Day 99, Year 8: Back to Rialto
Date: Sunday, February 10, 2013
Weather: Partly Sunny, Continuing to Warm
Location: Rialto Harbor Marina, Alva, Florida
Tonight we are back aboard Nordly at Rialto Harbor Marina after our reunion with family in Gainsville. It was great to see all of Mary Ellen and Lee’s children and their families. Right now we back at Rialto and are sitting here watching the Weather Channel. It looks like we are going to have very warm weather this week with temps in the 80’s for the next three days and then cooling down to the 70’s. Everyone we see says they bet we are glad we are not in New England right now and they are right. I’m sure all of the snow was so beautiful, but I’ll just go to a sandy beach and pretend it’s snow!
On the way back south today we stopped in Punta Gorda to visit with Ron and Suzie Williams. They live on the Western Shore of Maryland but have been renting a home on a canal in Punta Gorda for the month of February for the past three years. Mark and Ron have known each other since high school and it is always fun to visit. Today Ron and Suzie took us to TT’s Tiki Bar at the Sheraton in downtown Punta Gorda. The Tiki Bar is a thatch-roofed bar on a sandy beach on the banks of the Peace River. The seating is all outside on the beach and there was a full house. Thankfully Ron and Suzie knew to bring their own chairs so we had a place to sit. We had lunch and beers and enjoyed the time together.
When we got back to Rialto we did more socializing. We visited with Steve’s good friends, Chris and Alex, from England. About twenty years ago they had their motor cruiser delivered from Wales to Jacksonville and they spent their vacations for a few years bringing the boat down the Intracoastal and across the Okeechobee Waterway to Fort Myers. They stopped at Rialto on the way and have had their boat here ever since. They spend six months in this country and six months back in England. We had met Chris and Alex a few years ago and it was so nice to have time to visit with them this evening.
Tomorrow Alan and Helaine Kanegsberg, our friends from Concord, New Hampshire, are coming here to Rialto to visit. They are in Sarasota visiting friends and sailing and are taking the day to come here to see us. Tomorrow night we will go to Bonita Springs and spend a few days with Mark’s sister and brother-in-law, Mary Ellen and Lee. Time is passing much too quickly, but we are having a great time.
