Monday April 9: Punta Gorda

Once we arrived to Fort Myers Beach, the first thing to do was to take on fuel at Bollard Oil Co. They provide the fuel for many of the shrimp boats operating out of this area and the price is usually the lowest we'll see on this part of the trip.

Then it was on to our docks at Salty Sam's marina. It was nice to be tied for the night! Power, water, trash and internet - all very enjoyable after four days of anchoring out.

We shared our dock with a variety of vessels - including a large yacht and of all things a Pirate Ship! And I found job 3,224 that I would not want: the 'cruise' director on that ship! The guy doing it was very good and the kids were all excited to be under way - all shouting like pirates with load choruses of "Arrrrgh". Pirate talk for 'yeah". Some part of that person just loves being an actor!!

The birds loved the electric lines and tie lines running from boat to shore. Steve managed to get pictures of a couple.

I should know what these are - one a white heron and the smaller an ibis??? Just guessing here...

Regardless, we were off Friday headed for Cayo Casta state park - about 4 hours away. The waterway was CRAZY!! Like a freeway on the weekend and this was only Friday. Sadly I did not securely fasten shut the porthole by my bed and apparently water was flowing in quite freely along the trip. Very sad with a night spent in the front berth for me ...

But we arrived and spent once again two very nice nights at anchor. A bit windy but still not bad. Lots of other boats joined us for the night.

Randy and Cindy took their dinghy over to the manatee hole to see if there were any around - and there were but somehow now that we see them on such a regular basis at Banana Bay it's not quite the same.

Steve saw a couple of alligators when he kayaked around - one about 4 1/2 feet. He stayed quite clear of it :-)




Sunrise the second morning was really bright until the clouds came rolling in. The weather was changing and we wanted an early start to cross Charlotte Harbor which can become quite rough depending on the winds.

It was probably the calmest ever! Fine with us :-)



George and Nancy formerly from Jenna Star were still around in Punta Gorda (sadly they are leaving tomorrow) so they drove down to the bridge under which we had to cross and took pictures of us passing underneath! We're talking about a half mile walk to be over the part of the bridge we needed to cross under - what a great and appreciated effort!!



How often do we ever get a picture of the boat from 75 feet off the ground?!!

Thanks George and Nancy!!

Shortly after we were settled in the marina Randy and Cindy gave the dogs a bath and tolk us to come see little Cricket when she's wet.

It easy to feel how tiny she is when I pick her up but with wet hair it's really funny to SEE how tiny she really is!

Kind of like a drowned rat :-) Said lovingly, of course :-)

Gigit on the other hand looks about the same - but then we call her tank sometimes she is so solidly built :-)



This morning it was time for Randy and Cindy to move to the storage area about 3 hours north and west.

We'll see them yet as we have Gigit and Cricket while they work on the boat once it's on the hard. Too hot for the dogs without air conditioning. And I know if we have the dogs, we'll definitely see Randy and Cindy again :-)





Nancy and George came over for dinner last night (and then took us to a great spot for lunch today). Thanks Cindy and Randy for hosting (their table will seat 6)!

Lind, Steve, Cindy, Randy Nancy and George

For the next - not sure how long - we'll stay here and relax :-)