Saying Goodbye to FMB and Saying Hello to The Everglades

Getting ready to say goodbye to Fort Myers Beach.

Do to the lack of internet I am going to catch up on my blogs while we are here in Key West.

We had an amazing time in Fort Myers Beach. Everything you need is at your fingertips. We took a trolley for .75 cents into Walmart. The Trolley takes you to the beach and many other stops too. They also have a free choo-choo that takes you to many places. We also dinged into the grocery store. The dock is right behind the store. They really accommodate boaters in FMB. The grocery is actually a very nice store. We have been in a lot worst. The meat department was very good. The meat was very fresh. If you ever get the opportunity to vacation here it’s worth it. Isn’t life wonderful!!!

We jet-skied down the GICW to the next ocean inlet. There is a great beach here: Lovers Key!!! What a cool name for this park. Don’t miss this all you honeymooners.

My happy husband!!!! Enjoying the water. Finally here is water that is getting warmer. Not quite swimmable, but getting there.

There is a really cool Pontoon (Orange) in the back ground. This is Lovers Key Beach. A lot of vacationers and locals out this day.

Bryce say’s “Only a mother could love that face” LOL

The Blue Heron. I always see these birds walking up and down beaches. Did you know that the Blue Heron sometimes while in flight will dive into the water to get food? It’s weird some hover over the water and submerge their heads to catch fish while others swim in deep water to get their meal. The Blue Heron is also known to feed from the beaches near the ground surfaces.

Steve and Judy joined us for dinner. What a great night. It’s always a great night with these two.

The following morning we left Fort Myers Beach. This is the point that reaches out to one of the buoys.

Many of you might now how much fun it is to ride along the shoreline on a bike. Lots of bikes to rent in Fort Myers Beach.

I love to smile!!!! Some parasailers are enjoying the view as they get whisked along by their tow-boat.

This young guy is getting ready to move to another spot net fishing. Within seconds he zoomed past us and was at another spot. Sure hope he had better luck.

OM… You might ask is that a sailboat? Where is the mast? Look how low he is to the water. I think he took a sailboat and turned it into a fishing boat. I see rods on the bow. We passed this cruiser coming around Cape Romano.

Open water. You can see the glow of the sun starting to set. I enjoy some of the open waters but I must say there isn’t much to see. The variety of shoreline cruising the ICW and short ocean hops (less than 200 miles) is the best for me.

Everglades National Park

The good news is we didn’t get kicked out!!!

As most of you know; two years ago we were kindly asked to leave Everglades National Park on Christmas Eve because we were towing a jet Ski. Fortunately, this year was a bit different. We carried our jet-ski on a lift. Ranger did not even come around.

We came into Everglades City river well after dark. I think the most scary this was.. okay maybe not scary, but when we come in at dark and I have to be on the bow with the Justin’s light (our spot light) I do get a bit nervous. Especially, when Bryce says keep an eye on that sand bar on the port side. There was no moon as a flashlight to help guide us. Sad smile I tried to take photos but it was just too dark and I had to focus on navigation.

The following morning we sat on the bow enjoying our coffee. I needed a refill so I went down to the galley. With in seconds as I started back up, a breif breeze took my hat. I watched her slide across the bimini and couldn’t grab her. She fell into the water and the current was caring her away. Bryce brought me this hat when we were in Wilmington NC and it is unreplaceable to me. Bryce told me not to worry and went in and rescued her. He is my hero… The hat dried out on the gen winch.

This guy came up and asked if our sailboat was 65 feet. I chuckled.. and replied back “No, it’s only 40”. I imagine it looks big compared to a kayak.

The tour boats really know how to zoom in the shallow water chasing the dolphins . Sure hope they don’t chop a fin on a dolphin.

The water was very calm at our anchorage. We were actually able to kayak around. Relaxing…What a fabulous day of paddling the Everglades.

Remember the sandbar, I needed to watch for? Here it is. However the tide was lower when we came in at night; so much more was above water.

We paddled about a 1/2 mile to this island. Apparently you can camp on this island with permission from the National Park Services. However, watch out for the raccoons. We spotted about 4 of them as we left.

This is a father and son day. The father is taking his son about to show him the beauty of the Everglades. His son is visiting from Germany. I took their picture for them.