Heading north

We waited out the next storm in Ft. Myers, planning on departing on Saturday, Dec 29. It was supposed to storm (thunder, rain, the whole kit and caboodle) on Friday, but all weather maps agreed Saturday was going to be awesome.

Turns out Friday was amazing. Sunny, warm, and just a little windy. So amazing in fact that we thought about leaving early. But I'd already booked a massage for later in the afternoon (which I would have cancelled), so we decided to stay.

Remember that: massage = stay.

This was probably the biggest holiday weekend, since many folks take off the time between Christmas and New Years. The town of Ft. Myers Beach was just jammed with tourists. All day Friday the channel in front of us was clogged with boats. Pulling out to leave would have been a challenge, and we'd had our share of challenges lately.

Foggy morning

We woke Saturday morning to fog. Not horribly dense, but dense enough that we thought we'd put off leaving until it lifted. That wasn't a call we really were happy about. As soon as the fog lifted, we thought, the channel would be jammed again. Furthermore, we wanted to put in a decent day, so we could get back to Palmetto Sunday afternoon. Then I noticed a couple of boats pulling out around 7 am, which gave us some confidence it wasn't all that bad. So. We did.

Silver rainbow in the fog

Back when we had the RV we had special fog/nighttime sunglasses. They came in handy now. I was diligent to blow our horn announcing our presence periodically, while keeping an eye on both our Navionics route and the radar. The fog kept a number of boaters away, so we saw very few. And after two hours, it lifted.

Clearing nicely

As predicted, once the fog was gone, the boats came out. We didn't blame them -- this was the best boating day we'd experienced since we brought her over from West Palm Beach. It's the first time we could wear t-shirts and shorts! Sunny, warm, just a breeze to keep us cool. Perfect.

We wanted to stay at the Crow's Nest, but they were full. A nearby marina, Fisherman's Wharf, has room. We docked there. With no drama, thank you! In a conversation with the dock hands about the weather they asked if we were safe in the last storm (they meant the one Friday we didn't have in Ft. Myers Beach). Here, apparently, they had fifty (50!) mph winds.

So if we had left on that beautiful day, THAT would have been a disaster. I should get massages more often.

Stressed boat dogs

Dolphins! Russ took this shot.