On to Fort Myers

Leaving the Ten Thousand Islands, motoring, because our wonderful easterly winds had fallen to under 5 knots, we decided to make a long day of it and reached Fort Myers Beach late in the afternoon. The 60 + mile trip involved 8 hours of motoring and about an hour of sailing in winds building so fast that we went from no sails to full sails, to reefed sails all within the hour. Fort Myers Beach has recently dredged its main entry, and unless your mast is over 63 feet, it is an easy trip up the river and under the Sky bridge to the 70 ball, $15 a day, city mooring field, run by the Matanzas Inn. I suspect the mooring field is full all winter, but by late May, the snowbirds have flown. Plenty of bus transportation, down to the beaches and groceries on Estero Island, and a longer, trickier bus route into the city of Fort Myers and the tourist sites there.  We did take the long bus ride, with its 3 transfers to visit the Thomas Edison and Henry Ford homes, side by side along the river in Fort Myers, a fascinating tour with lots of interesting information.

We decided to take a cab back to the last bus stop, a good decision, since a sudden thunderstorm, with drenching rains and winds gusting into the high 40s, hit within a half hour of our return. We had just enough time to take down our $15 Home Depot tarp, disguised as a makeshift sun shelter.

 Storm over in 45 minutes and sunset and calm returned.



Fort Myers meant that Char and Jose, on Atlantica, our other buddy boat, finally caught up with us. Fort Myers Beach was a terrific spot, with great dining at Nervous Nellies and the Matanzas Inn.