Great weather just goes on and on

Sanibel Jan 10 through 13, 2013

Good Karma at South Seas Plantation

The marina at South Seas Plantation is very pretty and very expensive at $3.25 per foot per night. This is more than our budget but in this case it was totally worth it. We had full access to the entire resort for that money. We went to the beach, collected shells, rode our bikes, and ate out a couple of times. 

Mike and Judy by the golf course

Kermit at the restaurant by the marina

Actually Kermit and I visited this resort 18 years ago in 1995 just after we were married when we attended a Bell & Howell rewards trip. Not much has changed. It is still really pretty. It is kind of neat to see it from the water at the marina.

We went to the pool for the first time since Lake Michigan. The pool was great but I got so bit up by no-see-ums that I am just now recovering.

We rode our bikes around the island, to lunch at Mucky Duck and go shopping at the local grocery and t-shirt shop. The Mucky Duck has duck feet on the restaurant floor. So if you ask where is the bathroom they say, “follow the duck feet”. We thought that was pretty funny!

The "town" has cute stores and restaurants. I had the best shrimp risotto at Key Lime Restaurant the first night. Boy, was it delicious. The shrimp were blackened and the rice was creamy. Afterwards we walked down to the beach and counted stars!!

Every morning Judy and I took Rusty for a walk around the island, sometimes around the golf course. We are trying hard to be healthier but it is difficult sometimes.

We took the dinghies to the beach on the island across the channel. Peggy and Jim Weiss joined us for the day. Michael says he has more pictures of Rusty than anything else!!

 

We walked around and generally relaxed. It appears that this island had only about 6 houses before a hurricane hit in 2004. Most of the houses were not rebuilt so we were able to see the hulks of really nice houses.

More pictures of Rusty. He had a blast at the beach!

The fuel line connection on the outboard got messed up so we took a bike ride to Jensen’s Marina on the island because they said they might have a connection. They did not but it was a neat discovery. Small cabins. Folks hanging out around a campfire looked like musicians. This is a fishing hang out too.

 Jensen's Marina hosts lots of famous people for fishing trips. This is their wall of famous people. And they have some really funny signs here.

 Everyone needs just the right chair in their fishing boat. I always wondered what to do with that old saddle.

We left Sanibel on Sunday 1/13 on another bright warm day. The weather was perfect for naked boating!!  I think Mike and Judy are getting the hang of this! 

More dolphins. 

On the way we stopped at Cabbage Key for lunch, about  20 miles northwest of Ft. Myers and 5 miles south of Boca Grande (directly across from marker 60 on the Intracoastal Waterway). This small island is a must-stop for Loopers. 

I bet every blog has a photo of Cabbage Key. A private family owned the island until 1944 when new owners opened it to the public. Its claim to fame is Jimmy Buffett lived on his sailboat anchored off the island before he was famous while he sang at the island restaurant. It is said that the song, “Cheeseburger in Paradise” was written about the cheeseburgers here. However we have been at other restaurants on other islands off Florida and in the Carribean that make the same claim. The cheeseburgers were good though! We walked around the island a bit. Kermit’s back was still hurting a little, although he is getting better.

Getting in and out of the marina was harder than it looked because the wind was blowing us right on the dock. We came straight in then turned sharp to the starboard to lay right against a dock. Then when we left we had to fight the same wind, pull ahead and back out of the marina. Darn wind. Later we met some people who stayed overnight at Cabbage Key. They said it was quiet, they had the entire marina to themselves. They were surprised at how easy it was to stay overnight.

The main restaurant on Cabbage Key

Judy working really hard to dock - it was very windy

Inside the main house the walls are covered with dollar bills. They claim to have $70,000 in dollar bills on the walls. They donate about $10,000 per year to charity just from the dollars that fall off the wall each year.

I think they put bad children
in this container

Lots of critters on this island. This is a bunch of ducks that greets arriving boaters. 

 At first we thought these turtles were having a fight. Then we realized they were having an interaction of a different nature!! They scrambled under the house for some privacy.

 Here are Mike, Judy and I up the water tower.

It was a few hour trip to Fort Myers through some of the worst boat traffic we have ever seen. Crazy little boats, slow sailboats, and cruisers mostly going in the opposite direction like church just got out and everyone was racing to Denny’s for breakfast.

And rude boaters everywhere. One time we were passing the trawler Patience. Little boats were passing in all directions leaving huge wakes rocking Patience all over the place. Kermit called on the radio to arrange a slow pass. Patience was so pleased they said we were Great Karma!!!

Fort Myers

There are lots of Loopers spending lots of time in Fort Myers so we had a big welcoming committee when we arrived. Jim and Joy from Jims Joy waited for us to arrive. We haven’t seen them since Thanksgiving. They only stayed one day until leaving on Tuesday for Florida’s east coast. Unfortunately  Jim was still sick with the flu so Kermit and Mike had to jab him for it. 

 Before leaving Joy took us on a big tour of historic Fort Myers including the art house, the big park, the downtown, and best of all, the bakery!! This is a good food town. The best restaurant was Firestone. It has tire look that is really  neat. This is the sky martini bar:

The bathrooms have tires as sinks. 

 We visited Total Wine to restock for the Bahamas. We bought two cases of wine plus five half gallons of Crown Royal which we stowed in the liquor compartment.

 We got a new vacuum cleaner!!! So the carpet is finally clear of dog hair. Notice the filled canister?

 We will be in Fort Myers until at least Monday 1/21 when we plan to move to Alva FL just down the ICW from here. More later about Ft. Myers.