Fort Myers Beach

I am writing this on November 26th from Marathon, Florida. WE MADE IT!! We are safely on a mooring ball in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. I have not been able to post to the blog because of the lack of an internet connection while in some very uninhabited places. I will write about that experience in coming entries. This entry will take us back November 11 through 19. We had sailed into the harbor at Fort Myers Beach and picked up a mooring.

We spent the first days in Fort Myers Beach taking the city bus to Walmart to pick up a new fuel tank for the dingy and various other parts. We then ordered some parts for the outboard that needed to be replaced. I was able to have those items shipped to the office at the marina. They all came in two days. I was able to replace the parts without issue and with the new fuel tank and fresh ethenol free fuel, the dingy was running perfectly. We were now able to get from the boat to land easily. We could take long hot showers and walk to the beach and anything else we wanted to do.

I also ordered parts for the sea strainer on SHIFT, and that also worked out well. No more leaks. I felt like we were as good to go as possible. I find it quite stressful to have problems when you are off shore. When I have problems it takes a while to regain confidence in the equipment. This boat work is a very important part of the experience. It allows me to get to know the boat better and to know what to watch for. With all of this "work" out of the way, we could have left, but we wanted to experience Fort Myers Beach before we left, so we extended our stay.

We took a walk down to the beach to see what we could see. It is a beautiful beach, but it was a cool cloudy day with temps in the lower 70's.

The Pier and beach front called "Time Square"

Condo's Along the beach

Kim at the pier. It was a cool day, but we were still wearing shorts. 

The next day we took a ride to the shopping area around Walmart and went to an authentic Latino market and restaurant. It was very good. We then did some provisioning and took the trip back to the boat.

The final day, we took a 4 mile walk along the beautiful beach. The sand is as soft as any sand we have ever felt. It was a beautiful sunny day and a great way to finish our stay in Fort Myers Beach.

This picture doesn't show the large number of people walking on the beach. 

Kim on a beach 

Cool RV park right on the beach 

We  walked along the beach doing what most people do.  Picking up shells and enjoying the warm sun and water. We did see what could be evidence of the Red Tide that is making news in this part of Florida.

A dead horseshoe crab

This was exactly the day we needed.  We went back to the marina and took long hot showers.  We were now ready for our next sail south. We had a 35 mile sail down to Marco Island.  I will tell you how that went in my next entry. 

I will leave you with another beautiful sunset from Fort Myers Beach.