Fort Myers, FL

Day 128, December 7th, 2009

Sue and Paul followed us for an hour or two as we tootled on down to Fort Myers. It was a little foggy at first and what wind there was, was right on the nose. Then they turned out the cut to travel down the coast to Naples and we turned left up the Caloosahatchee River. It felt so sad to see them disappearing in the other direction. We chatted for a short while on the radio and wished each other safe journeys.

There were a couple of wide sounds to cross on our way and again the water was just teeming with life. The dolphins were amazing. At one point a cigarette boat that had buzzed passed us at a million miles an hour had stopped in the water and were taking pictures of a pod of dolphins just playing in the water. They were chasing each other and jumping out of the water having a wonderful time. It was breathtaking. As we continued, again one joined us alongside, and this time I managed to catch a glimpse of him under the water with the silly little camera. All my efforts as he came to the surface were in vain and we deleted all those wasted shots. Shortly after this I caught a glimpse of a manatee - it looked just like a big bump in the water and then kind of rolled on and then I saw the flat tail fin break the surface. Birds were everywhere, the pelicans were diving, terns too, along with egrets and blue herons wading in the shallows. I just had the feeling that we were just visitors to this totally different environment. The ocean has a life all its own and we are spectators. I love it all.

We arrived in Fort Myers shortly after lunch and found the Fort Myers City Marina where we picked up a mooring buoy for about $11.25. Laundry was at the top of the list, along with hot showers!! I was congratulating myself on the cheap night's stay and the cheap laundry machines when I got back to the boat and reckoned I'd left my little bag of quarters back in the laundry room ashore!!! I figured there were about $15.00 - $20.00 worth!! Leaving John to unpack, I jumped back in the dinghy and rushed back - no good, no quarters!!! Some cheap night!!! Back at the boat John called from the cockpit "No luck? That was $13.00 worth of quarters!! Good thing I found them at the bottom of the laundry bag!!!" Thank goodness!!