Fort Myers & Sarasota

Bob and I moved up to Fort Myers for a few days. The downtown is modern and new, thanks to Hurricane Charlie in 2004. Fort Myers is called the Palm City, and the streets are all lined with gorgeous royal palms. It has a wonderful tropical look.

We especially enjoyed exploring the three barrier islands in the Gulf off Fort Myers. The island of Fort Myers Beach is a typical beach town much like you would find in the northeast with ice cream and t-shirt shops everywhere. It is now the start of college spring breaks, and also winter breaks for other schools, so the crowds are increasing and the traffic here was intense.

Sanibel and Captiva Islands are the jewels of this area. They both have limited development with no high rises. This is a relief after the waterfront developments on Marco Island near Naples. Captiva’s beaches are white with delicate pink shells everywhere and long stretches of natural areas. Sanibel had more homes and businesses but the beaches were the same. Bob and I watched three dolphins fishing in the shallows along the shore on Sanibel for more than an hour. We were tempted to walk out into the water, but didn’t want to disturb them or scare the fish away. It was quite a show.

We had a wonderful time at the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island. This world famous refuge is home to a wide variety of water birds. We got close to Roseate Spoonbills and many egrets. It is a birders paradise.

After Fort Myers we headed up to Sarasota for a few days. This area also has beautiful barrier islands and we checked out all the beaches on Siesta Key, Lido Key, Longboat Island and Anna Maria Island. The county has done a great job of providing many public beaches with ample parking. It’s really interesting how the sand varies just a little on each beach. Some are powdery, others more coarse, some have shells, but they are all white and pristine. There is no visual evidence of the Gulf oil spill in southern Florida. I am so glad to see this.

Downtown Sarasota is really nice with lots of great restaurants. The people are friendly and the attitude is mellow. I would also love to get involved and volunteer at the nearby Mote Marine Lab with dolphin and turtle rehab.

The weather has been fabulous for the past three weeks – highs in the mid 80s and lows in the mid 60s. This is exactly what I am looking for in a new home. Bob also appreciates the great warm clear water for swimming and boating. Could this be the place?

Naples, FL

Bob and I spent the last 11 days in Naples, FL and it is finally WARM!!! I love it – low 80s during the day and 60s at night. I know a lot of you have been struggling and suffering with snow and below freezing temperatures, but here on the Suncoast of Florida it is glorious.

Naples is a very beautiful town, with no high rises, a very chic and upscale downtown area, and gigantic homes along the canals. We tried several outstanding restaurants and celebrated Valentines Day and Bob’s birthday in style. We also sampled the powdery white beaches of Naples and Marco Island. I loved the delicate shells, long flat stretches to walk and all the wonderful seabirds. I finally got to see a few flocks of black skimmers hanging out with royal terns. I have been looking for these birds for two months.

Inland from Naples are many wonderful wildlife areas that we explored. In Big Cypress National Preserve we saw more alligators than we could count, manatees and tons of birds. I really enjoy seeing all the egrets, storks, herons, ibis, and woodland birds, but I am getting tired of the thousands of osprey. They nest on every available pole, tree or fence. Bob and I took a short hike in the Florida Panther Wildlife Refuge and saw a black racer snake, a deer that didn’t want to step off the trail, and a pile of black bear scat, but no panthers. This is the last habitat for these highly endangered cats and the nearby freeway has very tall fences to keep them from getting hit by cars.

Bob has been waiting all year to attend the Miami Boat Show, so we drove across the state (2 hours) and spent the day at the show. We saw lots of sailing catamarans and a few power cats too, but we didn’t buy anything. Bob is still hoping that we will do that some day. While we were in Miami, we had a fun dinner with my friend Shoshana who was there with family.

My friends Cheshta and Sudas were sick of the snowy cold weather in Cape Cod and drove down to spend five days with us in sunny Naples. We had a great time together walking on the beaches and birding. We spent a lovely day at the Audubon Corkscrew Sanctuary, a popular birding spot. Chesh picked up quite a few new birds for his lifetime list and so did I. We also rented a boat one afternoon and cruised around the mangrove lined waterways, had a picnic on a lovely sandy beach, followed some dolphins around and toured the mansion lined canals. Bob and I saw quite a few houses we wouldn’t mind living in.

Dunedin

Bob and I moved across the state this week to a small Scottish town on the Gulf Coast, west of Tampa, called Dunedin. It has a charming downtown, expansive views of the gulf and we were lucky to get the only site available for a week in a very nice RV park. The gulf coast is extremely popular in the winter months and we found it hard to get a spot in any RV park that was close to the water. We also picked this park because it had a really great pool area and was a block from the Pinellas Trail, a paved walking and biking trail that is over 40 miles long.

Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to use the pool at all, and only biked once, due to the cold weather. We also got 1.5 inches of rain the first two days we were here, so we are back to winter weather in Florida. We are SO thankful that we got that great warm week when we were sailing.

One rainy blustery day, we drove down to Sarasota, about 90 minutes south, to explore that area and have lunch with an old friend of mine. Larry and I worked together in Minneapolis in the early 1970s and he married a close friend. We hadn’t seen each other in almost 30 years and it was great to reconnect.

Bob and I are really impressed with the white sand beaches of this coast. Clearwater beach is sparkly and clean, the Siesta Key beaches near Sarasota were soft and like powdered sugar and the islands off Dunedin have spectacular natural beaches. They are flat and perfect for long walks.

While in this area, we have been driving around looking at houses that are currently on the market. We haven’t settled yet on a place we would like to live, but it’s always interesting to see what our dollar will buy in each area. Prices are a little higher over here than on the north and central east coast, but there are still many foreclosures and some good bargains.

Wherever we might move, it’s important that I have a wildlife group I can plug into. Mote Marine Lab in Sarasota has volunteer opportunities in their marine mammal rehab department, and so does the Clearwater Aquarium near Tampa. Both coasts have manatees, dolphins, and turtle nesting seasons.

Bob and I visited the Suncoast Primate Sanctuary just a few miles from our RV park. They care for more than 70 animals, and over half of them are 65+ years of age, including Cheetah the chimp from the original Tarzan movies. This little facility struggles to make ends meet and could use a total makeover. While it was nice to visit with chimps, orangutans, baboons and over 10 species of monkeys, I found this place depressing. It was clear the animals were cared for, and the organization is dedicated and doing their best, but I couldn’t watch these lovely animals in their small chain link prisons. If I win the lottery…..

Catamaran Sailing

For quite some time now, I have been very interested in large sailing catamarans. I love the thought of exploring shallow areas, sleeping and eating onboard in comfortable accommodations, and I like the idea of being powered quietly by the wind.

I think that for a lot of us, the notion of self-sufficiency is very comforting and attractive. Sometimes it’s the concept of a few acres, off the grid, growing and raising your own food (Mary’s concept). Lately, for me, it’s the idea of being in a wind powered craft with the ability to travel the world and presumably catch your own food, moving from one idyllic spot to another as suits your fancy.

I did some “crewing” on sailboats in college, but have never captained a sailboat. I am pretty experienced with small power boats including water skiing and cruising Puget Sound with overnights at mooring buoys and marinas on our 22ft cabin cruiser.

I have been looking forward to chartering a catamaran in the tropics. To do that you must know how to sail, and it helps to have a certificate. So, I found a week-long live-aboard catamaran sailing course out of Ft Lauderdale. After some cajoling, Mary graciously agreed to not only accompany me, but also to get certified as well. This was a big step for Mary. She hasn’t had much hands-on boating or sailing experience, and wasn’t too keen on having to be tested on things she wasn’t all that excited about.

The week before our trip, south Florida was cold and rainy with strong winds. We were a little concerned, but the weather turned out great - sunny and warm with mostly light winds, and one day of moderate wind. Our instructor was perfect, a very experienced and knowledgeable guy in his mid-forties with a professional but laid-back approach.

The three of us had a 41ft Lagoon Catamaran all to ourselves for six days. We sailed from Ft Lauderdale to Key Largo stopping at Boca Chica, and Little Card Sound on the way down. Then we overnighted at Gilbert’s in Key Largo where we even got to dance and sing Karaoke. On the way back we anchored just off Key Biscayne and then sailed out into the ocean to catch the northbound current of the Gulf Stream back up to Ft Lauderdale.

We saw several large schools of man-o-war jellyfish, pods of bottlenose dolphins almost every day, some wonderfully clear blue water and a couple of great sunsets.

We did very well on our four written tests and we both got 99’s on the last one. Mary and I sailed the boat on the two-day return trip from Key Largo (that’s the practical test). The instructor spent most of the return trip below deck reading Mary’s book. He would come up every once in a while to make sure we were doing ok, and to ask Mary questions about Granny, orcas and telepathic communication.

We are now certified to bareboat charter a sailing catamaran. It was great to spend some time on the boat to explore all the nooks and crannies, and to determine the important things to look for in a boat that we might charter, like large “heads” (toilets) and ample storage and passageways. British Virgin Islands - here we come.

Mary and I also met up with one of my nephews that I hadn’t seen in probably 30+ years. We had lunch with Tim in Ft Lauderdale on our way to our sailing class. It was great to see him and find him doing so well. After the sailing course he made us some absolutely wonderful oatmeal cookies with white chocolate, dark chocolate and some great spices. He should market the things. They are better than any cookie we have ever had. Mary is still wishing we had more.