Snowbird paradise on the Gulf

In the last few days the temperatures have increased, the sun has been shining all day, and the snowbirds have finally been showing their true colors. Bert and I had been wondering where everyone was, after hearing how Florida in winter would be so crowded. We found them! Especially today in Naples and Marco Island, on a sunny Saturday. Boats, bikes, walkers, revelers - showing why they so eagerly ditch the cold north if they possibly can.

Since my last blog, the first exciting thing was meeting up with new friends Joseph and Terry. Janet and Joseph have been friends for 10 yrs, and Terry is a new friend of Joseph's from Oregon. They've been enjoying their first visit together, for about three weeks now. I was so glad they could meet up with us at lunchtime as we cruised near his home. Fabulous time we had, but too short.

As we continued south on the Intracoastal Waterway, we passed many fishermen and many birds. These two went together! I'd not yet seen a pelican sitting like this on a small occupied boat, so I'm glad I could get this picture. Most of what we saw along the Waterway were incredible mansions with "Florida landscaping". There's a certain "look" the rich real estate has here. I could show you some pictures, although you've probably seen them over the years already.

We anchored that night (last Thursday) in a green, pretty cove off of Sanibel Island, which is just outside of Ft Myers. We were the only ones there, and it was pretty windy, but NOTHING like the "hurricane" winds we'd had a few days earlier. So we were comfortable and slept well.

Friday morning, after awakening to a spectacular sunrise over the island trees, we cruised a short distance to Ft Myers Beach and tied up temporarily at Salty Sam's Marina for a bike ride. During the bike ride I got the sad call about Rich. I gathered myself and we continued the ride over this tall bridge back to Sanibel Island. The picture is from Sanibel back toward Ft Myers. Interestingly, I attended a conference about 10 yrs ago at the big high-rise resort you can see at the far end of the bridge. I recall then watching the boats coming and going and hoping my dream to someday be here on my own boat trip would come true.

We concluded our 23-mile bike ride and went back out into the Gulf to reach Naples for the night. While cruising off the coast, essentially by ourselves, this parasailing boat took off from far off to our left and passed immediately in front of us!! I guess they wanted to give us a personal show. By the time the couple passed over, they were so close they were waving to us and I could see their smiles.

Then a little farther along, we watched this Coast Guard helicopter and boat doing an exercise over the water for quite a long time. The copter hovered in one place for at least 15 minutes. But it was some distance from us, as I had to use a telephoto to get this shot.

But then, about 10 minutes later, after the copter had gone away, a sheriff's boat came speeding up to us and I realized they wanted to stop me. Oh no, what did I do now, that I have no idea of? It was strange - they wondered if I was okay. Huh? Wuddya mean? Well, he said, we saw the copter buzzing your boat for quite a while and wondered whether you were having some trouble. No sir, we're fine; that copter was not really near us at all, and I believe they were doing a Coast Guard exercise of some sort. Okay then, and he sped away. I thought the sheriff should have been able to contact the Coast Guard to find out what was going on instead of speeding way out to me in the ocean to ask if they were buzzing me. ??? At least the sheriff didn't notice my beer can.

Then we arrived at the inlet to Naples. I had been here four consecutive Januarys in the mid 1980s, but I sure had never seen Naples from this vantage point! Talk about fancy waterfront homes! Oh my! This picture is just one of a few thousand I could have taken as we cruised two miles back into the bay to the City Dock. Lots of boat traffic out there too.

We decided to eat dinner last night at the restaurant right there at our marina. It was hoppin! It seemed like THEE happenin place on a Friday night. And to our surprise, there were even some young folks there in addition to the usual older crowd of retirees!

This morning Bert and I went for a 34-mile bike ride through the incredible streets of this city, and then on the roads farther north. The populous was out in force on this sunny weekend morning. We saw so many cyclists, it seemed like Los Angeles. Joggers, walkers, walkers with dogs, and later...

...sunbathers. This picture of me is on the beach in front of the hotel resort I stayed at each of those four years that Nestle sent me here (and then the annual meeting was moved to Nassau in the Bahamas. I know, I know. Hey, why do you think the prices of Coffeemate and Butterfinger are so high?).

After the bike ride, we departed to where we are now, Marco Island, 18 miles south of Naples. We got to take an inside passage through uninhabited swamp land and see lots of birds. Osprey have built their huge nests on just about every navigational post, and right now all the mommas are sitting on their eggs. We also saw tons of egrets and herons and cormorants. There were signs constantly along the way for manatees, yet I saw only one, and only for an instant as it got its breath. It goes without saying that dolphin sightings continue all day long, and they oftentimes play at our bow, our sides, or our wake.

Oh NOOOOOOOOOOO. Ya know what Breaking Away is doing in this picture? It's stuck! Yes folks, I ran aground this afternoon. And only 300 yards from my day's destination. We could see our anchorage (where we are right now) from our stuck spot.

I'm going to blame it on the Garmin, as usual. It's certainly never MY fault! haha But the Garmin showed me in deep water, close to, but not at, the shallow water. Right in front of a big marina, no less!

Luckily I was going only idle speed, so it was a gentle landing. Therefore, I thought I might just drift off eventually since there was a rising tide. We waited about two hours, doing pretty much what we would have done anyway if we'd made it the next 300 yds and anchored up (shower, Happy Hour, Facebook, phone calls, dinner). Funny how numerous boats passed me, and nearly all ignored my predicament. The few who said anything just remarked on the obvious (well, obvious by then anyway): "It's deeper over here", "You stuck?", "It's too shallow there." No one offered to help, even the guy at the marina who was close enough to speak to me in a normal voice.

I finally tried backing off the shoal but the prop was still hitting mud. So I broke down and called my friends at US Boat, the towing service I've had save me three times now. He arrived just after sundown, and eased me ever so gently off the shallow spot. I was barely stuck by the time he pulled me off. Finally we could travel those silly 300 yds and drop anchor for tonight.

Tomorrow we have a 50-mile cruise out in the Gulf to Shark River, on our way to Key West by next Tuesday.