy when you are in one place for a long time. It takes work to explore and find interesting things to do. It’s, of course, another beautiful sunny day in FMB, so sailing sounded like a promising idea until I checked the wind forecast and the highest winds expected were going to be about 5 mph – drifting would not be my idea of a fun day so on to Option B. We have wanted to take a dinghy tour of the area to explore some of the channels, check out the boats in the mooring field and get an up close look at the shrimp docks across from us. So a dinghy tour it is.

I rowed the dinghy over to the dinghy dock for easier access, put a little air in the tubes, put the life preservers and cushion in the boat, untied the motor from its storage spot on the port side deck of Aurora and gassed up the motor before hauling it over to the dinghy dock and mounting it. (Like I said, exploring takes work although with sunny skies and temps in the mid 70’s I’m not complaining). We packed up a few things to bring with, the motor started the first pull and off we went on our 3-hour tour.

Of course, we had a blast. Cindy drove while I took pictures. Within 10 minutes, we saw our first dolphins – this time a mother and her baby. How cool is that? It was amazing how quiet and peaceful it was just a few blocks off the main drag. I can see why so many people like living in these channel communities. A fair amount on new construction is going on in what was the worse real estate market in the US. The economy is definitely growing down here and could be poised for a big growth spurt over the next few years. Hopefully we learned what not to do (probably not) this time around.

After our leisurely scenic tour we returned to the Marina and went for a long walk along the beach. Even though it is high season right now, the beach was fairly quiet and uncrowded – just like we like it. We stopped at the grocery store for a few essentials and walked home to make dinner. After a long hard day with no plans, we grilled burgers and enjoyed a mini watermelon, some veggies and chips. Tomorrow is another “no plans” day so we’ll see what new adventures it brings.