CAPE CORAL TO FORT MYERS

Feb 9 - We were up at 8:00 am this morning as we are leaving and heading for Fort Myers to a marina called "Edison Ford". The wind is not too bad at the moment. It is only a 5 mile trip today so we are taking our time. Just as we pulled into the marina we had almost gale force winds. Charlie was already in his slip when we started in and the wind had us. Dave turned the boat up into the wind and approached from that direction. It wasn't pretty but we did manage to get into the slip and tie up. The wind is crazy and the waves are getting larger. We have decided to get off the boat so we are going to the movies to see "13 HOURS". We headed up the dock to catch our ride to the movies when we saw Evelyn from "Something Special". We spoke with her and Sid until our ride arrived and we went our separate ways. The movie was excellent and Charlie who had been in the Vietnam war said it was very well done.We went back to the marina had dinner and called it a night.

Feb 10- We awoke to a sunny cool day this morning and the waves and wind have subsided. I am doing some laundry and catching up on the blog and Dave is trying to figure our our antennae system. He is going to help Charlie install his new AIS today and I am going to wash and wax Manana today. Dave is over helping Charlie with something so us girls are going to get some "retail therapy" (so much for washing Manana today). We left around 3 pm and didn`t get back to the boat until 7:00 pm. The guys were wondering if they were going to get fed or not. We watched TV for awhile and called it a night.

Feb 11-We are still in Fort Myers for one more day. We are planning to go to the Edison Ford Estates which are right next door to this marina. We walked over and Charlie rode his bike there. It is a busy time here right now, a lot of Snowbirds have landed, so we had about a 30 minute wait for our guided tour to begin. In the meantime we wandered into the Edison Museum and his work shop area. Edison and Ford were great friends and they lived next door to each other. Ford actually gave Edison a brand new Ford because they were friends. I was amazed at the accomplishments Edison made, the light bulb, the phonograph and his work to develop rubber for tires. It was a 75 minute tour and was well worth the wait. We left there and headed down to the Publix to pick up a few things. We went to "Pinchers" restaurant at the head of our dock for dinner and then turned in early.

Statue of Edison 

Phonographs invented by Edison

The car Ford gave to Edison

The Edison Estate

Beautiful palms in front of  Estate

Manana and Sonata at marina next door

Statue of Henry Ford 

Ford Estate next to Edison's

PUNTA GORDA TO CAPE CORAL

Feb 6- We left the marina at 9:30 am and the bay had calmed right down and the sun was shining. We are heading to a private dock of friends Bev and Rudy in Cape Coral today. We traveled by Caya Costa the island area we had anchored at for 2 nights and then past J N Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge and St. James City where Charlie and Bonnie are visiting family. As we traveled towards Cape Coral we were surprised by 2 visitors who kept us entertained for about a half hour. We had two dolphins jumping and playing along side Manana. Koby was barking at them the whole way. We arrived at Bev and Rudy's at about 4:30 pm. It was drizzling enough that we were drenched to the skin by the time we had tied up to their dock. They invited us up to their house and as we entered the lanai there was a pool right inside the door. Koby not knowing what a pool is thought he could walk through it and proceeded into the pool. That was our grand entrance! Once we got Koby dried off we were able to meet their friends that are down from Canada as well and are staying with them, Hilda, Merry and her husband Rick. They invited us to have dinner with them (Bev and Rudy are the ultimate hosts), they can never do enough for you. We talked for awhile then we went back to our boat for and early night.

Leaving Fisherman's Village Marina

Mooring area outside marina

Leaving Punta Gorda

Passing Burnt Store area

Weather is going down the tubes

This one actually slowed down to pass

St. James City where Bonnie and Charlie are 

J N Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge

They call this the "Miserable Mile" don't know why

Coming into Cape Coral

We have arrived at Bev and Rudy's

Feb 7- We were up early as this is Super Bowl Day and there are several people coming over to watch the game with us. Hilda had something to pick up at the store so she invited us to go with her. On our way back from the store Bev decided we should see a few things so we proceeded to a nearby park and they took me to see these "Burrowing Owls" at this property. They are very protected down here so if they happen to nest on your property you are not allowed to remove them and nothing can be built within 5 feet of their nest. They are really sweet little birds about 6 or 7 inches tall that take over golfer holes for their homes. We had to head back as we had to prepare some food for the big event as they have about 17 people coming today. Charlie and Bonnie have now arrived at Bev and Rudy's and we are all getting things ready to serve at half time. We are all Canadians here except Bonnie and Charlie but they are holding their own. There was much food and drink had by all and we all had a great day. We sat talking after the game for awhile then the guests began to leave as well as ourselves.

Bonnie and Charlie have arrived

The pool Koby liked so much

Rudy and Rick 

Merry and Rick 

Manana on the dock

Homes across the canal

Looking down to end of canal

Street side of their home

Feb 8- Bev has offered to take Dave, Bonnie and myself out to pick up a few things for a steak dinner we are having this evening. Charlie is tending to an engine on his boat and the others are resting. We went to a mall and Bonnie, Bev and myself had some retail therapy at a store called Wilford and Lee Home Accents. Poor Dave had allergy issues and was feeling like crap so he waited outside on a bench for us. This store was a Home Goods store on steroids! It had everything and anything you could possibly want. Bonnie and I found a perfect serving dish to give to Bev and Rudy to thank them for their hospitality. When we got back Bonnie, Bev and I decided to go for a walk around to the other side of the canal to take some pictures of the boats. When we got back we started to get the salad, potatoes, mushrooms etc. ready for our last meal with Bev and Rudy and their friends. Bev made 2 lemon pies from lemons off her tree outside her house. The three friends Hilda, Merry and Rick are very funny people who kept us entertained with their very funny stories and antics. We called a night but unfortunately the wind came up in the night and that kept us up for awhile. We are leaving in the morning for Fort Myers.

PELICAN BAY TO PUNTA GORDA

Feb 3- The wind is up a little this morning as we leave Pelican Bay at 9:00 am. We have 20 miles to go to get to Fisherman's Village Marina in Punta Gorda. A milestone for Manana after 11 years and 3 months later she is back in her old stomping grounds so to speak. There is a big shopping area right here and of course Bonnie and I have to check it out. There is a couple on a sailboat down the dock that are from Ottawa and on the boat next to us a couple from Lindsay. After the shopping mall we decided to take the loaner bikes and ride to the downtown area. We had just gotten on the bike path when we heard a bell sounding from the approaching bikes, it was Dave and Charlie coming back from getting hair cuts and visiting West Marine. The guys headed back to the boats and Bonnie and I had only a half hour to do some exploring as we had planned to go to the restaurant at the end of Fisherman's Village tonight and we needed time to get ready. We had inside seating overlooking the ICW and we watched a spectacular sunset as we ate our salad.

Welcome to Fisherman's Village Marina

The building at the end is the restaurant we visited

Feb 4- It is a beautiful warm day and it is a busy one as well. I am catching up on laundry and giving Manana a good cleaning. Dave spoke to Mrs. Dion (the couple who owned Manana in 2004) and she advised us that Mr. Dion was presently in the hospital. We pray for his speedy recovery and are truly sorry that we will not meet with him this trip. On the way to see her husband Mrs. Dion took the time to stop by for a short visit. It was truly great to see her again and she expressed how disappointed Ray was that he was going to miss us. Charlie and Bonnie are leaving to visit a family member, so Dave, Koby and I are walking to the Publix which is about a mile and a half away. The sky looks threatening but we managed to get there and back before it started to get nasty. We had a visit from a friend of the Dion's who just happens to write for the Charlotte Sun a local paper here in Punta Gorda. He interviewed us about our history with Manana up to this point. He is an interesting, charming gentleman with a few stories of his own. We may see our story written in this local paper thanks to the prompting of Ray Dion I'm sure. We would like to thank Mr. Bill Jones in advance for taking an interest in our story and we are humbled by this gester on his part. After Mr. Jones left we had dinner and Dave was about to take Koby out when the weather turned nasty with high winds (20 mph) and raining cats and dogs. It turned out to be a noisy, rocky night at the dock last night.

We are about 3 slips for the end of this dock

Office and laundry facilities to the left 

The sailboat from Ottawa

This is Fisherman's Village

Apparently this is a heated pool

This is the mooring ball area

This is the bike path

Feb 5- The wind is still high and the bay out in front of the marina is just hopping. Charlie called us at 8:30 am and said he was leaving at 9:00 am but unfortunately the tide was down and they couldn't leave until about 10;00 am. We have told them we are staying for another day and will head out tomorrow morning if the wind subsides by then. We have called Bev and Rudy to tell them we will be there tomorrow instead. It has gotten very cool with this wind that is blowing today. Dave and I took Koby for a walk through Fisherman's Village as Dave had not been through it. I have been catching up the blog today as you may see and Dave is doing some engine maintenance. It has been a kind of laid back sort of day for us.

PALM ISLAND TO PELICAN BAY

Feb 1 - It is a rather warm humid morning and the sun hasn't come our yet. We are leaving here and heading to Pelican Bay to either anchor or Charlie thinks there may be docks to tie to. Just as we were preparing to leave a fellow boater came by and said that the only bridge we had today heading down the ICW is closed for one week (so much for that plan - back to the drawing board). We know there is a pass called "Stump Pass" just a little ways back down the ICW, but the man who told us about the bridge was not sure the pass was a good idea. Charlie called a local and asked his advice about us using the pass. He said it was high tide now and it should be OK to travel through, so off we went. We went slowly and as we were travelling through a sailboat that had just gone through called us and said he had no trouble. We travelled about 15 miles out into the Gulf to get us around that closed bridge and arrived at Pelican Bay as we had planned. We are anchored together in this lovely bay just outside Caya Costa State Park. We were taking Koby to shore to do his duty and stopped by a boat that looked a lot like ours. The couple are from New York and the boat is a Heritage which is built in the same yard as Manana. On the way back we stopped by the boat that had followed us through "Stump Pass" and they are from North Carolina. We are having dinner aboard Sonata tonight and will probably play a couple of hands of "May I".

A beach off our right

Home along "Stump Pass"

We are almost through

Coastal homes along the gulf

We are through the pass and out in the gulf

Ten miles out to go around down bridge

We are almost there

Caya Costa State Park to our right

Large beach to our right as we enter Pelican Bay

A lot of boats in this anchorage

Dock at Caya Costa

Feb 2 - We woke to very heavy fog this morning, we can hardly see the shore or any of the boats around us. Poor Koby did not get to shore last night for his last call as it was too dark to see, so he was very good and waited until 9:00 am when the fog lifted. The rest of the day was warm and cloudy. We busied ourselves aboard for awhile when a couple from the boat that followed us through "Stump Pass" came over. They have a 44 ft Hystar called "Seaquel" but they are not Loopers. We talked for some time about our boats and the loop, then they had to get back. We rousted Charlie and Bonnie to go over to the island for awhile. Bonnie and I walked to the far side while the guys sat looking out over the bay talking and then we got back into the dingy and  toured the bay. We had dinner then it was time to get Koby to shore for his last call until morning. We are planning to head to Punta Gorda in the morning.

The fog we woke up to this morning