Still in Fort Myers Beach...Lots of Severe Weather...Nice to be Tied Securely to Dock!!

Our good friends Tim and Pat picked us up on Sunday and drove us around the area on a tour.  The severe weather on Sat night was evident in the tree branches down and water over sidewalks, etc.  We actually had two tornado warnings for our area that night and one did hit Cape Coral not too far north of here.  Not a lot of traffic on a cool and gray Sunday though.  We went to their condo on Bonita Beach, had a great beach walk and had some great grilled steaks and a wonderful bottle of wine from Spain that Julie had saved for a special occasion.  In fact, the wine originally came as a gift from Tim and Pat so what a better time to use as they are going to be grandparents in a few months!!  And we combined that with a belated birthday celebration for Tom's 60th.  Thanks so much for the great hospitality Tim and Pat!
The view from their condo:

On Monday the weather turned nice with low humidity and not a lot of sun.  And with Julie down with a cold, what better time than to do the teak maintenance....which means varnishing 5 coats plus a top coat of gloss varnish given we have a few spots pretty bare from sun exposure already.  So Tom spent a good part of the next three days sanding and applying varnish in perfect weather to do so.  Got the 5 undercoats on the cap rail and 3 of 5 coats on the transom before the weather turned to rainy again.  Will complete those two coats on the transom and then a finish top coat of clear gloss varnish to all once we arrive in Marathon and have some time.  I do remember why my original boat requirements included no exterior wood....but it does look pretty cool if one keeps up on it! Note how calm it was and the lack of bright sunshine.  Perfect varnishing weather.

On Wed night, Tim and Pat came and picked us up for dinner at the Watermark Grille in Naples.  Nice place!  Very busy so Tim and I dropped off the ladies and went to find a parking spot.  There was a lot a little behind the restaurant that looked good.  But when done with dinner they had closed the entry gate!!  OK now what?  Well the Honda van isn't too wide for a sidewalk so that was the exit strategy!  It has been dubbed the "sidewalk maneuver" by Tim....
Jordan arrived on schedule Thursday night.  What a great visit we had!  He got to take his Mom to the doctor, reversing roles!  Julie had slipped on our interior stairs (don't wear socks and walk around on wood floors) back in Apalachicola over a month ago and injured her foot.  She was still having pain so we researched the Blue Cross website and found an orthopedic doctor.  They had an opening on Friday so we thought great, Jordan will have a car!  So Jordan and I went out to breakfast while Julie went to doctor.  Great news, the X ray did not reveal any significant issue, just a tendon strain and inflammation that will heal with time.  We are thankful for that.
Given Friday was another rainy day, we went to see Revenant.  Great acting for sure and we all enjoyed it.  While we were in the theatre, phones were a buzzing all around.  Yet another tornado warning!  When we got out there was again a lot of storm damage, including limbs down and canvas torn on some boats in our marina (Sum Escape was unscathed thankfully). the weather turned nice enough to go to the Edison and Ford estates in Fort Myers while we were there for doctor and movie.  Very interesting tour although the homes were not open due to the weather.  The number of inventions that Edison came up with and the friendship of Edison, Ford and also Firestone was very interesting.  Did you know that the Edison phonograph actually played records at 80 RPM instead of the standard 78 so they had some competitive differentiation?  It was a very interesting museum. The lab:

On Friday night we took the dinghy about 5 miles to the other end of the island to Doc Fords restaurant.  A nice trip and good food as well as a band.  Fun little excursion.  On the way there we found this storm damage at our marina.  You probably can't see it well but the hardtop is crushed and a post is breaking through the bottom.  Ouch.

The trip to Doc Ford's with Jordan as chief navigator:

Lucky I used the Navionics app on my phone so we could find our way home by following our track:

 

On Saturday we woke up to a wonderful day.  75 degrees, little wind and bright sun.  So we loaded into the dinghy and went to Lover's Key State Park to walk the beach.  Had a great hour walk, then dinghyed down to Big Hickory Grille and Marina in Bonita for lunch.  Very nice spot and good food too.

Sat night we took the trolley into the heart of FMB and went to dinner at SOB (Smokin Oyster Brewery).  Keith and Mary had recommended it and all the people waiting outside for a table said it was the best food in town.  After dining there we agree!   It was the best we had here for sure!  If you are in this port, definitely worth going here!
Sunset from the trolley:

At SOB

 

During the early morning hours of Sunday our phones were again alerting us to yet another severe thunderstorm warning. It again rained hard and was extremely windy but we are no worse for the wear today.  A very windy day here and forecasted to be windy for a couple more days so it looks like our departure for Naples will be delayed till at least Wed. 
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