Ft Myers 1/30-2/3/18

Well back to just the two of us and Abby again.  The marina here at FortMyers is very nice and I would consider staying a month next winter. I made a reservation for next year and I guess we will see if it works out.  Chuck and Sylvie drove up from Naples to have dinner with us and we went over to Firestone's where we started with cocktails on the rooftop bar and then moved down to the second floor for dinner.   They have a tire conveyor that well, conveys tires around the inside of the restaurant.  Fort Myers was the playground of Henry Firestone and Thomas Edison and Henry Ford.  It was a very pleasant evening and just a short walk back to the boat. 

Chuck and Sylvie came up to Ft Myers and joined us for dinner one night.

Very nice presentation at Firestone Grill

 Myers is having an art festival this weekend and the artists are all setting up their booths for the event.  There is an exhibit of sheet metal art all around the downtown core.

The tin men need a dog

Playing Chess

Debbie and I went over to Karen Raven's house for lunch one day.  We were sad to hear that Burt had passed away in September, but it was great to see Karen and she is busy getting ready to downsize and organize her life.  Nice to see you Karen.

This was from last summer in Kingston

Crow's Nest Venice FL to Ft Myers 1/16-1/30/18

Debbie and I had a few days to ourselves before Greg and my niece Fiona arrived for 10 days. We toured around on the motorcycle and went out for dinner one night at the Crow's Nest which is at the same marina we are docked at.  I had been here years ago and it was still very good.  Abby got long walks down Venice Blvd all the way to the Tamiami Trail and back, she walked or ran and I rode my bike.  About 2 miles round trip.  Once you get into the center of town many of the restaurants have tables right out on the sidewalk and Abby and I rode through about 6 of them me on the bike and her looking cute and trying not to steal any food off of the tables.  Everyone always wants to know what kind of dog she is and if they can pet her.  Never a problem with the little princess and she loves the attention.

Fiona and Greg arrived on Sunday the 21st and this was the first time we had met Greg.  He is very nice and also a very interesting guy

Welcome aboard

 He installed electronics in Americas cup boats and traveled the world supporting them. He is also a boat carpenter so I can see lots of potential in his visit...... He also has been involved in building Burning Man Temples and after he left us he was heading to Washington, DC to build a Burning Man Temple at the Smithsonian.

Last year's temple. Which they burn to the ground at the end of the festival!

Greg getting to know Abby

Greg wanted to have his van serviced so I followed him up to Sarasota and we dropped it off at the dealer.  He and I rode back to the boat on the BMW.  We stopped and loaded up on goodies, booze and wine for the next week because we would be anchoring out for the remainder of their visit.

Fiona and Greg took our bikes and cruised Casey Key and then we met them for lunch near Blackburn Pt Bridge at the Casey Key Fish House for shrimp and fish dip.

Casey Key Fish House

We left Venice on Tuesday and headed down the ICW towards Cape Haze Marina where we would fuel up.

Loading the BMW at Venice

We pulled in around 3:00 in the afternoon and took on about 700 gallons of diesel.  They have some of the best prices around at $2.20 a gal and even though it was tight getting in and about a 1/4 mile to back out it was worth it.  We anchored out that night in Pelican Bay.

The next day brought us to Three Sisters anchorage off of Boca Grande.  We went into the harbor there and stirred up lots of mud, or prop polishing.  There was nothing that really turned us on so we went and anchored in the north end of the bay and had a relaxing afternoon.  Greg and Fiona took Abby in the Dingy and went back to town for lunch and a walk on the beach.

Abby Greg and Fiona headed off to town

Abby's new walking guide

Our next day was Cayo Costa and also Cabbage Key for a "cheeseburger in paradise"   Supposedly this place inspired Jimmy Buffet to write the song.  Its a small private resort island that has a ferry boat that brings people over from the mainland to dine and stay.  We docked the dingy and walked up to the restaurant for lunch.

A little history on Cabbage Key

This is it. Cabbage Key Inn and Restaurant

Heading to Cabbage Key.  Sorry Abby no dogs allowed.  That's the boat in the background with Abby guarding the boat.

The Cheeseburger was pretty good and then we headed over to Cayo Costa to anchor for the night.  Its a state park and has beautiful beaches that run for miles along the coast.

 at Cayo Costa

Free to Run

Our next night was anchored off of Sanibel Island at Ding Darling Anchorage.  Greg and Fiona took Abby for a dingy ride but were unable to find a place to land for a walk.  We headed up the Caloosahatchee River to Ft Myers Yacht Basin where we would stay for a week.

Greg and Fiona took us out for a wonderful seafood lunch at Izzy's in Ft Myers.  Great time and seafood.  We tried just about everything.

Izzy's for lunch

It was Sunday and there was an antique car show with the streets closed off.  Nice setting for lunch

We rented a car and took Greg and Fiona back up to Sarasota to pick up the van.  Alas when we arrived and Greg got in the van all kinds of warning lights lit up and they had to keep it for another day.  So we took that time to go to Phillippi Creek Restaurant for a bite to eat.

Lunch at Phillippi Creek Oyster House

There's one in every crowd!

They gave Greg a loaner so I wouldn't have to drive them up again the next day.  So the guests that just won't leave stayed another night!  We were very happy to have them another night.

Galati to Crows Nest 1/16/18- 1/22/18

We left around 11:00AM after getting a pump out and saying our goodbyes.  We had shipped oranges and grapefruits to my sister in Canada and they had never gotten delivered.  When I called Hales Groves they offered to ship a replacement order so I had it directed to Galati so we could pick them up.  They had still not arrived this morning so I offered them to Charlene who had done such a great job of taking care of getting us our mail and packages.  She sent us an email later saying they had arrived in the afternoon and she had shared them with the rest of the office staff.

We headed out of Galati and turned north to go out one of the bigger passes onto the Gulf.  It was the perfect day for our trip.  Sunny, following wind and calm seas.  We set the auto pilot and only deviated when we got close to Casey Key to get closer to shore and see the properties where we used to own houses.  Things have changed a lot over the years and the houses have gotten bigger and bigger. I first came down here for Christmas in 1966 and my parents purchased a property on the north end of the key in 1971.  We had many family Christmas's and vacations at Casey and it has always been like a second home.  We had progressed to our third property which I sold in 1995.  Since then my sister Prue and Andre had come down to Casey Key over the years until their deaths and we continued to have family reunions here.  Many fond memories.

We arrived at the Crow's Nest around 3:00 and had planned for slack tide to make docking easier since the marina is right on the Venice inlet.  We got securely tied up in our inside slip on the main dock and off loaded the motorcycle and bikes. We will be meeting my niece Fiona and her guy Greg, who we have not met yet.  I'm so looking forward to seeing them and they will stay with us for a week on the boat as we travel south down to Ft Myers. We took Abby for long bicycle rides up to the Tamiami Trail via Venice Avenue.  There is a linear park between the two streets making up Venice Ave and there are lots of monuments to the founders of Venice and its creation as an Army Air Base.  I still remember being here in 1969 when the base was still active and the town still had the barracks in the central area.  Lots of young kids heading off to Vietnam.


Fiona and Greg arrived Sunday night in time for cocktails and dinner aboard.  We loaded all of their gear onto the boat and Abby was excited to have more friends to play with and take her for walks. Monday we traveled around to Cosco and Detwilers farmers market to stock up on supplies for the coming week as we would be anchoring for the most part as we slowly made our way south.

Greg Fiona Debbie and Jim

Our dock for the week in Venice

Detwilers Farmers Market

Debbie and I had been here before Greg and Fiona arrived and they had a special on where if you bought a lobster roll they gave you a cup of either clam chowder or lobster bisque for free and then they have $5 banana splits made with your choice of flavors of hard ice cream and toppings.  I didn't eat any dinner that night!

The lobster roll comes with free lobster bisque

Yummy

Galati Marina, Anna Maria FL 12/15/17 - 1/15/18

So, what have we been doing.  On our arrival at Galati back in mid December we unloaded the motorcycle before we moved to our slip and made use of it almost everyday.  I'm so glad I decided to bring it as it makes life so much easier having wheels.

Debbie was hard at work again and made this much needed cover for the BMW, and I helped!

For the first week we were pretty much alone here and the weather was great so we rode the bike down to St Armand's Circle on Longboat Key and Debbie toured the expensive shops and came back empty handed!!

Having ice cream at Ben and Jerry's on St Armand's Circle.  That's Ben & Jerry in the picture over my shoulder.

We did the usual's like cruising the beachfront and West Marine too.  We found a local flea-market produce place called Red Barn that has multiple fruit and veggie stands to keep us nourished.  It's huge and well stocked with many different vendors and lots of people especially leading up to the Holidays. Brenda and Russ Cluett arrived on our second week and we had lots of fun dinners together both at their place and on the boat and went out to lots of local joints for live music and food, maybe a beer or three... This area has to be the King of Happy Hours.  Cortez is where they stay and it has many very reasonable bars and restaurants from the Cortez Kitchen to Fire and Stone Pizza, Skinny's, Habatchi Super Buffet and Island Times.  We covered many of them over the next three weeks, and didn't get to them all.  As Russ says "Cortez is a small drinking village with a fishing problem"!  We enjoyed it a lot.

Brenda, Russ and I went out on a charter fishing boat for a day excursion and we all caught enough fish to feed us during the day.  Nothing very big but lots of fun with non stop action and great mates on the boat who took care of everything from supplying bait and tackle to advise and then cleaning and filleting everyone's catch at the end of the day.  It inspired me enough that I bought a rod that Galati had in the Marina store and Chris Galati had his mate rig the rod and help me pick out appropriate tackle and gear to get me started fishing.  Chris even gave me some trolling rigs as they had hundreds for their own sports fishing boats.  Galati specializes in Sports Fishing boats and there was a 90 foot Viking on our dock and many other 60-80 foot Sportsfishes.  I watched one day as they hauled oil down to Mr Grinch the 90 footer.  It seemed that almost everyday there was someone or many people working on it.  Anyways it takes 90 gallons of oil to do a complete oil change on that boat!! Well Debbie, Russ and I were out fishing Debbie made friends with the mate on Mr Grinch and scored a few pounds of Mahi Mahi, and black Grouper that they had frozen from their last trip.  See she is a better fisherman than me!  and it was all vacuum sealed and frozen too!

Our Fishing Charter crew

Mr Grinch 90 foot Viking sports fish.  Nice Graphics

Debbie decorated the salon for Christmas and it looked great as always.  We had a quite Christmas eve dinner with just Debbie and I and she made a fabulous tortiere pie with carrot cake for dessert.  Yum yum.  We even had chow chow made by Les Seguins to go along with the tortiere pie. On Christmas day Russ and Brenda joined us for Roast Beast dinner and carrot cake for dessert.  It was nice to spend an important holiday with such good friends.

Tortiere Pie and Chowchow

Debbie's Christmas decorations

Debbie's son Kris and daughter in law Angela sent a Christmas care package that had a rough ride getting here.

Abby got a new toy in the care package

And then all of these goodies.  Thanks Chris and Angela

My sister Angela sent more goodies.  Excellent fudge which we are still eating.  Goes really well with red wine!

 I had a tooth aching and found a local dentist who diagnosed that I had a minor gum infection and that I need a deep cleaning and some antibiotics placed under the gums.  I knew that the cleaning job I had done in Fairhope wasn't up to the usual standards and ended up paying the price.  Anyways its all taken care of and feels much better.  Surprisingly Yelp has worked very well for finding local Doctors and Dentists, at least most of them.

On New Years Eve Russ and Brenda came and picked us up at the boat for a cruise over to their place and then a fantastic Shrimp, crab. lobster, scallop boil out on the patio at their place with Jim and Miranda their friends and neighbors at the development they stay in. Debbie made a beautiful Cherry Pie with lattice crust for dessert that was enjoyed by all. An enjoyable evening but we didn't even get close to midnight.  In bed by eleven I think.  Brenda kindly drove us home so no drinking and driving.

Debbie's Cherry Pie

Brenda is making lobster bibs for us all.

New Years Eve dinner and celebration

Russ' chopper.  All 50ccs of it

On another day Russ called and asked us if we wanted to join them for fishing on the Rod and Reel Pier.  Its about a mile away from our boat so we headed over and tried our luck at the fishing. For $2 they give you a rod and reel and bait.  The beer is dirt cheap but alas there were no fish biting.  Good thing the beer was cheap.

Russ and I at the Rod and Reel

Abby is popular wherever she goes and here was no exception.  Helping us fish and looking cute

Debbie and I made a day of a visit to the Mote Marine Aquarium and Research Center at New Pass on Longboat Key.  Alligators, Turtles, Sharks, Coral and lots of fish.  They had playful Sea Otters and there were many (I mean lots) of volunteers who helped to interpret all of the things there were to see.  We had a late lunch at the New Pass Grill after our visit, lime beers and cheeseburgers in our own paradise.

One of the sea turtles

Sardines in the shark tank.  They swim fast!

Lunch after the Mote Marine visit

The motorcycle has been very well behaved but Kelly one of the dock workers at Galati asked me about the rear tire and what I had done to wear all of the tread off of one side of the rear tire.  That got my attention and when I looked sure enough worn right down to the threads but not on the bottom of the tire but on the side. I think this was probably caused by under-inflation and too much wine.  Too much wine?  Well I have taken the motorcycle to Total Wine quite often and I can carry over 24 bottles of wine and 6 or so half gallons of liqueur so that weighs quite a lot and with the under-inflated tire probably that's what did it in. I found a BMW dealer in Sarasota and scheduled a tire change with them for the next day, Saturday just before Christmas.  The fuel gauge had stopped working a while ago and I was relying on the odometer to tell me when to fill up.  I asked them about it and when they checked the warranty info they found it was covered for 12 years and we scheduled taking care of that the following week.  That's on a 2008 BMW almost 10 years old.  Otherwise it was over $500.00 to fix it.  Lucky :) They also lent me a BMW 1200 scrambler to take out for a test drive and breakfast.  I went to the downtown area of Sarasota and had a nice breakfast and when I got back my bike was ready to go.  Hap's Cycles in Sarasota, great guys.  Thanks.

On one particularly nice day Debbie and I rode the BMW down for a tour of Siesta Key and Casey Key.  We stopped at two marinas in Venice and made our choice to book at the Crow's nest in Venice for our next stop.  We will be there for a week until my niece and her boyfriend Greg arrive for 7-10 days as we cruise further south in a few weeks. We stopped at the north Jetty Fish Camp on the south end of Casey Key for a beer at the Camp.  This place has been here forever and the structure they are in was once a streetcar in Tampa.  Its really old and you can still see the wood interior of the streetcar on the ceiling. Our family started coming to Casey in 1966 so I have many fond memories of this area and it always feels like coming home.

North Jetty Fish Camp.  I've been coming here for 52 years.  Wow!!

Best Wishes for a Happy New Year to All

Our last evening on Anna Maria Island at the Waterfront Restaurant  Excellent place and we bicycled over and back.

Well after a month of enjoying Anna Maria Island we are underway again but not going far.  We said our goodbyes to all the great people at Galati and thanked them for their hospitality. I tried to give Miren the dockmaster (dockmistress) $20 for helping us over the past month but she would have nothing to do with it. I told her I might want to come back next year and wanted to make sure I was still welcome. We got pumped out on our departure and are now ready to move to the Crow's Nest in Venice.