Ft Myers Municipal to St. Pete

Love our view from the Ft Myers Municipal Yacht Basin! 

After spending 3 weeks at the centrally located downtown city marina, we set sail northbound.

 

 

 

 



 

Our first anchorage is beautiful Pelican Bay.

It wasn't long before the Captain and First Mate dove from Spiritus into the refreshing water . . . . 

 

 

 . . . . and later swam at their private beach at Cayo Costa State Park!

 

 

 

 

 

Cayo Costa Island has numerous walking trails that we enjoyed, reminding us of "old Florida".

 

 

 

 

 

Our daily hikes earned us our picnic lunch with the best-ever view!

 

 

 

 

 

We dinghied into a cove one day and saw 3 species of sea creatures within 20 minutes:

manatee, alligator, and dolphin!

 

 

 

 

 

It was an extra special treat to have Chip & Joyce join us on Spiritus for docktails.

They moor their sailboat, Frolic, next to us at the NAS Pensacola marina.

 

 

 

 

 

Hugs at sunset while drinking wine on Spiritus ... it doesn't get better than that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Next stop is Gasparilla Marina, where we get water and provisions in preparation for the upcoming week of favorite anchorages.  We voted this marina as having the BEST bath house and boater's lounge!

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cruising north from Gasparilla, we saw lots of osprey watching us stay between their channel marker nests.

 

 

 

 

 Spiritus was happy to be back at one of her favorite anchorages at Englewood Beach!

 

 

 

 

 



 

And her crew was happy to dinghy to their favorite tiki bar for live music . . . .

 

 

. . . .  and BEER!

 

 

 

 

 

We walked across the bridge to historic Englewood and discovered a lovely waterfront Memorial Park.

 

 

 

 

 

The charming downtown was lined with colorfully painted benches . . . .

 

. . . . with inspirational messages carved at the base of each designer bench.

 

 

 

 

 

Just to make sure the benches were put to good use, the First Mate found a treat at the ice cream shop!

 

 

 

 

Of the 11 bridges on our travel day to our next anchorage, 9 of them were raised for Spiritus!

 

 

 

 

 

We made it to our Longboat Key anchorage in time for docktails at sunset.

 

 

 

 

 

After a dinghy ride to shore, the trolley took us to Manatee Beach on Anna Maria Island.

 

 

 

 

Uh-Oh, the First Mate forgot to bring her bathing suit!!!

 

 

 

 

On our walk, we discovered a super-inviting, Caribbean-style trailer park . . . .

. . . .  with perfectly-manicured properties . . . .

. . . . and colorful flowerbeds!

 

 

 

 

 

The First Mate contemplates moving into this quaint little neighborhood.

 

 

 

 

 

And the Captain even found a place to moor Spiritus if we relocate to this paradise!

 

 

 

 

T

Dolphin escorted us into Tampa Bay. 

 

 

 

 

 We were fortunate to have calm winds and fair seas as we crossed Tampa Bay and approached the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

 

 

 

 

 

Spiritus spent 2 days on the transient dock at St. Petersburg Municipal Marina and we loved the location.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were thrilled to discover friends, Craig from Blue Heron and Bob & Vicky from Si Como No, moored on the same dock!

 

 

 

 

  

Besides eating at great restaurants, we treated ourselves to a day at the Salvador Dali Museum.

 

 

 

 

 

We were "wowed" by Dali's surreal, bizarre, creative masterpieces.

 

 

 

 

 

How does the Dali mustache look on the Filipino Captain?

 

 

 

 

 

The waterfront museum was an architectural masterpiece of its own.

 

 

 

  

Spiritus is underway, leaving Tampa Bay and entering the ICW with Si Como No.

Next stop ... Dunedin!

 

 

 

 

Back to Ft Myers Beach

 

We were joined by friends while en-route to Ft Myers Beach.

 

 

 

 

 

The First Mate brings some liquid refreshment to her Captain while underway.

 

 

 

 

 

 It's not long before we see the familiar condos and shoreline at Ft Myers Beach.

 

 

 It's fun to see people walking on the beach, waving to us as we pass by.

 

 

 

 

 

Spiritus gets settled for a week on the mooring ball at Matanzas.

 

 

 

 

With Spiritus safely tied to the ball, the crew heads to shore!

 

 

 

 

We've spent so much time at Matanzas that we feel like we're returning "home".

 

 

 

 

 

This is the place . . . Pete's Upper Deck . . . where Linda developed her taste for beer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our first morning back, we took Blondie (our dinghy)

over to the dock of the Key West Express so we could wave "bon-voyage" to Eddy's cousins.

 

Keith, Cindy, Shelly & Kevin are excited for their first visit to Key West.

 

 

 

 

Enjoying a relaxing morning with a cup of Kona coffee and a good book.

 

 

 

 

I think my First Mate is looking for a new Captain!

 

 

 

 

The Annual Fort Myers Beach Shrimp Festival is a popular event.

First comes the parade, then the Miss Shrimp Festival contest, followed by LOTS of shrimp consumption!

 

 

 

 

It seems that every FMB business or civic organization entered a float.

Even the county Sheriff Department gets in on the action!

 

 

 

 

And the floats aren't just for the adults !

 

 

 

 

Lots and lots of music emanated from the floats, but this was our favorite; LIVE!

 

 

 

 

This float was the most colorful.

 

 

 

 

 There's no shortage of antique cars in this part of Florida!

 

 

 

 

I think some of the cars are actually older than the people in them!

 

 

 

 

This one reminded us of the truck back at the Rod & Gun Club in Everglades City.

 

 

 

 

I'm thinking there's a subtle, underlying message being sent out about crime in this parade!

 

 

 

 

Of course, no real parade is complete without the Shriner's Club "cars".

 

 

 

 

Yabba dabba doo!

 

 

 

A one and a half-hour parade will make a girl hungry!  Got shrimp?

 

 

 

 

This clock on the front of the FMB library "finally" makes sense to me.  Do you know how it works?

 

 

 

 

The cousins gather at the BIG chair at Nervous Nellie's restaurant.  If you think the chair is large, you should see their menu!

 

 

 

 

 

Making new friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't care who you are, THIS is funny!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Either the hat is too small or the head is too big.

I wonder if leprechauns still wear these.

 

 

 

 

 

Looper friends Mike & Cindy sent us the "coolest" puzzle.

They had it made specially for us.

 



A collage of pictures they had taken during our journey together on the Great Loop!

 

 

 

 

 

Whether you prefer the sunrise . . . . . .

 

. . . . . . or the sunset, it's all good!