Day 172: Saturday, February 23, 2013

Port to Port: Fort Myers, Florida

Underway: 0:00 am      Motor Off: 0:00 pm      Miles Traveled: 0      Stayed At: Marina

First Things First: First time watching a movie outdoors under the stars; First boat inspection.

Mile to Mile: Our only planned activity today was an inspection of our boat by the Coast Guard Auxiliary at 10 am. We decided to go for a long walk beforehand while it was still cool so we walked over a long bridge to the other side of the Caloosahatchee River and back. What an amazing view of the river and marina from the top.

After our inspection and lunch we took another long walk in the opposite direction and stopped at CVS and a local hardware store. During our inspection this morning we found out our boat numbers are spaced incorrectly – a minor issue but it would give someone an excuse to pull us over so its worth fixing. We also couldn’t find our registration card so I need to order a duplicate copy and have it sent down to us here.

Downtown Fort Myers used to be a place people avoided but over the last 10 years they have made a huge investment in the waterfront and downtown area making it a wonderful place to visit. The old downtown has lots of historic old building housing shops, restaurants and bars.

The city also promotes regular activities like Art Walks, Music Festivals and other events to bring people to the area. A couple weekends ago they famous Edison Parade of Lights wound its way along the main drag and past the Edison/Ford Winter Estates. Locals actually stake out prime spots along the route a couple months in advance. Today there was an antique car show downtown that was a fun surprise. They also sponsored Movie Night at Centennial Park only a few minutes from our marina. They were showing Grease. The turnout was light but we had a nice evening laying under the stars on a blanket watching a classic “old” movie on the waterfront. Can’t get much better than that.