Having company on this trip is exciting but also challenging . We need to think of where people should fly into, what city is exciting with lots to do and a hotel nearby for them to stay at, that is close enough to the boat.  Sometimes we get to a city way too early and need to wait for company which is what happens most of the time.  We have been at Legacy Marina in Fort Myers for the month of February waiting patiently.  Enjoying a wonderful city, great restaurants and a friendly boating community.  There has been lots to do here. It is the home of the Boston Red Sox training camp and the summer home of Edison, Ford and Firestone.  Legacy Marina is clean, helpful and comfortable. We will make sure to come back here with our new boat.    

Warren’s daughters were glad to be in the warm weather even if it was only for 3 days.  They were lucky and Fort Myers delivered  beautiful 80 degrees days.  

Three days goes fast and we wanted to make sure they enjoyed their stay.  There was a hotel on the property, which made it easy for all of us to get together whenever we did anything.  Mary, Christine and Kathleen are easy to please and went along with whatever we suggested.  Kathleen likes to walk everyday, so we took a 4 mile walk over the Edison Bridge. The first day they arrived, weather was perfect for hanging out at the pool, where Christine showed us her signature dive, the cannonball.  It was a little too cold for me, my blood has thinned out since I have been in the South for 9 months. We had a pool side lunch,which was nice and we didn’t need to miss a minute of sun. We did the usual going out to eat for dinner by checking out different restaurants each night.

Warren thought if weather permitting, we would take the boat out for a quick ride.  Saturday was a perfect day and we made plans to do that but a small problem delayed our trip.  The boat had a slight “odor” yes..the bathroom holding tanks’ cup runneth over.  That never happened to us before but we waited too long for a pump out and it was pumping out onto the floor of the boat!  Needless to say, it was not a pretty sight.  Warren had to pump out the head while I wiped up the excess inside the boat.  I sprayed so many chemicals into the air that I wasn’t sure what I was smelling anymore.  The combination of Febreze, Airwick, Clorax and “stick ups” was sickening and smelled worse than the original odor.  After the quick clean up, I said, “Come Aboard”!  I could tell the girls were kind.

Mary said, “It doesn’t smell bad!”  

Christine said, “It smells perfummey” and Kathleen didn’t say a word.  Needless to say everyone stayed outside of the boat for our short trip.

Funny thing about Fort Myers is that it is a beautiful, spotless city, brick sidewalks and all renovated buildings but nobody is walking around.  It reminded us of a movie set, without the actors.  We took a walk downtown on Saturday and it was a ghost town, nothing was open.  You know that New Yorkers need their fix of shopping, so I took our rented car to an outdoor mall to fill that craving, which I enjoyed as much as they did.

On Saturday evening, it was time to pack up and head to the airport.  They had gotten some “color” and a few gifts for the family and we got to spend quality time with them.  Warren and I were sad to see them leave, we had a great time with them and are looking forward to our next visit.  

We are now heading towards the Okeechobee Waterway to the east coast of Florida.  The water level is extremely low, about 3 feet, most boats can’t make it through because their draft is not low enough.  We have a draft of 18” and we are taking advantage of that.  Other boaters have to go around the coast to the Florida Keys to get to the east coast.  There will be a change in scenery and people tell us a lot of alligators live in these waters. It will take about a week to cross over to the other side.  As long as our toilet doesn’t leak and I get “American Idol”, I will be fine.  Who cares about a few alligators?