Fort Myers Yacht Basin...a Week and Counting

Day #104; Loop miles = 1,395

Indeed our stay here in Ft Myers has extended to a week...and now a bit more. It is a very comfortable spot to be for a spell. A great and close downtown, lots of friendly loopers right here, terrifically easy dog walking, a protected slip...what more could we ask for? Well...a bit of warm, and not so windy weather would be nice! We can't really complain relative to what parts north of here are experiencing, but it has been cooler than expected. And, the wind is now causing us to hang around for a couple of extra days.

We have had plenty of down time while here, gotten a number of boat projects accomplished, but also made time to just enjoy being here. We've eaten out a number of times...found some really good Mexican food, Italian food, and regular old pizza. And of course while in the presence of so many loopers, we've been included in a couple of docktail gatherings.

Downtown Ft Myers is really nice...they've done a superb job of making it visitor friendly. Easy to walk, lots of shops and restaurants, and we have also enjoyed some local entertainment that we found there. Last Friday, there were probably 10 or so different musical "acts" performing in the streets in a variety of places. Anything from 4 piece jazz ensembles to solo guitar players and even a young girl of about 7 with a mike and amplifier singing pop songs rather out of key. It was great fun!

These guys were our favorites...and very, VERY good. Playing jazz, and jazzy renditions of popular songs, They are likely still in high school...but they were seriously good. You can't tell from the picture, but they were set up in a little brick courtyard right outside of a pizza joint. We sat at a picnic table here for 45 minutes or so...really enjoyable.

 

A shot of the blocked off streets...lots of people out.

This little guy caught our attention. He was stationed on the back of some guys Harley Davidson and was posing for pictures all night. The owner was hawking his handyman business, but his dog was getting all of the attention. And right beside this guy was....

This guy dressed as Jesus, speaking with the passersby. He had stage make-up on and everything. You can see the Harley and the dog in the foreground.

Another day, we took the free trolley that runs a loop through downtown out to the 20 acre Edison/Ford Estate. The short version of the story is that Ft Myers was one of Edison's adopted homes, and he spent winters and considerable time here. At one time, Henry Ford worked for one of the companies that Edison owned, and Edison became an early mentor of Henry Ford. Over time they became close friends, and eventually, the Edison's invited the Fords to build a winter home right next door to them here in Ft Myers. We learned a lot about both men...a very interesting afternoon, and a very interesting slice of history. Well worth the time to do if anyone finds themselves in this corner of Florida.

Here is where you can find a bunch more info if you are interested: Edison Ford Estate

Edison's winter home.

And Henry Fords place...you can see how close these 2 properties are. Literally right next door.

This is a Mysore Fig Tree...to get a sense of how huge this is, look closely to the right of the base of the tree and you will see a person...it had to be 20 feet in diameter at the base of the trunk. One of the joint projects that Edison and Ford worked on in Edison's lab here was to look for alternatives to rubber. During WW1, they became concerned about the US dependence on foreign sources for rubber. So they planted all variety of tree and plant specimens, seeking an alternative, among them this Fig. In the end, after testing 17,000 plant samples, Edison eventually discovered a source in the plant Goldenrod. Fascinating.

The winter estate is located on a beautiful setting along the Caloosahatchee River.

So where to now you ask? We have decided to travel across the state via the Okeechobee Waterway to the east coast of FL. From there we will transit down the coast and make our way to the Keys. At the eastern end of the Okeechobee waterway is Stuart, FL. There we will head to a shipyard to have some minor work done on Sandrobber. It will require hauling the boat out of the water, and hopefully all of the work will get done in one day...we really hope so. (For those of you interested, we are replacing the shaft seal on our rudder assembly. Our vintage of American Tug has shown a propensity to develop a leak at the rudder shaft seal, and sure enough ours is now leaking...very slowly. Nothing at all catastrophic, but something that we want to attend to none the less. They have a redesigned seal that will be retrofitted on our rudder assembly, and then we'll be as good as new.)

So...after we wait out the big blast of wind that is expected on Saturday, we will make our way east, with the expectation of arriving in Stuart on Monday or Tuesday.

Here is another boat docked at our marina with a blue hull like ours...only this one is 127 feet long! The guy who originally had it built was the patriarch of the Walgreen family of Walgreen's Pharmacy. It is now owned by some folks who own a winery in CA. To gain a sense of perspective, the inflatable dinghy you see on the upper deck near the American Flag is 20+ feet long and has a 200hp outboard on it.