PELICAN BAY AT CAYO COSTA, FL TO FORT MYERS, FL

Tuesday, January 20th, 2015

Day 169
Miles Traveled: 34
Total Miles Traveled: 2644


  We had a wonderful evening at anchor at Pelican Bay.  We awoke to an overcast sky, but this did not dampen our spirit as we were finally going to reach our winter based destination, Fort Myers, by the end of the day.  We did cruise in and out of some rain showers, but nothing severe.  Not a very good day for picture taking on the waterway.  

  John & Kathy on "Serenity" and Glenn & Brenda on "Young at Heart" followed our lead again today.  They, however, where ending their cruising day at Cape Coral.  So we said goodbye and looked forward to being able to cruise again with them someday.  

  We cruised south on Pine Island Sound.  At the southeast tip of Pine Island we entered into what is known as "The Miserable Mile".  It is a narrow passage with shallow water on either side and runs across the north end of San Carlos Bay.  There is a lot of cross current making it difficult to cruise a straight line.  We made it through "The Miserable Mile" just fine.  Shortly afterwards, the Gulf ICW ends and we entered back into a river system, the Caloosahatchee River. 

last buoy on The Gulf ICW - or the first if you are going north

Caloosahatchee River

  The saying never fails - "You never know what you are going to see on the river".  

A floating bait shop

  Our cruising day ended at our winter lay over location at Legacy Harbour Marina in downtown Fort Myers, FL.  

Fort Myers, FL from the river

Legacy Harbour Marina

  We are looking forward to our stay here at Legacy Harbour.  We have a great view out our front window and an even better view out the back.  

"Seahorse" docked at her new winter home at Legacy Harbour Marina

front porch view

back porch view

  It has been a great adventure and feeling of accomplishment to have finally made it to this destination.  We plan to stay at Fort Myers for a least one month before continuing our Great Loop journey in early spring.  Until then we plan to explore Fort Myers, relax, enjoy the Florida sunshine, and watch beautiful sunsets every evening.