Tuesday February 2 thru Friday February 5, 2016
Originally we were going to spend Tuesday night in the Everglades, anchoring near Panther Key, but after our sleepless Monday night, we were on a mission to get to Rose Marina on Marco Island!
We woke up to fog. Thick fog. But, we could see some distance, and so we went slow, with our running lights on, until the fog lifted around 9am.
It was a gorgeous day on Tuesday, light winds from the South. We hauled up the main sail, and unrolled the genoa. Perfect day to sail around the crab pots! At one point a large black frigate bird settled in, perched on top of our wind indicator, on top of the mast. He liked his perch, and did not care in the least when Jim shook the stays. Get out the horn, I told Jim. The frigate bird was startled by the noise below. He flew off, circled, and was headed back to “his” perch on our mast, when Jim blew the horn again. It took several toots, but finally our feathered friend abandoned our ship. Good riddance! He’d been pooping all over our deck.
We pulled into Rose Marina around 4pm. We would be leaving Heron there until after tax season. We spent the following days cleaning the bird poop off the bow, defrosting the freezer, scrubbing interior surfaces with anti-mold spray, washing bedding, packing up clothes that we would take home, and so on. We spent nights at our wonderful friend Chris’s condo. I loved swimming in the pool after a hard day of cleaning. We also loved Tigertail Beach on Marco Island!
On Thursday we drove to Ft Meyers for dinner. Vicki and Wayne had just arrived on Cocomo. Wonderful to see them and catch up. It was hard to believe that we have not known them forever. We met when they had just pulled into our marina south of Chicago, back in September. At that point, they had barely started the Great Loop, and we had my mother on board. Lots of fun times in between with them. How time flies when you are having fun!
Heron was hauled out on Friday morning. The Marina service department is going to fix the gashes in her hull.
Before we knew it, Jim and I were both back in Maryland. Hello tax season!
Stay tuned. Our adventures will resume after April 19.