Keyswench After BLUE MAX ADVENTURES: 2012/09

Our goal was to attend my grandson, Nicholas, 1^st birthday party on September 9^th in Naples. (his birthday is the 8^th) We left Summerland on the 2^nd - out the ‘back way’ again & went straight up to Marco Island- anchored in Johnson Bay at 12:30 AM. We moved the boat & anchored for a few days at the beach

You can just see the top of BLUE MAX over the sea grass

at Rookery Bay Reserve (South Keeywaydin Island). Intermittent rain storms & sun. We docked at Naples Boat Club on the 7^th - seems like home now. My dear Shannon brought Nicholas to see me at the Tavern…what a treat. He was standing, by himself, in the booth! Not talking yet but you could tell what he wanted. David showed up for a few minutes & carried Nicholas out to the docks to find Wayne. Mick & Kate drove down on the 8^th for a visit - were going to stay for dinner at Luna but Mick had a back issue so only stayed for the afternoon. Just as they were leaving, Wayne had an ‘episode’ of double vision, dizziness & felt like his left eye was looking side-wards. ?? He walked like he was extremely inebriated. He refused to go to the ER! (men!) It took all of us to walk him down the dock. He took a nap & felt a bit better when he woke up. He insisted on going to Luna for dinner - much to our surprise, Frank, Wanda & Anthony were there & we enjoyed dinner together.

3 generations - my G-son, Anthony, Frank & David

Shannon did amazing job of preparing for the party with banners, gifts for the little ones & snacks & drinks for the adults.

Nicholas didn't want to get messy

The next day Richard, my 2^nd son & David's best friend, who owns a boat maintenance company call FBI, (FL Barnacles, Inc.) send a guy over to clean & wax the hull on BLUE MAX as a ‘gift’. He has full rein on staying at the cottage any time he wants! Laura Barsamian & husband, Mike dropped by for happy hour. She’s Ed’s niece a friends of David & Shannon. We became instant friends when we met at the wedding. Dinner at Café Luna with Richard on the 11^th I even got to talk with David for awhile while he was working there. We left Naples on Wednesday the 12^th heading north to Ft Myers Beach. We cruised past the mooring balls to find a 'free' place to anchor - we went aground - again. The tide was on the way up & floated off easily. Wayne spent the next few days sanding the cap rail so I could do my job of applying Cetol to make it look like it should…beautiful. We stayed overnight at Mickey & Kate’s on the 15^th & planned to meet up with Laura & Mike at the Nauti Turtle, a local bar/restaurant. We were just getting ready to leave when a HUGE rain storm came through. We waited & waited until it let up a bit, donned our rain gear & off we went. Another interesting & comfortable evening. More sanding, more rain storms the next few days.We left Ft Myers on the 19^th heading north to Palmetto. On the 21st, we anchored in Stump Pass, one of favorite spots.

Anchorage @ Stump Pass just south of Englewood

The next day we stopped in Englewood to visit with Tom & Sue Melton (yes…another Tom & Sue)

It was so great to see them

Chadwick Cove marina

again. They are docked at a really neat, little marina right across from the beach (Chadwick Cove)…a perfect spot & really great neighbors. Even though more rain showers, it didn’t stop us from having a nice time. We had dinner with them several nights &, on Sunday, Tom & I went fishing on his skiff. We netted some bait, fished inside Stump Pass then wandered out to the Gulf - It was flat like a lake. Soon, we were catching good sized lady fish. Not good food value but fun to catch. It became apparent that a school of Dolphin (

yes, Flipper-type) kept following us every time we moved the boat - & they were hanging out close to the boat as if waiting for a hand out. It was weirdest (

but really neat thing either of us experienced!) They were in touching distance, rolling on their backs & performing for us. WOW…at this point,