S/V Sanibel: Pirates!

It’s been an interesting couple of weeks getting back into the swing of ‘boat life’, adjusting to another boat mate on board and closely watching hurricane Matthew.

We settled in at Charlotte Harbor, an area that somehow seems to be our home base or starting point. We know the area pretty well and enjoy ourselves there. The worst of it is the anchorage is often choppy. Getting to and from shore in the dinghy is less than a dry experience.

Excited about frozen yogurt

Serious about frozen yogurt

Nearly gone frozen yogurt

Walking into Fisherman’s Village to treat ourselves to our favorite frozen yogurt shop, we found the annual Pirate Festival in full force. Pirates of all ages and dress were everywhere. Events included a pirate’s sword fight, several stages playing pirate music, dancers, pirate boats, and mermaids. We devoured our frozen yogurt the first day and returned for the pirate festival the second day.

This guy was our favorite. He would stand perfectly still until the crowd gathered and just as soon as someone got close, he would move....everyone jumped, some let out a squeal, a few cried, but most laughed, had their photo taken and then donated to his treasure.

It’s taken some time, but we finally feel like we are finding our places on Sanibel. With an additional person on board, we’ve had to reconfigure storage, seating and more. At first, we were so unorganized; I thought I was losing my mind. Little by little I’ve been able to reorganized storage spaces, cupboards and vanity areas. Brittany occupies most of the forward berth. She uses three suitcases for her belongings, which are tucked on the port side of the berth and she sleeps on the starboard side. Jimi still uses the built in dresser and they share the vanity area. I still have my built in dresser in the aft cabin but have had to relocate many of my belongings from the Salon cubby to the storage under my berth. For anyone who lives on a boat, you know that the organizing almost never ends and so we continue.

Brittany has been in Florida with us for three weeks. I have no doubt that her first two weeks she may have had second thoughts about what she’d gotten herself in to. I already mentioned to you that the first week we were all miserably hot and eaten alive by no-see-ums and mosquitoes. She spent the second week getting her sea legs and in the process would hang over the side of Sanibel with what we refer to as ‘feeding the fish’. And in fact, she made several new fish friends doing so. This third week has been better for her. She’s eating well and no longer gets motion sickness while at anchor. She’s adjusted to the dinghy and helps to crew when asked. She’s maintained a good schedule with her school work and doing extremely well in her classes. At this rate, she’ll be done in no time. And finally, she’s having fun!

We’ve adopted a couple of new games that the three of us play in the evening when not on shore: Exploding Kittens and Mexican Train. Both games are fun and we never know who will win. Call it ‘no skill involved’ or the three of us are a good match – we have fun because no one dominates.

After leaving Charlotte Harbor we sailed to Fort Myers Beach. It's another place we’ve visited often on this Florida coast.

Off season, the mooring field is very empty. They have laundry facilities, which doubles as an air-conditioned dayroom and showers we can use.

Anyone up for a walk on the beach?

Fort Myers

Britt found a live sand dollar

The Pier

Shadow fun

Upon arriving in Fort Myers the town was hosting a free Song Writers Music Festival. Stages were set up all over the town and musicians singing with all their hearts. We found seats at a place called Nervous Nellie’s.

Tim McGreary, Local Artist

The first couple that took the stage were two individuals who just happen to join forces. They each played the guitar and sang; they were very good.

The second set was a couple of guys who call themselves Trailer Choir from Nashville. They’ve been singing together for about twelve years and one of the members is Big Vinny from season twelve of The Biggest Loser. These guys put on a show – they didn’t just stand up there and sing, they were funny and goofy and made us all laugh. It was the highlight of our night.

For nearly a week we watched the path of Hurricane Matthew. Our friend Bob on s/v Windygo is in the Bahamas and just was thirty miles from Matthew’s eye. He is safe although Windygo has some damage, but nothing that can’t be fixed. Then we watched to see just how far Matthew would shoot West towards us. We prepared for the worst, just to be safe. We were expecting some of Matthew’s edge to cause us heavy winds and maybe some rain, but to our surprise, we got nothing. Probably only about twenty knots of wind and nothing to be concerned about.