2024-12-31 Fort Meyers Beach
Bridget came by the boat early in the morning to pick us up to drive over to Maura and Jim’s. Maura was running a 5K for a charity event. We parked at Maura and Jim’s, then Bridget, Dan, Liam, and I walked over to the beach to cheer the runners on. It was super foggy – you could barely see, and my glasses were clouded with condensation. I couldn’t see a thing. Maura won her age group and placed 63rd overall – not bad for a 67-year-old. After the race, we went back to Maura and Jim’s and chatted. We (I) had made plans with Bryan to do lunch, but Bridget wanted a tour of the boat while it was still light or not raining, so we did that. Dan and I headed to Cape Coral to pick up Bryan, and we met Bridget there. We had a nice lunch at Duffy’s. Bridget supplied Bryan with a dozen of peanut butter brownies, which he was very thankful for. During lunch, Bryan mentioned that his fridge had just died, so we all started hunting for refrigerators.
Bridget found one at Home Depot, so after lunch, we drove Bryan over to Home Depot to score a fridge. He was in luck and found what he was looking for! We dropped Bryan off (at his boat) and headed back to FMB. We spent New Year’s Eve at Maura and Jim’s.
Maura made some delicious pesto chicken meatballs. After dinner, we played some Quirkle – it was fun. FMB has fireworks starting at 11:00 PM, but it was so foggy, and none of us could fathom staying up that late! We barely made it to 9:00 PM!
122 nights to go
2025-01-01 Fort Meyers Beach, FL
Happy New Year! We woke up and it wasn’t foggy for a change. Jim came by at 8:30 AM to help Dan fix the windlass. They had to empty the anchor locker in hopes of finding the old key since the replacement kit did not ship with a new key and we have no idea when we will get it. Jim and I used a grilling spatula and back scratcher and duct tape to fashion a probing device. Dan and Jim were able to retrieve the old key—fortunately, so two and a half hours later the repair was successfully completed. Jim took off and Dan worked on his screen project. Unfortunately, Dan’s sewing machine cannot handle the adhesive on the Velcro strips that Dan was using—the glue gums up the needle—so sad! We picked up Maura and Jim and went to Doc Ford’s Rum Bar and Grill for dinner—it was pretty good. We went back to Maura and Jim’s and played a game of Quirkle!
121 nights to go
2025-01-02 Fort Meyers Beach, FL
Thankfully, we were able to stay at Snook Bight for another night since the weather window is favorable from Friday until Sunday for Dan and Jim’s trip from FMB through the Everglades to Marathon. Liam and I plan to stay behind in FMB because Liam won’t go potty on the boat and there is nowhere to get Liam ashore on the route that Dan has planned. Liam and I plan to stay with Bridget in Cape Coral so as not to upset the mean kitty (Frankie). Maura and Jim were afraid that Frankie would attack Liam given that Frankie bit Jim’s head and scratched up his arms!
Liam does not react to cats as he is used to Bun-Bun and Augie, who are Dany and Elyse’s kitties. So, since Jim and Dan are leaving early in the AM, we need to get the boat in order for the journey. Dan did some Gentex work—fine—but then people asked him to do more so of course Dan did—stressing me out. I did some laundry and provisioned (working around Maura’s inability to trust that I can feed Jim. Maura made a ton of food (shepherd’s pie, PF Chang’s chicken roll-ups, rice, blueberry bread French toast—ha, ha, ha!!
Maura said it was because Jim can’t cook, but I told her not to worry because Dan is a great cook. I took all the stuff that Maura made on Thursday night so I could work on my refrigerator Tetris prior to doing my own provisioning! Dan requested a pump-out, filled the water tanks, and put his things away. I began relocating our stuff from the V berth so that Jim could have some room. After the pump-out was complete, I cleaned the bathrooms and did the tank treatment. We went over to Maura and Jim’s for chile verde with Bibbit, too.
120 nights to go
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