A lot has happened since my last post in mid March, including leaving our boat in Florida for the summer rather than sailing back to the Chesapeake Bay. The photo on the left was taken in Cayo Costa at sunset and the photos on the right show the picturesque setting where s/v Links will be spending the summer.

Back to mid March. As always, we enjoyed our time at Cayo Costa walking along the beach and on nature trails, exploring the area by dinghy, and meeting other cruisers in the anchorage. During low tide one afternoon, a couple of sailboats got stuck in shallow water. It was heart warming to watch other boaters that were anchored nearby jump in their dinghies and help pull, drag, swing, or whatever was necessary to help the sailboats navigate back into deeper water. As we prepared to leave the anchorage the following morning, Joe and Carol on s/v Toby Too dinghied over to say goodbye and asked for our contact info so they could send us the photo of s/v Links that they took at sunset. We just love the friendly boating community!

After leaving Cayo Costa, we enjoyed a great sail on Pine Island Sound. Love when we can turn off the motor and enjoy the peace and quiet of pure sailing! It was especially nice as we watched dolphins swim alongside our boat and at our bow while under sail. We even saw a dolphin jump totally out of the water in a power boaters wake. Awesome!!

It was time to leave the gulf coast and enter the Okeechobee waterway. Our favorite anchorage was Bimini Basin in Cape Coral, where we rafted with s/v SeaQuest for over a week. The basin was very protected, and you could walk or bike to a wonderful variety of stores and restaurants and even a few parks. As we rode our bikes thru neighborhoods, it was pretty cool to see burrowing owls standing next to holes they dug in the ground or on perches that were made by the town. They're cute little owls!

We've been wanting to stop at JN Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island for several years, so when the weather was favorable, we motor sailed back to the gulf and over to Sanibel Island. However, we really couldn't walk around the park, so we won't be going back there again. We did enjoy our dinghy ride in Tarpon Bay and thru the bayous and mangroves, and once in a while we even saw manatees surface during our dinghy ride, so it was worth the trip.

We spent a few more fun days in Cape Coral with Bud and Jen, which included a few trips to Backstreet, Dek, and Dixie Roadhouse for country line dancing. We also had some really good times with John and Beth who live nearby, and with Lou and Anne who were staying on their boat at a nearby marina. We all had so much fun together!!

It was a sad morning when Tim and I moved on to Fort Myers while Bud and Jen stayed in Bimini Basin. However, we had a nice visit with Jim and Deb who drove over to Fort Myers on the day before they left for the Bahamas on their Gemini. Another friend named Jim also visited and took us for a nice drive around the area. It was really nice to visit with friends all along our trip!

From Fort Myers, we had 3 bridge openings and 1 lock before arriving in LaBelle. The town offers docks with water and electric, all for free for up to 3 days. What a special treat for cruisers! Since we planned to keep our boat in Florida for the summer, LaBelle was the perfect place to wash, wax, and clean our boat. The next day we had 1 bridge opening and 1 more lock before entering a canal on Turkey Creek, where we'll be keeping our boat for the summer.

It's amazing how much stuff we unloaded from the boat to bring back home. Normally we make several trips from the boat to our house, but this year we could only make one trip and it all needed to fit in our car. After almost a week with boat prep, getting back together with Bud and Jen, and going along with April and Dean to Marathon to pick up our car, it was time to pack up and drive back home.

On our last night together, John and Beth met Bud, Jen, Tim and me at the Log Cabin in LaBelle for a delicious barbeque dinner with great friends. We ended the evening with the four of us playing our final Carroka card game for the trip. Needless to say, there were plenty of tears shed the next morning as we hugged goodbye and drove away. On our way home, we spent the afternoon and evening with Bill and Laurie, who just bought a home in Florida. We arrived home the following night after spending over six months on our boat. We just returned home from visiting with our families in PA and being welcomed back home by some of our good friends.

It was an absolutely wonderful winter in Florida spent with some amazing friends and making many wonderful memories!! This summer will be a little different since we won't have our sailboat on the Chesapeake Bay, but we're looking forward to a new chapter in our lives!