Our first trip away from the dock in Punta Gorda has been great.  We’ve spent the last week in Fort Myers with family: first my father and 91-year-old Grandmother, then my mother.  It’s been a real treat to share with them our new home.

Getting here, we spent two, easy, beautiful days coming south to Ft. Myers.

Our first night out was amazing:  we anchored easily in Pelican Bay off of Cayo Costa State Park and were greeted by dolphins upon our arrival.  Just before the sun went down, we dinghy’d over to a small spit of beach and Kemah got his first taste of this side of the Gulf – literally he bit the water and immediately recoiled from the salt, rather than fresh, water and then shortly-thereafter had his first case of salt-water-scoots.  Aww, well, he’ll learn soon enough.  That night we were treated to a beautiful sunset on the water, the first of many dinner theater experiences I’m sure we’ll have.

Sunset at Pelican Bay, Cayo Costa State Park, FL

The next morning was a easy motor down the ICW past Cabbage Key, where Jimmy Buffet wrote his famous ballad, Cheeseburger and Paradise.  I hear the Dollar Bill Bar is a great place to stop for a burger but we motored on to Ft. Myers as we were eager to get our first mooring ball at the Matanzas Mooring Field (all the while googling “catching a mooring ball” on our smart phones – ha!).

Well, it seems our googling paid off as our first attempt was an all-too-easy success and here we’ve sat on ball 35 for the past week.

In the mean time, we loved the opportunity to visit with family, take in the local sights and take advantage of their rental car to run a bunch of errands.  In the past week, we’ve run a ton of errands to outfit the boat and we sold our truck (finally!) giving us our cruising kitty for this season as well as the mental real estate to move south without anything lingering behind us – it’s such a relief.

Additionally, had a wonderful time touring the area, sampling sunsets, a day trip to Sanibel Island, an airboat and alligator tour of the Everglades and just generally “hanging” with the ‘rents.

Here’s a little sampling of some fun times we’ve had here in Ft. Myers:

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And, a ‘lil sumthin’ sumthin’ from my Grandmother Virgina, who treated us with this song on our alligator experience:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avAdp1DBLPk&feature=youtu.be]

And, just for fun, and in case you missed the video of her 90th birthday party fun, click here for another amazing video of my Grandmother Virginia, the Great:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QJhByxOGzc]

Finally, yesterday, we stripped off the old lettering on the boat, performed some rituals to appease Poseidon and the Gods of the Winds and blessed the boat with a generous amount of champagne, a Texas flag its new name and home port:  “Mother Jones” from Austin, TX.  Aww, home sweet home.

(pics to come soon . . .)

Currently, we’re deciding whether to push on down the bay today (turns out that generous dose of champagne makes the Mother Jones crew a little slow today . . .) or stay for the Matanzas Mooring Field Oyster Party Meet & Greet and head out tomorrow.  So, in short, stay tuned and we’ll let you know – when we do – when and where we’re headed next.

All the best,

Laurie, Damon and Mr. Kemah

Ps.  Also, of note in the past week is the arrival of two new babies to a couple of dear friends.  Congratulations to Dana and Jason on the arrival of their daughter, Ruby, and to Mike and Kate, on the arrival of Cole, their son.  It’s times like this that weigh heavy on our hearts for not being “home”.  But, in times like these we tend to lift our spirits by remembering we are lucky to have such a wonderful community of family and friends to miss.

Pps.  I was remiss to post other photos of our journey to Florida.  So, if you’re so inclined (and not on Facebook), you can view the full album here.