The morning was sunny with clear, blue skies and a light breeze. We pulled away from the dock at 8:15 and bid farewell to Bernie and Barb.
They have the best “marina” of anywhere around. We truly enjoyed our “Weekend at Bernie’s”.
We motored slowly down the canals and back out through the Chiquita Lock.
There was no other boat traffic this early in the morning. Our destination today is Ft. Myers Beach, about 9 miles away. As we turned the corner of the canal system and into San Carlos Bay, there was a moderate chop on the water. Entering the more open water of San Carlos Bay, we encountered 1-2′ waves with a few whitecaps mixed in. Crossing under the bridge into Matanzas Pass brought us to the Ft. Myers Beach anchorage. We grabbed the pennant attached to mooring ball #9 and hooked up at about 10:00.
We settled in and got our bearings before going to shore to the Matanzas Inn to register. This is the view from the back of our boat.
After lunch, the three of us took the dinghy ashore to check in and walk around a bit. Afterwards, we went back to the boat with Auggie, dropped him off, and dinghied around to see if we could still remember which canal would bring us close to the grocery store. Our memory served us well and we were able to locate it without any problems.
Bob stayed with the dinghy while I ran inside for a couple of non-essential items. It was a quick in-and-out and we were on our way. Back at the boat we did some reading and computer work…..maybe even a nap or two….feeling kind of lazy today. Dark clouds floated overhead, but never got us wet and the wind seemed to die off a bit. When Bob tried to remove the straps that secured the dinghy to the lift, he discovered a stowaway on board. It was a small, blue crab. What a surprise!
We had a brief rainshower around 5:00 which rinsed the salf off of the boat and cooled things off a bit. The Key West Express pulled into the harbor as we were sitting on the back enjoying the day.
Bob grilled brats for dinner and we relaxed a little before going to shore for the last time today. Auggie got to walk around and we got to check out the Tiki Bars in town. We made our way back to the boat as the sun was setting and watched a movie before going to bed.
