Getting Ready to Go:

Our departure to the “sunny South” was delayed for a couple of days by problems in Bev’s family requiring a mother’s love and support. As a result, we left home on January 5, arriving in North Fort Myers by car on January 8.

We split the tasks. Bev did the shopping (her forte) and I did the mechanical work (mine).

Evenings were social events. The waterfront restaurants bordering the marina continued to offer incredible deals e.g. prime rib for $10.00 (a huge slab of really excellent meat), large drafts for $1.25, 2 for 1 on Monday nights. It was difficult not to get lazy and fat. Happy hours were a nightly affair even if we were going to a restaurant afterwards.

But the weather was cold. It was a good thing that we were plugged into electricity since it was down to freezing several nights. I found myself wearing my winter parka and being glad for it. This was nuts!!! The fish were dying in the harbour. I saw someone catch a jack with his bare hands they were so slow!

Our new generator worked well. Our new LED lights produced lots of illumination while consuming almost no power. It was easy to remove the garbage bag that I had wrapped around our propellor to protect it from barnicles and other marine growth. The local diver told me not to go snorkelling. Just put the boat in gear dummy! Apparently, lots of people wrap their props in garbage bags to protect them. The nice thing is that if you have to move the boat in a hurry (e.g. because of a fire), you just put the boat in gear and instantly, the garbage bag shreds.

The one fly in the ointment was that our swim platform was not complete. The fiberglass work was beautifully done but not all the teak strips were in place. Also, the swim ladder had to be bolted on. None of this was huge, but I should not have had to chase. The young man who did the work was hoping that people would see the good job he was doing on our boat and would then hire him to work on theirs. We eventually had to leave before he finished. Too bad. Noone was impressed. As a result, few, if any, of the cruisers in the marina are likely to buy his services.

I checked the weather forecasts on the 9th (Saturday) and it seemed that a weather window to cross to the Bahamas was likely to open on the 14th (Thursday). In order to make it, we had to leave Fort Myers on the 12th at the very latest. We had heard of people waiting for 1 ½ months for a weather window already, so we though that we had better skeedadle.

So, we called our friends Gerry and Pam. The plan was that Gerry and I would take the boat across Lake Okeechobee and to the East Coast. Pam and Bev would have a day or two of “girls night” out on the town. Unfortunately, Bev was coming down with a really nasty cold by then so this was not fun for her.