Homeschool Adventures

Thomas with a starfish we found

   We decided to spend the last couple days having fun with school.  Friends at the marina let us borrow their kayaks and the boys and mom went exploring.  We read up on Florida Mangroves & Sea Hares (which we keep seeing in the marina), then set out on our journey.  Today we paddled over to a sand bar.  While we were there, we saw a starfish, a conch in a shell, many hermit crabs, and a pair of nesting Peregrine Falcons.

(More pictures on Family4Afloat website - Homeschool page)

Beautiful conch shell

Happy Passover/Happy Easter from Ft Myers Beach, FL

Ft Myers Beach pier Easter church service

   Since Nana is with us, we wanted to attend Easter church services.  When she winter-ed in Hilton Head, she would attend sunrise service on Easter morning on the beach.  Fortunately, the local churches on Ft Myers Beach had a combined service on the beach in front of the pier on the north end of the island.  We awoke at 5am, called the taxi for a ride (Trollee doesn't run that early!), and enjoyed a very nice beach-side service as the sun came up.  Afterward, we took a taxi down to the Wyndham hotel for a lovely Easter Sunday brunch.  After returning to the boat, some adults were in need of naps!

Whichever holiday you celebrated this week (we celebrated both), we hope your holiday was a healthy, happy celebration with the ones you love.

David, Matthew & Thomas waiting on pier for services to start

Boating friends visit

Mike & Dana visit us at Snook Bight Marina

   Sometimes, you have to travel 1200 miles to visit with neighbors you normally live 50 feet from!  Wednesday, our good friends from Ft Loudon Marina cruised their dinghy from downtown Ft Myers to Ft Myers Beach to visit us!  We were all so excited to see each other!  It has been 6 months since they left our hometown marina to cruise on their boat, and we have truly missed them.  We enjoyed a wonderful lunch at Baymont Bistro, then visited for awhile.  A very lovely afternoon with good friends!

Snook Bight Marina

Waterfront at Snook Bight Marina

   We have been here for a few days and are already pleased with our marina choice.  Snook Bight Marina is very nice.  We have a pool, restaurant, beach across the street, & Publix next door.  The docks are floating, which makes it easier for everyone to get on and off the boat (most docks in Florida are fixed, and, depending on the tide, your boat is either above the dock or below it!).  We have already been to the pool everyday - which the boys love!  There are other liveaboards here, too.  One couple have a 10-yr old boy, who Matthew is enjoying playing with at the pool.

The weather has been very nice (hot, with no rain so far), so we were able to give our salty boat a good scrubbing Tuesday. Everyone helped, including Nana.  We also got the dinghy in the water and the bicycle back on land.  We are ready to enjoy this wonderful, quieter marina.  There still lots of activity, though, as the dry storage boats come in and out all day, and the marina's daily boat rental business seems to do very well.

Snook Bight Marina - Ft Myers Beach, FL

Nana's favorite spot while cruising (swing bridge in background)

   Our brief stay in Sarasota was nice.  Nana, Jill & the kids walked around the downtown a little bit, but, with more time, we would have liked to see more - next time! Today was another beautiful cruising day (90% of it!).  We got up early again and cruised out of Sarasota by 7:15am.   We stayed on the ICW with all the other crazy, rude Florida boaters and cruised south to Ft Myers Beach.  When on the ICW, there are many bridges to pass under as they connect the mainland Florida with the barrier islands.  Today, we had 3 bridge openings (they are too low for us to pass under; see one above), but with the right timing, we only had to wait for 1 of them.  We made good time and got to Charlotte Sound/Gasparilla Bay and really opened up the engines and Jill got to get some fast driving in as we passed Captiva & Sanibel Islands.  As we approached the tip of Sanibel, the clouds rolled in, a little rain, and the wind picked up.  We cruised out into the Gulf again to cross over to Ft Myers Beach - very choppy and windy!  Made for a very interesting 1/2 hour of cruising.  Soon, however, we saw the white beaches of the northern tip of Estero Island (Ft Myers Beach), and we turned east then south the inland waterway.  We are staying at Snook Bight Marina, which is about 1/2 way down the island in what seems like a quieter area than we have been in the last month.  It will be a nice change.  With floating docks, a pool onsite, and the beach across the street, I think we will enjoy our month we stay here.

Total miles today:  72nm

Total miles traveled:  1,283 nm

Total cruising days: 20

Sarasota, FL - Marina Jack

McDonalds on the ICW near Madeira Bridge 

   After 32 days at Clearwater Beach Marina, it was finally time to move on.  We got everyone up early, and cast off the lines by 7:15am.  Nana was VERY exited to hear the engines start up and be on our way!  We had a beautiful, clear, sunny cruising day.  As friends of our have pointed out, the weekends are very busy on the ICW in Florida.  Fast boats, slow boats, pontoon boats, big boats, small boats - we saw them all!  There seems to be no courtesy to each other and many travel fast even in "No Wake" zones.  No problem for us.  We bounced around some, but other than that, a nice cruising day (including a couple dolphin sightings).  The last time we cruised this portion of the ICW, Nana was also with us.  So, as last time, we had to make a quick stop at the only McDonalds we know of on the waterway .  After 7 hours of cruising, we pulled into Marina Jack's in downtown Sarasota for the night.  After a quick rinse down by Thomas, and showers for everyone, we plan to enjoy a nice dinner at the marina restaurant.

Total miles today:  51nm

Total miles traveled:  1,211 nm

Total cruising days: 19

Visiting Family adventures

Sea World - Orlando

    Our boat is overflowing with kids!  My sister, Robin, and kids drove down from Atlanta Saturday to join us on the boat for 5 days during their Spring Break.  The cousins were very happy to see each other after 4 months apart, as were the sisters.  On Sunday, we met local friends at Island Way Grill for an amazing Sunday brunch.  Later, sisters took the kids down to the beach for awhile and caught the sunset.  Monday, we drove out to Orlando to enjoy Sea World for the day.  The weather was hot, but we had fun checking out the animal shows and all the sea life, and a few of us rode the 3 roller coasters (by the way, the Manta ride is awesome!).  Tuesday was spent recuperating from the long hot Orlando trip.  Later in the afternoon, Matthew & Thomas wanted to introduce their cousins to our favorite ice cream shop down the road.  So, sisters and cousins walked a few block to get some yummy ice cream.  Afterward, we went over to check out the 2nd Annual Pier 60 Sugar Sand Festival.  Professionals come in and make sand sculptures (this year's theme was "movies"), protected under a tent.  Really amazing!  Unfortunately, the the weather yesterday and today is not very good, but definitely an amazing visit from family we have missed very much.  They leave us on Thursday morning, just in time for our next visitor!

Robin & Drake enjoying Clearwater beach

Ice cream time!!

Pier 60 Sugar Sand Festival

Beach & pool time fun!

Fun on the water slide at Clearwater Beach Pool

Bungee jumping at Clearwater Beach

    Now that the weather is better this week, the kids & I were able to get out and enjoy the sun, after school & chores were done!  The Clearwater Beach Recreation Center has a nice pool with a slide for an inexpensive fee.  Down at Pier 60 at Clearwater Beach (5 minute walk from our slip in the Marina) they have various activities.  The boys really enjoyed the bungee jumping.  They could get quite high, and Thomas could turn flips!