Last day at Bonita Bill's

It has been a lot of fun but it is time to make way. We have made a lot of friends and look forward to coming back next year. A special thanks to all the staff who go out of their way to make you feel at home. We will bid farewell to all our friends at the liar's corner with a pot luck dinner tonight.

Our side of the room lost all three the trivial pursuit games at the Moose Lodge last night but what we lacked in knowledge, we made up for in exuberance. There were ten of us and we sure made a ruckus.

Our Canadian friend Randy arrived Saturday on Black Tickle.  Randy was treated to the Bonita Bill hospitality on Saturday night.  Ten of us went on a San Carlos pub crawl.  We started with drinks at the Tiki Bar followed by a drink at Dixie Fish then onto Doc Fords and we finally landed at Fantasy's where Big Bob works. Kirby the bar tender from Bonita's knows all the Managers so we got free drinks all night.  Again there were 10 of us will be travelling east with us for a short while until he heads out to the Bahamas. It is nice to have our travelling companion back.

Kirby's car decorated by Bill-he is tired of hearing the song Red Solo Cup

Randy is drinking water at the sandy Beach Pub 

Many pubs and restaurants have these big chairs

Sunday was a quiet day with a walk on the beach followed by an early night. When I get back to Newfoundland, I am joining the fitness club, Weight Watchers and AA.

Karaoke at Bonita Bills

It is time to leave. I have resorted to singing at karaoke night on Tuesdays and Fridays.  We are even enjoying it.  We need to go to a quiet anchorage and get away from the partyers before we corrupt them all. They are a fine bunch of people and we will miss them.
They really are interesting characters.  There is an artist from Cleveland who paints the regulars so the pictures can be hung on the wall of fame near the ladies washroom. Splash, the bar cat, has been living here for 12 years. Some kids threw him off the bridge when he was a kitten so the folks called him Splash.  He was rescues by a fisherman who brought him to the bar and he has not left yet.  Sounds like some of the locals. Jim from Texas, came in by sailboat for two weeks and is still here after 5 years. Pete, the musician, has been saying that he is leaving for the last six years.  Robert, the school principal from Maine did leave but he hit a maker with his catamaran and had to limp back. Bob, the woodworker, is on land repairing his boat but he is not leaving, he is simply going to live on it here. Bill and Anna, cruising on Knot Tide Down, have completed the loop and were on their way to Grenada. They changed their minds and are only going to the Bahamas but now I hear they are staying one more month. I am afraid that if we don't leave soon, we will stay velcroed to the dock also.
Jerry is completing his bow painting and installing chain on the anchor.  We made it down here with all rope but chain will give us more anchoring options.  This means that we have lost half of our closet space. Oh well who needs a closet when you do your shopping at the free table or at Goodwill.

I am off to the beach once again.  It rained yesterday but it is nice and hot again today.  It is better that I make myself scarce when the Captain is working.

Pete the musician

Craig the artist with Mark and Teresa in the background

Kirby the bar tender

Splash who eats raw fish but wants his shrimp cooked

Robert and Colleen with a painting that Craig painted

The wall of fame

Little Bob and I

Jim with Linda the miniature poodle

Robert putting money in Anna's top at karaoke

Feeling hot hot hot!!!

The weather is spectacular with daytime highs in the 80s and night time lows in the mid 60s, perfect beach days.
We rode our bikes up and down Main Street on Saturday morning to shop at all the yard sales that were set up at various trailer parks.  Lots of good deals to be had.  We had to come back to the boat to empty our baskets and back we went to refill them.  The boat is getting crowded again, we will have to unload at our other boat on the way East.
Sunday we drove over to the two large flea markets here in Fort Myers. We still managed to buy a few more things.  I mostly bought fresh vegetables and Jerry found some tools he needed.
We continue to eat sheephead that Jerry catches at the dock or those that his buddy Diamond Jim gives him.
I spent the afternoon at the beach yesterday while Jerry started the repairs to the side decks. We joined Bill and Anna for an evening of trivial pursuit at the Moose Lodge.  Our side of the room lost all three games. It was still a lot of fun.
Tomorrow is bowling night, more on that later.

Wind Dancer at Fort Myers Beach

Bowditch Point with Sanibel Island in the distance

Rotunda Florida

Life continues to be a beach for me while the Captain is happily painting the superstructure of the boat. It is a long process because he is using sand from the Panhandle of Florida to make the non skid paint. It is a much finer sand than what was already there so it should be a little easier on the bare feet.  The Captain is not the least bit interested in sitting still on a peaceful quiet beach reading a book.  Not a problem, I can do it for both of us.
We went to visit friends, Nancy and Richard, yesterday in Rotunda. They have rented a beautiful two bedroom house with their friends from Ontario. They have a heated pool in a screened in Florida room.  Their shower is just a little smaller than our boat.
We then drove with Richard to Clearwater where we picked up Randy to go to Don's Salvage.  This is a marine wreck yard that carries thousands of used boat parts. It is like walking through a graveyard and dump. The crew of the North Star loves that sort of thing. Oddly enough, I was the only female in the whole place. Jerry was disappointed because he wasn't able to bargain like the old days.  He says he is never going back.  Stay tuned on this one.
The drive to Clearwater is so nice with a beautiful view from the Skyway Bridge and the bridges over Charlotte Harbour.  It made me anxious to get back out on the water and start moving again.
Today I am provisioning and laundry but I will still have time to beach myself. I sit in a chair so that no one tries to roll me back in the water. I do find I get less exercise when I bring my beach chair on the bike but I do get more reading done.
Tomorrow, I am off to the street bazaar on Main Street on this side of the bridge.

The house in Rotunda near Charlotte Harbor

heated pool

boat parts at Don's Salvage

Typical Florida Restaurant

Richard, Randy and I at the Crab Shack for lunch

The Captain at work

The Crew's tools of the trade at Bowditch Point beach

Visiting with friends

We continue to enjoy the new friendships we are forging and to receive Canadian friends who are wintering in Florida.
We had cocktails with our St. Louis friends, Barry and Linda, on Saturday night aboard their sailboat, Mardi Gras. They left yesterday to sail off to the Dry Tortugas, bon voyage. We will miss them but they graciously lent us their car while they are away. Thank you so much Barry and Linda and we hope to meet again next winter.
Richard and Nancy, Bruce and Anne came to visit yesterday. Nancy and Richard stayed for lunch at Bonita Bill's and then a visit to the beach. We walked along the sand and then time square.  The boys came back home by dinghy while Nancy and I shopped in the touristy stores and then walked back along the bridge.  It is a great view of Estero Bay from the bridge and we needed to walk off our lunch.  Love those blackened fish sandwiches.
We mingled with our local friends at cocktail hour and Jerry even went out to the Moose Lodge with the clan.  I opted for a quiet night of reading. I needed some down time, all this mingling can get tiring for the crew.  Apparently I missed a good evening of Trivial Pursuit.  I will go next Monday, it does sound like fun.

There was more room, we didn't have to stack them

Nancy and Richard-friends from Belleville

Socializing at Bonita Bills

It will be difficult to leave this place.  We are making interacting with many intersting local cruisers and it is a geat place for our Canadian and Looper friends to come and visit us.
Our Australian Looper friends, Mike and Gail, came down by boat with Leigh and Murray of E.D.Schwein and Bruce and Anne.  We had dinner and breakfast with them at Bonita's cafe.  We did some remisicing and catching up and just plain having fun.  It was so nice to see them again. We parted company with Mike and Gail in October and with Murray and Leigh in November. We are reunited in Fort Myers one more time.
We drove to the boat yard yesterday with Barry who is on Mardi Gras. Linda and he are setting out for the dry Tortugas on Monday but he wanted to go see the boat yard because he may store his boat thre when he returns in March. We didn't see anyone we knew at the yard except for the staff.
I continue to ride my bike along the beach for some much needed excercise and Jerry continues to spuce up North Star with a new paint job.
It is cool today so I may not go to the beach.  I will ride up town for some provisions.

My shell collection

Shells have many uses here

nice to see flowers in winter

Blowing a gale in Fort Myers Beach

It is quite windy this morning at 27 knots from the south which means it is not cold.  It is nice to be tied to a dock even if the boat is bouncing and the waves are slapping the hull. We had a bit of rain earlier and it looks like it may rain some more.
Jerry is in the bar having his coffee and chatting with the good old boys who gather here regularly. I am catching up on emails and blogging.
I have been walking my bike up the high Matanza Pass Bridge and riding along the beach. It is nice hard packed sand. I try to peddle at least 10 miles a day to offset the Tiki Bar visit. The beach is more crowded than in early December, it is the height of the tourist season. They have to make their money in the next 4 months before all the snow birds flock home to the North.
Jerry peddles up town for parts and paint. He has finished repairing and painting the roof,  it looked really nice until the birds spotted it. He will start on the bow tomorrow when the weather is better. 
 

The Captain continues to catch fish to feed the hungry crew. He caught several pounds of sheephead and one flounder. We have our crab pot in the water by the boat but so far all we have is star fish eating the bait.

We continue to meet at the Tiki Bar for happy hour(s). I get all my info about the best stores, flea markets and upcoming events there.  This Sunday there is a marine flea market in the parking lot.  Next week end, there is a yard sale along the full length of Main St.

Today is a good day for reading and cooking.


Windy view from our boat



Sheephead for the crew

He had to wrestle it to the ground

Star fish on the bait in our crab pot

the catch from an overnight fishing charter near the Tiki Bar

Wasting away at Bonita Bill's

Our company is gone, the holiday season is behind us so back to boat chores and bike riding around town.
I found a $1.99 breakfast at a Greek restaurant at the beach so we went to investigate.  It is a slight improvement over a MacDonald's breakfast but the ambiance is better. Nothing beats my own home cooked breakfast. Jerry headed back to the boat to continue his paint job.  It is taking a long time because the roof is wet from dew until early afternoon.
I headed to a women's club, a mere 10 mile bike ride, for their annual flea market. I purchased a few books and a couple of shirts and shorts for .50 cents a piece.  Love those prices.
It was a pleasant ride back along the beach. Nice hard packed sand makes for an easy ride and it is a little cooler than on the busy, congested street.
Our dock neighbours from St. Louis, Barry and Linda, invited us for a sail yesterday and a Bar-B-Que lunch at Sanibel Island.  It was a perfect day with light winds and plenty of sunshine. They are great company so it was a very nice way to spend the day.  They are getting the boat ready to head to the Dry Tortugas south of Key West.
We have decided to stay here at least until the end of January before making our way East and then North. It is too early to get moving and we are enjoying the camaraderie here.  I will be blogging less frequently so I don't bore anyone with provisioning, eating and drinking accounts.

A new type of craft

life is a beach

Key West

We set out early on Tuesday morning to board the Key West Express that runs from Fort Myers to Key West. The winds were howling and it was a chilly 10 degrees but since the boat is a large fast catamaran, it never occurred to me that they would cancel the sail.  They did and apparently the seas were 8-10 feet out on the gulf so it would have been a very uncomfortable cruise.

We were disappointed but we made a reservation for Wednesday and that worked out just fine.  We got up early for the second day in a row but it was worth it.  The catamaran speeds along at 40 miles an hour and gets us there in 4 hours.  We sit back watch a movie and watch the scenery.  Emma and I played snakes and ladders all the way there.

Once in Key West, the three of us boarded the Conch train that takes you on a historical and architectural tour of old Key West.  Key West boasts of gingerbread design on their gables and verandas as well as eyebrow houses with a roof that comes down past the windows to keep the sun out.  They have unpainted houses because these owners paid less taxes than those who painted their houses. We had lunch and then walked around shopping at the tourist shops. We had a beer at a raw bar and then back on the ferry for a 4 hour cruise back home.  It was a chilly day but sunny.  We all had a really nice time and Emma was happy to have visited Key West for the first time.

We got up early again today to take Emma to the airport for her 8 o'clock flight.  Our dock neighbour was kind and generous enough to lend us his car.  Thank you so much Barry. It is a little lonely here but I am sure Emma was happy to be leaving this small boat.  It is quite a challenge getting on and off the boat at low tide so I am sure she is glad to be on solid ground. I miss her we had a lot of fun. She must be exhausted because I did not allow much down time since we wanted to do so much in a short period of time.  Thanks for coming to see us Emma.

Boarding the Key West Express

Eyebrow house...keeps the hot sun out

Key West is the southernmost point in continental USA

Typical Key West home



On the Ferry to leave



Having Lunch at Two Friend's Restaurant

On the Conch Train

<>

Hemingway's hang out

Gingerbread house with wrap around veranda

unpainted house

Exploring Estero Island

Emma and I have had enough of lying on the beach, we went exploring by trolley yesterday.
We went to the West end of the island and walked around Bowditch State Park. We boarded the trolley and went downtown to Time Square for a nice lunch at an outdoor Greek Restaurant. We walked around and shopped so that Emma could finish her souvenir shopping.
We boarded an other trolley and rode to the east end of the island and onto Bonita Springs to go to Love's Key State Park to go look at manatees. We were glad we had stopped downtown for lunch since the only available food is a concession stand at this end of the island. We walked around the park for a $2.00 admittance fee and went to look at the beach.  The beach is much narrower at this end and the sand is courser.  There are mounds of shells to walk through so not ideal for lying on but very picturesque.
We did not see any manatees but we did watch an osprey sitting on a tree near his nest, eating a live fish.  The fish was wiggling and struggling to free itself from the deadly talons. Apparently the red tide has killed off many fish as well as manatee.  The first to die are those that feed on algae. A cold front with high winds has moved in so that is supposed to help end the red tide issue.
We were going to go to Key West by fast catamaran today but they are not sailing because of the weather.  We will try tomorrow.
Today we will go play mini gulf and  go shopping at a mall and then out to dinner at Nervous Nellies.

Bowditch Park

Bowditch park Beach





Lover's Key Beach

mounds of shells at Lover's Key Beach

Lover's Key beach

Osprey eating a live fish

Gecko at Lover's Key