2010 - 9/24 -9/30 - Naples

Sept. 24th David visited after he took Shannon to Café Luna. A surprise visit from my long-lost (other) son, Richard. Best friends since they were kids

Richard & David

& haven’t seen each other in six years. Emotional reunion. Saturday the 25th  Leisurely day on the boat. No work on the boat because it’s another weekend-we’re dead in the water. Richard and his wife, “yo” Adrienne picked us up for dinner & took us to Café Luna. Being a bit late was a good thing since the majority of the customers were already gone and we had more private time with David & Shannon.                     Wayne, David, Shannon, Richard, Adrienne 

Shannon operates this restaurant with her partner, Ed. We got to meet Ed & Shannon’s mom, Susan & her brother, Mike. We were able to have dinner in peace and Shannon could join us at the very cozy ’Godfather’ table in the corner. This drawing of the cast of the Godfather hangs above

 

 the cozy corner table - it’s fabulous! I just couldn’t get a good picture using the flash. It was a perfect night of good food, story telling and (reunited) good friends. It just doesn’t get any better than this… We took David, Shannon, Susan and Shannon’s sister, Alexis, for a boat ride on Sunday, September 26th . Magnificent weather, just enough clouds so it wasn’t too hot. We toured Port Royal going in and out of canals…then proceeded south down the ICW towards Marco. We stopped for a swim at a beach

                                                                   Alexis & Shannon

visited by many locals. David jumped in off the fly bridge just like he did when he was a kid. I don’t think he anticipated such a strong current but he made it to the beach OK. Glorious day. On Monday 27th we met Dave and Shannon for a quick drink then they were off to the races again. Shannon works full time for Caldwell Banker, a Real Estate company & also is part owner & works at Cafe Luna. On Tuesday, Sept.28^th we hung out on the boat and at 4pm Shannon picked us up, made a few stops for dog food and groceries then on to her home for her first-ever dinner party - David was cooking. She has a beautiful and unique home in a quiet neighborhood off the East Trail. Coincidentally, their home is around the corner from Manor Health Care, a long-term care facility, I transferred to from Philly in 1983. Note the entry way that leads into a screened-in pool area. All doors opens into this protected area. The single door on the right is the ‘cabana’ - a full bedroom/bath. Very neat design. Fabulous dinner of steaks cooked to perfection, veggies in oil and garlic and real mashed potatoes. Wednesday 29th, we stayed an extra day due to the uncertainty of TS Nicole but thankfully, no threat to us on the west coast. We left the dock on Thursday 30 about 10:30 we headed south on the ICW and anchored in Marco at 12:15 pm…shortest trip we’ve taken but we’ll be close to the Capri Pass and an easy out to the Gulf in the morning.

2010 - 9/18 - 9/24 - Ft Myers - Cape Coral

On Saturday, Sept 18th pretty much the same motley crew as the Labor Day BBQ gathered at Mickey’s. Visiting from NJ was Pattie, Brian’s girlfriend and
                                       Brian, Wayne & Patti

Dawn, Brian’s sister. Same scenario as Eric - “yes, I do have a girlfriend” but who’s ever seen her??  Sunday, Sept 19th A slightly different crew - no baby so Kathryn could loosen up. Today I got to meet

Kathryn, Lisa, Shannon, me & Patti

David & Scupper

Kate & the crazy dawg

Shannon. WOW such a sweet girl. Love is definitely in the air. Here’s David riding on the motorized cooler!

Week of September 19^th Yahoo!, Dancing with Stars begins. Both Jo and I excused ourselves and went our separate ways to watch. Reviewed our thoughts about the dancers the next morning. It was a nice, relaxing week with no rain. Dogs loved the grass, Wayne loved the pool and I got somewhat hooked on crossword puzzles - Jo gave me one with BIG print. On the 21^st Gregg and Jo took us to Bert’s ‘shack’
in  Matlacha. Typical waterfront set up and only one server but has a neat history. 23^rd We were ready to get pumped out (the doo doo tank) and invited Gregg and Jo to go on a boat ride. Don’t forget, we haven’t had rain in two weeks. Pump out is free at the Cape Coral ‘yacht’ club - we docked but not a soul to be found. The sky was getting pretty angry and the wind picked up in the river. Despite that, we cruised up to the Fort Myers yacht basin and got pumped out there. We were able to dock for free while touring the newly renovated ‘downtown’ section. The entire downtown area was torn up last time we visited & boy did they do a great job with renovations.


It was hot & humid. Gregg wanted to know how long a walk it would be. We had lunch and before we were done, it started to rain really hard. We managed to get our pictures taken in front of Toot’s Dollar Store between the rain drops. We dropped
them off at their dock, I ran in to get my laundry and away we went. Anchor down near the Sanibel Bridge for the night. Left the anchorage at 9:15am on the 24th and took a dock in Naples at 2 pm.

2010 - 9/5 - 9/12 - Ft Myers - Cape Coral

Sept. 5th The BBQ was at Bob’s cottage on the Bay side of Ft Myer’s Beach. It took forever to tie up to a small ‘T’ dock having to tie lines to the two docks next to us. Eric kept telling us he has a girl-friend - we doubted it but good golly,

she really does exist !! Here they are together. Then we’ve got the usual suspects - left to right; Eric, Bob, Mickey, Brian, Josh & Wayne. That’s ‘grandma’ Kathryn with Olivia on the

 hammock. After dark, Kathryn & I went to the beach, Mick tagged along. Next thing I know, we’re swimming naked in a pool at a condo. The next day, Bob & Wayne told the story of two Police officers who brought us home. Kate & I said, “no way possible, we would have remembered - wouldn’t we ?”. :>) ??



BLUE MAX at Gregg & Jo's dock

Sept. 6th - 23rd We wanted to get to Gregg and Jo’s (Wayne's brother & his wife)  when they arrived home (Cape Coral) from their summer RV trip because Gregg developed a pretty serious hernia & Wayne wanted to help him. We docked at the back of their house about 2 pm. What we didn’t know is that they arrived about the same time and parked the RV in the front. We were busy tying up while they were busy setting up the RV and unloading. It was an hour before we saw each other. It was pretty funny. Wayne spent several days helping Gregg open the

house & do yard work. We had torrential down-pours every afternoon for the first week. We took turns making dinner, chatted about everything and generally had a nice time. Gregg had surgery on the 14^th. We went to the Moose Club for drinks and dinner on the 10^th. They had the worst band we’ve ever heard, in fact, at first we thought it was Karaoke night. On the 12th my son, David, arrived in Naples from NC - The reason he moved back? Her name is Shannon - They’ve known each other 13 years and often worked together. She's as gorgeous on the inside as outside. I’m happy for them.

2010 - 9/2 - 9/4 - Heading south on the ICW

Thursday, Sept. 2nd Sunny and hot - so what else is new?? Left Sarasota about 9:15 am. Nice easy cruise down the ICW. Decided to try the anchorage at Stump Point, some place we’ve not been. Good choice and think we’ll be back. Took all necessary equipment and the girls to the beach. FINALLY I caught my favorite bait and by the bucket load…great fun and caught a nice speckled trout in the process. Of course I had taken dinner out of the freezer so it was a shoe-in that I’d catch dinner!! Good sleeping without air-conditioning Friday, Sept. 3rd Heard that Burnt Store Marina in Charlotte Harbor had the lowest prices for diesel - $2.72/gal including taxes; that would be our next stop as we’re
practically running on fumes. Arrived there about 3:00 pm fueled up, pumped out and…whadya know - it’s happy hour in the bar !!! Might as well take advantage and down a few. Next thing you know we ordered 4 appetizers too. We left just in time to see a beautiful sunset. Captain Wayne navigated perfectly in the dark and into Pelican Bay at the north end of Cayo Costa. We pulled anchor about 1:30 Saturday, Sept.4th and decided to anchor by a small spit of an island near the Sanibel bridge. We always seem to arrive at

places like this on a weekend-always mobbed with people, kids and dogs. This monster house boat was anchored next to us - YIKES must have been 100 footer. We took the girls ashore and the water was a great relief from the hot sun. Happy hour and dinner on the boat rounded out another wonderful day.

2010 - 8/25 - 9/1 - Sarasota

We arrived at the Honda dealership on Sera Bay about 1pm on Wednesday, Aug. 25th. They took the dinghy inside and we tied up on the sea wall at the old Holiday Inn - restored and now called Harbor Vista - Their Tiki bar was open and, according to Jimmy Buffet, it was Five O‘Clock Somewhere. We dodged the deluge of rain, slip-sliding in the puddles to have a drink and hopefully a Cheeseburger in Paradise (Jimmy again). The owner, Henry, opened the kitchen just for us… In the meantime, my friend, Joe, arrived at the cottage in Summerland to spend a month or so. He will try to get ON CALL (our 19' fishing boat)working once again after she’s been sitting on the trailer for over two years! The dealer at Sara Bay was unable to find any problems with the outboard and since they were the ones who put in the new thermostat and filled the oil - probably over filled it, they didn’t charge us this time. Good thing too because I was pretty pissed at this point after them “fixing” it two times already! We left about 1ish on 26th down the ICW to Sarasota. This is Ca d’Zan, John and Mable Ringling’s home.  I took the picture through the binoculars. We toured the Ringling museum in 2002 & was great fun. Sarasota skyline and Marina Jack’s Marina, restaurants and Piano bar. We cruised around the marina before setting the anchor and saw a boat that Wayne swears was CHARTWELL, a 55 ft. trawler he signed onto in Lauderdale to help deliver it to China. They went across the Panama Canal but only made  
it to California. From there, Wayne took a train, cross country, back to Lauderdale. Name and owner changed but same boat - note the unusual dry stack.

We stayed aboard until 4 pm Friday, Aug. 27th when Tom and Sue (Remedy) met us at the Tiki Bar in the park. From there, they took us to St. Armand’s Circle - a huge circle of shops. Very well kept and unique. We ate at a Cuban restaurant called Columbia, and one of their favorite restaurants. They made
Sangria at the table. Excellent!

The Tropics were really busy this month with lots of Tropical Storms and Hurricanes whirling around in The Atlantic; 8/2 TS Colin - traveled north south of Bermuda then headed East; 8/24, Danielle changed to a Hurricane but no landfall; then came Earl. Turned into a Cat 4 headed for mid-eastern USA-actually right for David in the Outer Banks. Thankfully, it diminished a bit and slid past them to the East; 8/31, TS Fiona didn’t last long -no threat. I did ho-hum stuff like defrosting the freezer, polishing the teak inside - and people always ask us, “just what DO you do all day long on a boat?” We happened to be at the Tiki bar (again) and met a girl named Shana, single mom of Cameron, 12 into astronomy and Caleb,11, loves to fish. She offered us money if we would take the boys out on the boat for the experience. How about tomorrow, 10:30am ?? Week of August 29th They were right on time. We did a touch and go at the Tiki’s tiny dock and proceeded into Sarasota Bay. No luck trolling in the bay so we went out Longboat Pass into the Gulf. Skunked ! Nothing, nada…again!. But we all had fun. I forgot what it was like to have kids aboard - YIKES! Apparently, Cameron has ADD-Shana gave him a pill, he slept like a baby. We stopped at a
                     Caleb, Shana & Cameron
beach but as luck would have it, it started to rain and hard…who cares, we’re wet anyway. We didn’t take her money. Great kids. All in all it was a fulfilling day for Wayne and I - maybe a bit selfish on our part, I don’t know. Intermittent rain on Monday, Aug 30th - have no idea what we did. We took the girls for a walk in the park on Tuesday, Aug 31st. what a wonderful place for people of all ages.

This is a bronze statue called “future Olympians” - this is a close up of one of the ‘kids‘. It was blistering hot so Wayne just HAD to take the girls

in the kiddie fountains. Wednesday, Sept. 1st (Remedy) Tom brought his friend,Tim,to check out the wiring we had for sale. He bought $64 worth - nice little pocket change. We spent most of the day cleaning up and stowing ‘stuff’ as we planned to leave in the morning. Wayne helped me dress for the night silver necklace bought in Mexico as a wedding 

gift & blue shoes to match- had to have the hat of course. I was happy to be able to wear this dress again. We met Tom and Susan at Marina Jack’s patio bar. After a few drinks, we adjourned to the Deep Six Lounge and piano bar where Rock Lee

entertained us for hours. He reminded us so much of Coffee Butler who played piano at a great restaurant on the Boulevard in Key West. It’s been since demolished and now a Homeland Security - UGLY building…shame. I even got to Jitterbug with a guy at the bar. Our last fling for awhile - we’re gonna miss everyone.