Spring Break

Yesterday turned out to be a beautiful Florida winter day. Mid 80's, sunny with some clouds and good ol' humidity. We decided to take the kayak's out and see what we could find. I figured it out on Google Earth that we paddled 5 3/4 miles. We went all the way out to the Gulf of Mexico, came back into the harbor and circled around the island of San Carlos. Didn't find anything exciting but it felt good to be out on the water again. When we got back to RH it felt like our stomach was eating itself we were so hungry. Next time take some snacks! After eating some left over pizza we decided to head to the beach. The problem they have here in Fort Myers Beach is there is a two lane bridge to get into the beach area. Once you are over, there is not much room for all those cars. The line to go over the bridge is about 2 miles and you sit and wait and wait. Hey, lets ride our bikes. We still wanted to have the comfort of our big beach chairs, umbrella and stuff. Thanks to the knots that we learned while aboard Magic, we quickly tied together two chairs and umbrella. Strapped it all to my back and off we went on the bikes. I was afraid I would take someones head off because the umbrella was across my back sticking out the sides. I must have looked like a Transformer of some kind.
I knew it was Spring Break but didn't expect to see that many people on the beach when we got there. All you could see was people everywhere. There was no where to set up camp. We had to walk a little ways down along the beach and found a few yards of real estate that happened to be at this bar. I have to admit it was fun to sit there and just watch all the people walking by. Every size and shape wearing two piece, one piece, what ever was laying on the floor that morning and the guys with their shorts falling off their hips trying to look cool. Oh, did I mention we sat in a bar area? Well sure, I'll have a cold beverage. We stayed there until 6 and decided to head back while there was still plenty of light.

Our last stop in the Bahamas finds us back in Marsh Harbor. After being out for 12 days and hitting all these different islands we are filled with memories and pictures. Here is a map of the places we visited. All that is left to do is to clean the boat, do some laundry and get instructions on how to pack and store everything when Reta and I leave in a week. Deb and Charlie were leaving us in a couple of days. Our first day back we hit the laundry mat to get some much needed clean cloths and walk around downtown to see what all is there. That evening, Deb prepared a terrific "Last Supper" and we ate out on the deck looking at another gorgeous sunset. A short walk later, on the dock, we found dessert at the restaurant Curly Tails. While we were sitting outside enjoying our spoon filled calories, we remembered that there was a full eclipse happening. We looked up and there she was. A full moon but half of the moon was covered up. What a show. We ended back on the boat and just laying there, staring up at this magic show of hide the big white ball. The next morning we awoke to heavy rain that quickly cleared up. With a few last minute instructions from the Captain they were off and Reta and I stood alone on Magic. Time to explore Marsh Harbor.

That night there was a huge celebration that the Bahamians celebrate called Junkanoo. It is like carnival. They dress up in beautiful costumes and march down the streets playing music and dancing. It was supposed to start at 6 but remember this is island time! It finally started at 9 but well worth the wait. The kids come out first followed by the adults. We heard it finally finished around 1 in the morning. We were long gone by then. The following day we jumped in the dinghy, which I was the Captain of finally, and tied up at this restaurant called Jib Room. After a short walk we were on the Atlantic side of the island on our own little beach with a reef just off the shore about 100 yards. We snorkeled all morning at Mermaid Reef and when we would get tired or cold just swim back to shore and lay out for a little while. Great little reef to explore. There were Star fish about the size of a serving platter. I have never seen them that big before. My guess about 18 to 24 inches across. After working up a serious appetite we walked back to the Jib Room and had a late lunch. Nothing left to do but hang out on the boat for, you guessed it, another sunset.