Day 124, Year 10: Back Home Aboard Windbird
Date: Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Weather: Mostly Sunny, High Temp 70 degrees F
Location: Back Home Aboard Windbird, Fort Myers Beach, FL
As we all know, there is no place like home. And although it feels great to be back aboard Windbird, we are so glad we were able to spend a few days with Mark’s family. It is always so much fun to be with Lee and Mary Ellen. They have a lovely home which we enjoy, but our favorite part is the huge lanai (covered patio) with the swimming pool and hot tub. It was a bit cool this visit, but we still had a great time playing ball in the pool, sitting in the hot tub, and visiting with the whole family. And as I said in last night’s log, staying with Steve in Alva is always fabulous in a totally different way. It is all about natural beauty, calm, and relaxation. Sure wish we could have stayed longer with Steve, but it is time to get ready to head back to the east coast and prepare for our Bahama adventure. Always onward.
Steve volunteered to be our chauffeur today. He drove us to Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale for Mark’s cancer treatment and then drove us all the way home. The drive is a little more than two hours each way and Mark’s treatment takes about three hours, so we could have been back by 3:30 or 4:00 in the afternoon. BUT, we stopped at Kyojin near the hospital to have a sushi lunch and then we stopped at West Marine. So it was almost 6:30 pm when Steve dropped us at Lover’s Key to catch the bus back to Fort Myers Beach. Mark’s treatment went smoothly and his blood tests showed that everything is fine—nothing too high or too low. So we are very happy about that. Lee and Mary Ellen had told us about Kyojin and we just had to try it. It is a Japanese seafood buffet with a huge sushi bar, all you can eat for $11.95. What a deal. There is everything from seaweed salad and miso soup to sushi to hibachi choices to stir fry to tempura to shrimp and mussels to different dessert choices. We’d certainly go there again. Lee and Lynda needed some 4200 chalk, so we stopped at West Marine to get that for them. Mark had hoped to get a lightbulb for our anchor light, but once he saw all the choices, he couldn’t be sure which one. So he will have to climb the mast, check the current bulb, and go back to West Marine at some point. The current light works but is very dim, so he is looking for an LED replacement. When we left West Marine, we got caught in a bit of rush hour traffic, but once on the outskirts of Fort Lauderdale, it was smooth sailing back to Bonita Springs and on to Lover’s Key. We had called Lee Kaufman who was going to pick us up at the dinghy dock and bring us back to the boat and our timing worked out great. He and Lynda were going in for dinner at the Matanzas Inn by the dinghy dock, so when we arrived, we joined them. There was no way we could eat dinner, but we had an appetizer and a couple of beers. Lee and Lynda rented a car today and did their shopping, so they are ready to head out. We still need to do our shopping, so we will spend the next two days doing that and will be ready to leave here on Saturday morning. Even if the weather permitted, I’m not about to start a passage on Friday the 13th, so Saturday will just have to do. Tomorrow morning early, I will take a couple of buses to get to Costco to do my major provisioning and then Mary Ellen and Jeanie, Mark’s sisters, will pick me up and bring me back to Fort Myers Beach. Jeanie has a doctor’s appointment in Fort Myers and Mary Ellen is taking her, so it won’t be much out of their way to come meet me at Costco. I could return via bus, but it would difficult with all the bags of food. I think Mark is going on a quest looking for a hardware store tomorrow morning and will try to find a source of beer. We need to stock up for the Bahamas, so we need at least a100 cases. Just kidding. But we do need a lot for the six week period, so that is his morning mission. Once we get back together we will probably take the bus to Bonita to say our farewells to Mary Ellen and Lee and Jeanie and pick up mail that has been delivered there as well as our stainless stanchion that has now been repaired. On Friday we are planning to meet our friends Alan and Helaine Kanegsberg for lunch here in Fort Myers Beach. They flew in yesterday and are staying with friends in Punta Gorda. We had hoped to meet them in Fort Myers so they wouldn’t have to fight the beach traffic, but we can’t find a bus that will take us to where we would want to go. Public transportation is fantastic, but it does have its limitations.
I can’t end without talking about the weather. It is about 5 degrees cooler, both day and night, here in Fort Myers Beach than it is in Fort Lauderdale. So it was 70 here today and 75 there. Tonight the temp will dip down below 50 here on Fort Myers Beach and even lower inland. It has definitely been a cool time in Florida since we arrived in early January. I’m just hoping that by the time we reach the Bahamas in early March, it will be deliciously warm. Can’t wait.
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| 150212 Day 124 Florida, USA–Provisioning |
