Fort Myers Beach

We left Fort Myers about noon and moved down the Caloosahatchee River back toward the Gulf to Fort Myers Beach. This was the scene of the Grand Exodus last Saturday and we are going to let the Gulf settle down for a couple of days then head “outside” to Naples then the Keys. The ride was better on a Tuesday but still had plenty of boats. Another one of those pleasant surprises—we have never been to Ft. Myers Beach seeing as how we have such good friends in nearby Naples. We are on a ball in the bay behind Estero Island at Matanzas Pass—it is more protected than Sarasota and near the cut to the open water of the Gulf. The water here is still gray but more so because of the Sunday/Monday storm. Our mooring is a short dingy ride to a very busy beach town. There have to be at least 100 boats moored in this field and if you don’t have a dingy someone named Hutch has a Water Taxi for $5 to take you to/from the numerous bars and restaurants. A tour boat came by last night (during sunset happy hour) and leading the way were at least a half dozen dolphin jumping and performing—wonder what the tour people were doing to get the following. As I was beating Fitz at gin late last night (we are running neck and neck in the March Madness run of the gin game) a large ferry came under the bridge and quickly edged the moor field and literally slid into a small dock straight across from us. We were so impressed with such a large vessel weaving through that we suspended the game (I suspect Fitz was trying to divert my attention). We realized when a lot of people disembarked that this was the ferry to Key West—it left out early this morning with a return trip. A few years ago we took this service out of Marco Island with Sally and Steve and found it a great way to visit Key West without the slow ride in a car. You get on the ferry and ride down to Key West in about 4 hours and you can return any evening you want.

Punta Rassa--a neat looking resort between Ft. Myers and Ft. Myers Beach

Busy mooring field at Ft. Myers Beach

Lots of commerce and this is where the ferry slid to dock