Wednesday

December 7th, 2016

Today Joell and I took the trolley from the north end of Fort Myers beach all the way down to Lovers Key and back...  Along the way we stopped at a farmers market where we picked up some shrimp and stone crab.

The stone crab is already cooked and shrimp need to be placed into a rolling boil...

Stone Crab...yummy

Shrimp with heads on.... the heads and shells of the shrimp add to the flavor of the tail...

Joell wandering aimlessly on the beach waiting for family & friends to join us...

Parasailing out in front of Pink Shell...(not us)

Getting "Dipped"

Tuesday 

December 16th, 2016

Here at Salty Sam's helping the Packers Win...(Salty Sam's is known as the Packer bar of the south)

Out in front of Pink Shell Marina with Elwood & Mike

A little Christmas decor...

We have a small 4' tree on the Port side...

There it is...

This 60 footer came in with bent props... I was told he hit something coming out of Naples

The replacement props....  3 guys from Adams company dove under the boat and changed them.

We were just standing on the dock when a Lady Fish jumped right out of the water and Elwood showed'ed who's boss...

Elwood thinks of joining The Flying Wallenda's

Today while Joell was doing laundry I decided to change the oil in both engines... I first helped Joell carry the laundry to the washer and dryers which are free to use here at Pink Shell.  When I returned I cleared the cockpit of chairs and carpet and opened the engine compartment.  I then went into the salon where Elwood was in the bathroom and let him out....Well, as Bichone's are, they get pretty excited even if you leave them for 10 minuets.  Elwood flew past me and flew out the door expecting to see Joell.... all he found was air until he landed down in the bilge on top of one of the #29 batteries... I pulled him out of the engine compartment and put him back inside without a scratch and you'd think he'd learn.  I slid open the screen door a minute later and out he came again...this time he got a little more hang time and made it all the way past the Starboard engine and onto the exhaust... I was careful after that to make sure it didn't happen again...He may be a little sore tomorrow, because he caught the end of a hose clamp.

Saturday 

December 3rd, 2016

The Great Boat Parade in Fort Myers, Fl...

Here's Joell and Jill earlier in the day...

Captain Jerry....

The start of the Boat Parade...

A couple videos of the boat parade....(stopped counting at 21-wow)

Friday

December 2nd, 2016

Joell and I have had the pleasure to meet about 24 members of the Fort Meyer Yacht Club...

They came here to Pink Shell Marine to see the Boat Parade on Saturday evening...

They've invited us for Cocktails this evening where we met most of the members...

Here are some of the boats that were decorated  this evening along with ours....

A couple birds at Pink Shell Marina...

Another bird....

Dock Masters perch...

Decorated boats...

This is Rick and Marys boat... we had drinks with them last night aboard their boat.... 

What a nice couple...

Mikee Like It...

With the flash...

Thursday

December 1, 2016

Last night we enjoyed our first Holiday celebration.  We had drinks and dinner with the wonderful St. Charles Yacht Club members.  It was a special tree lighting event.  We made so many new friends.  All accepted us as if we had been members for years.  Maybe that was the midwest attitude coming through (ok east coast for some of you).  The members were all living in the area, but had spent time in the midwest.  There were members from Indiana, Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin (even Hales Corners close to where we lived).   The evening will be a Holiday memory not soon forgotten.  Thank you for being a harbor of hospitality and including us in your celebration.

Today we arrived at the Pink Shell Resort and Marina.   This is truly a luxury resort and all of the amenities are included with our stay.  It is the first resort we have made reservations for and have been looking forward to it.  Family and friends will be visiting us here for the Holidays.  We will be here for the entire month of December.  Our fist major holiday event here will be the Holiday Boat Parade on Saturday.  We have the best seats for the show.  We look forward to showing you lots of parade pictures.  

On our way to Pink Shell Resort, we were boarded by water police for our very first time.  One came up to the fly bridge, one stayed below, one stood on the boat edge and two stayed in the police boat.  Mike never stopped driving while they asked questions and looked at our floatation devices and registration.  It was rather a neat experience.  

Marina office at Pink Shell all decked out for the Holiday

A few of the Pink Shell Resort & Marina buildings.

As far as we understand Elwood will be able to go on the beach.  Sounds like Florida let up on their no dogs except on designated dog beaches rule.  As long as he is on a leash we may take him to the beach.  This will make him very happy.  

Wednesday

November 30th, 2016

Amateur Radio on the Loop

For all my ham radio friends out there I though I'd shoot a short video of just some of the noise I have to deal with while on the boat...

My best reception is when Joell and I are anchored out away from power lines and other boats. I turn off all the power to every device/appliance on our boat except to the two way radio.  I do the same when in a marina which helps but we're surrounded by other boats making the same or other noise...

If I have a good strong station it'll usually break through like on the video where K9BTQ, Tom is running the Milwaukee Florida Net...

Tuesday

November 29th, 2016

On our way to St. Charles Yacht Club I noticed one single dolphin come in quick from the port side of our boat and race up to the bow of the boat, only to find 6 dolphins all racing along with us...

"if you don't see an image here you either don't have "flash" installed on your computer 
or 
your trying to view this video clip on an iPad which doesn't run flash I understand"

St. Charles Yacht Club

Main Entrance 

Waterfront view...

Inviting pool...

The drive in to the club...

Mikee Likes It parked right next to the club...