A brief recap dear readers....We left Marathon and motored48 miles to the Little Shark River to anchor for a night. No shore access for little Dylan but he did have his tinkle turf so he was fine. It took 2 tries to get a hook but finally the anchor held and we went over to Optimystique for some sundowners. Well the mosqitos came and we left....voracious little buggers! The next morning was off to Smokehouse Bay after going through Goodland pass....which was very shallow, fortunately it was hightide. We dropped anchor amongst the rich and famous of Marco and had a drink and bluecheese covered potato chips! They were great. Back to the boats, a good night sleep protected 360 degrees from wind was wonderful. The next morning it was off to Ft Myers Beach and the Gulf of Mexico was like a mill pond! 35 miles of easy travel only interrupted by the occasional crab pot string. It was good we arrived Wed. because Thursday the wind really piped up and the trip would have been very rolly. We planned just right....thanks William for pushing to leave a day early. Yesterday we went to the beach and hung out with some new friends that we met through William and Judy on Optimystique. A great day at the beach in the sugary sand and Dylan even got to go! The beach is very crowded with families on vacation and spring breakers. Very cool! Last night Donna and I went to dinner over at Bootleggers which is very close to the mooring ball that we are on for the next week before we move to Salty Sam's to meet our daughter and son in law who are coming from L.A! The mooring field here is very well protected from winds and waves behind Esteros Island which is what Ft Myers Beach is on. The town had everything a cruiser needs, beach's bars and tons of shops. Oh ya, people of all shapes sizes and permutations! I digress...we had a great dinner, best meatloaf I've had in a long time. Back to the boat after listening to a little entertainment but before we got to our boat Optimystique called us over for a night cap and of course, we obliged. Great conversation for about 2 hours and then off to our boat. This morning it was cloudy and a little showery so we are just hanging on the boat but I did make a few phone calls to people we know down here. Our old friends from Lake Champlain who moved down here 10+ years ago, Jack and Carol Bacon live very close by. I called Jack and we made a lunch date for tomorrow with him and Carol at Naughty Nells right near the dinghy dock...how convenient. We also left messages for my nephew Shauns In laws who live in a canal right next to us...small world. Tomorrow we also have the cruisers appreciation day at the Mantassas Inn and Marina which means free booze and food! Life is so unfair! Lol. Well thats all for now, we will be here for 10 days and then moving on across Florida and Lake Okeechobee to Stuart and points north. We hope to see many of our cruising buddies that have already started moving north. Slow down everybody! Lol

Fair Winds and Calm Seas