Naples

Sunrise in Naples

Many years ago Russ and I looked at and loved Naples, Florida. There are a couple of small, walkable downtowns (yep, two of 'em), with lots of restaurants and shopping. Seemed ideal for us. But, well, we changed our minds and settled on New Orleans. Given today it's 69 here and 48 there, I'm wondering if that wasn't a mistake.

Anyway, our slip is at Naples City Dock, which is just a few block from one of the downtowns, and an easy bike ride to the other. The afternoon we docked we walked to one of our favorite restaurants, Tommy Bahamas. We ordered the coconut shrimp, the poke, and split blackened fish tacos. The food was wonderful, as usual.

Marking chain

Just a quick story about TBs: When we first visited Naples years ago we hooked up with one of Russ's co-workers who lived here. We met him downtown and he told us a bit about Naples and how it came to be. He pointed to the mall (where the Tommy Bahamas was) and said that the woman who owns it was picky about who she leased to, only wanting "mom & pop" stores and no franchises. Of course I laughed and said, "Except for the Tommy Bahamas." He too laughed and said, "At the time, this was the only one."

We took a bike ride the first day we got here to do some parts shopping, as well as groceries and hit a lunch spot. The streets are busy and not particularly kind to bikes, but there are sidewalks set a bit off the roads making the journey comfortable.

I'm beginning to realized that time in shore isn't tourist time. At least it hasn't been for us. It's maintenance/repair/chore time. When the weather was nice we pulled out all the anchor chain and marked it so we have a clear visual on length when using it -- kinda like some homework from Anchor Day. 

Parrots!

The following day the storm set in. This is the one that cancelled our Key West plan. It brought high winds, lots and lots of rain, a little lightning and thunder but not much. Given the rain we took the time to do indoor chores. Russ delved into some engine mechanics, replacing the water lines that ran into the engines. I did laundry.