Sanibel and Marco Island

Friday the 13^th turned out to be a very good day.  We took a 8 mile bike ride to the end of the main drag stopping at many of the shops.  We went through a portion of the Ding Darling National Nature Preserve, stopped  for a late lunch then did some shelling on a different beach.  It’s easy to see why so many people do shelling you think if you walk the beach just another 100 yards or so, with the next wave you will find the really special shell.

Not a sign you see in Illinois

Turtle at Ding Darling Nature Preserve

Ospray 

Sanibel Marina

Another sign not found at home

On our way back to the boat we had seen a sign for the Historical Village and rode over to see what it was.  Unfortunately, the village closed at 4:00pm and we arrived at 3:55pm, but the docent there gave us a rundown of the property.  It turns out that there are 8 houses dating back as far as 1913 that have all been moved to a central location owned by the city.  The were all preserved to their original condition and filled with period appropriate furnishings.   The city of Sanibel is unique in that it was incorporated in the early 70’s as a means to prevent the island becoming another high rise district.  No building on the island can be taller than 4 stories and there was only one fast food chain store a Dairy Queen.  There are no stop lights just traffic cops at two busy intersections.  The island is 70% nature preserves leaving only 30% for commercial and residential areas.  

Once we got back to the boat we were both full from our late lunch and decided not to go to the marina restaurant even though there was quite a crowd and we thought it would be good.  The marina on Sanibel is quite nice and they bring you blueberry muffins with a paper each morning.  We decided to stay an extra day, do some laundry, tour the historical village and go out to dinner at the marina restaurant.  

Staying an extra day worked out well except that the sun hardly ever came out and our bike ride to the historical village and back was a bit chilly.  The village proved to be very interesting and our dinner at Gramma Dot’s the restaurant at our marina was excellent..

School  house at Sanibel Historic village

Cottage

Tea House that survived hurricane in 1926

Post Office rebuilt with scraps from hurricane of 1926

John with his friend the post master

Bailey's General Store

Sear Roebuck home that arrived on the island by barge in 30,000 pieces

Sunday morning we pulled out of our tight slip without a problem, after having our blueberry muffins.  The tide was down a bit from when we came in and the canal inlet to the bay was very narrow and windy but we made it alright.  We had a bit of wind and waves on the way to Marco Island.  It was a following sea so not too uncomfortable but the auto pilot was working very hard to keep us in a straight line.  Plus there were the crab pots to deal with.  We arrived at Factory Bay Marina at Marco Island shortly before 1:00pm.  Due to the wind and waves the boat was covered with salt spray.  Once we were secured in the slip and checked in we gave the boat a thorough washing. 

The port stern scupper was still draining very slow so John got in the dinghy and back flushed the drain and a broken off top to the water inlet was flushed out.  Who knows how long this had been in there as the scupper has been a problem since we got the boat.  It is now draining just fine. Yea! After we were done washing and drying the boat we took a dinghy ride around the Marco Island Harbor.  We were able to skype with Kelly, Owen and Izzy and enjoyed talking with them, we hope there Daddy feels better, seems that he had a touch of the stomach flu.  After dinner we watched another episode of Dowton Abbey, we have probably watched as much TV over the internet as we have over the air and cable.

There was a bit of wind all night and the AGLCA flag made quite a racket.  The first thing Mary did was put a cover on it.  We have decided to stay one more day at Marco as the Admiral thinks the waves and winds would be better if we waited until tomorrow.  We walked to the shopping area about 15 / 20 minutes away and found lots of stores including a West Marine, Publix and CVS.  We stocked up on some needed items in addition to some clips to hold the boat hooks.  Unfortunately, the clips were the wrong size and we had to walk back to exchange them.  We had forgotten some things at Publix so we picked them up on the second trip. The clips were installed and work great.  Mary made her “Take it Easy Monday” dish for dinner which was very good.  We slept well with the flag covered.

Pathway to the Marina we stayed at.

John and Mary