As the countdown to hauling continues, we slowly and sadly check things off of our ‘last’ list. We had our last swim off of the boat in clean waters in the Dry Tortugas, and yesterday was our last beach day, spent on Ft. Myers Beach.
Described by two unrelated people as ‘honky tonk’, it was indeed a sight to behold. Spring breakers, retirees, day boaters and vacationing families like ours packed, literally packed, the landscape and the abutting water space.
Wedging ourselves into the throngs on the very hard-packed sand, we actually quite enjoyed ourselves with the warm water, a picnic, our usual bag of activities, and watching the walkers, runners, bikers, sashayers and the like for hours on end. (The true highlight to the day was not any particular sight, but rather the fact that Andy and I blew our previous kadima record of 254 out of the water with an astonishing 671! Cheap thrills.)
Our Ft. Myers day was contrasted by a lovely and quiet day on Naples Beach just before we sailed out the day before; not many people, and beautiful white sand for miles with great shelling.
A dolphin chased the waves at our feet for the entire morning, which is something we’d never seen. We ran alongside it for a long time, and as soon as we’d return to our towel up it’d pop again.
Today we head ‘in’, off of the ocean and into the waterway, and we’ll be back to our bridge and lock schedules and brown water. We have a scheduled ‘tip’ on Sunday (our mast is three feet too tall for a fixed bridge on our route, so we’ve hired someone to heel us over enough to get us through) before our scheduled haul in Indiantown on Tuesday. From there it’s buttoning our Chickadee up for the summer and driving home. I cannot express ‘waaaaaah’ enough- this trip has been so wonderful in so many ways.
Twenty four hours a day with these people that I love so dearly? Hard to beat in the chaos of a Maine spring and summer.
For now I’ll take the last week to fully absorb our simple boat life that has become so natural and perfect: coffee, tidy the cockpit, curl up with book, see two little faces wrapped in their soft blankets appear, breakfast, school, onshore adventure, sail, tidy the cabins, craft, swim, cook, eat, dishes, sunset, crash, repeat. See? Hard to beat!
I’m so very sad to see your wonderfully-written, entertaining and insightful blog posts come to an end but will be SO happy to see those “browned-up” little girls in a few weeks. You two, too, of course! I know this has been a dreamy trip for you all and I wish you would buy a bigger boat so Tuna and I can stow away next year. Olive is waiting patiently for you and has been a love the whole time except for blowing her winter coat all over everything we own and eat. We love her none the less. I didn’t dare take her with me when I went to your house for fear she would be so sad I’d never get her back in the car again. Sometimes she looks wistfully off into space, thinking of you, I’m sure. Safe travels and we’ll be thinking of you when we’re in the Bahamas! Love you all.