Day 108: Friday, December 21, 2012
Port to Port: Fort Myers, Florida
Underway: 0:00 am Motor Off: 0:00 pm Miles Traveled: 0 Stayed At: Marina
Mile to Mile: The predicted winds welcomed us to Fort Myers Beach last night – 20+ mph straight from the south aiming right at our stern. Sleep was a challenge – the rocky motion was manageable but the new noises kept us awake for big chunks of the night. Whenever you anchor out or tie up to a dock, the first night or two is a learning experience. There are always new noises and new worries to figure out. Did I tie up the boat correctly? What will happen at high/low tide? Are we too close in the front? What was that squeak? What is that banging? Is the dinghy rubbing? You’re just waiting in the dark for a new bang, creek and woosh to show up. You have to become comfortable with all of these uncertainties before you can sleep comfortably. The first night is always a challenge and heavy winds and waves only add to the cacophony of sound. Everything was still in the same place in the morning but we were a little sleep deprived after our first night at Fort Myers Beach.
We started the day by wandering around the Farmers Market right across the street from the marina – fresh cinnamon rolls, grapefruit and veggies helped make our long night fade. I slapped a little more sealant on the bottom stern seam of the dinghy to try to keep water from leaking in – the good news is the tubes are still holding air for more than half a day at a time so we are making progress. We wasted time reading in the laundry room/library and explored a little bit of the touristy section of Fort Myers Beach – lots of restaurants and shops only a few blocks from the marina. We tried a couple of times to move the boat to the other side of the dock where we would be better protected from the wind but decided it was too rough and risky until the wind and waves settled down.
In the afternoon we walked a couple of miles to the Enterprise Car Rental office to pick up a car – we are driving to Tampa on Sunday to pick up the girls for their Christmas visit. We used the opportunity to do some errands and make a Target run before returning to the marina to get ready for our road trip tomorrow.
Thankfully, the winds died down and Aurora settled into a nice gentle motion making sleep a lot more comfortable – we also added a couple of extra spring lines just to make sure we were secure no matter what the winds and currents did overnight. We’ll be here for about a month so we should get this all figured out just about the time we are leaving.