Day 192: Stop in Fort Myers

Day 192: January 26: We untied the mooring ball at just about 8:30 a.m. and pulled up to the city dock to take on some water. It was a perfect travel day and we were anxious to continue north. After working so hard to get further south, here we were heading in the opposite direction. One never knows where a boat trip of this magnitude may take us. 

The river was already busy with boat traffic even this early in the morning. Luckily it was mostly fishermen on small center consoles; their boats did not throw much of a wake so the cruise out of the harbor and into the Gulf was pleasant. 

The Gulf was glass, it certainly would have been a day to travel anywhere. Unfortunately for our friends Mona and Frank, the part they have been waiting for has not yet arrived so they will miss this perfect day that would make a cruise to the Keys incredible! We, on the other hand, are taking full advantage of today's glorious weather. At one point John threw the boat in idle and cast a line for awhile. No bites, but floating around on the Gulf of Mexico in crystal clear water was heavenly. 

It took us about 4 hours to travel almost 30 miles to Fort Myers Beach where the city maintains a mooring field called Matanzas Harbor Municipal Mooring Field. We had originally planned on anchoring after our DockWa reservation request was denied but on the way we received a call from the harbor master confirming a mooring ball was available. 

Turning off of San Carlos Bay into Matanzas Pass was an event in itself. Obviously a popular spot, the pass was like grand central station with boats coming and going. Despite the Slow No Wake signs, there didn't seem to be much patience for slow trawlers like ours. Unlike us who are "already where we want to be", everyone else seems to want to get to somewhere else. 

The Matanzas harbor was quite large with what like seemed hundreds of moorings. However due to lasting damage from a previous hurricane, many moorings are still unusable. We found out the pump boat was also destroyed and par for the course, the city has not replaced it with an updated boat. When the pump out is used, the harbor master has to then call a sanitation truck to come pump out the pump out! Needless to say we were not able to pump out our system. 

We dinghied to shore and found the dinghy dock right outside a very busy restaurant. Typical for an outside restaurant in fabulous weather, laughter could be heard everywhere. 

Once tied up, we walked a few blocks toward the beach where we were able to catch a bus to Walmart! $.35 each way for seniors! I guess getting old has a few benefits. We picked up a few items including a 32 GB SD card John wanted to install in the Chart plotter in order to be able to access Active Captain. The streets and bars were alive with tourists! Definitely a party town! 

We chatted with a few fellow boaters as we traveled back to the boat, including two Loopers. One on a gorgeous 58' Fleming named Legacy. Back on the boat we enjoyed the lights in the harbor as the sun set.