Sat, Dec 26, 2009 - Ft Myers Beach, FL

We were up early to shower and get ready for the day. Using ‘Skype’ at the mooring ball had been a little too frustrating lately, so we had told Dan & Julie and Jess & Joe that we would walk up to McDonalds and use their WiFi signal to call them this morning at their dad’s house in Clear Lake. We were eager to see everyone – especially our four grandsons! Today was JT’s 3rd Birthday and he was very happy to be the center of attention. We also got to see just how much Jake had grown in his first four (nearly five) months! Kevin and Justin rounded out the foursome and brought us up to date on what Santa had brought them.


After the ‘Skype’ call to Clear Lake, we talked to some of the Goransons: Casey, Mark, and Patti. We thought it was looking like rain, so Gale ran back to the boat to close the hatches while Maureen stayed at McDonalds to use the rest of the internet time we had purchased. Gale returned for Maureen and together we did a little shopping and picked up a small gift for Aaron. Back on the boat, we finished straightening things up for our company that would be arriving soon. Maureen’s younger brother, John, his wife, Aura and their son, Aaron, made the two hour drive from their home in Boca Raton and arrived about 1:30 pm to spend the afternoon with us. It was so nice to see them!

Gale, Aaron and John took Lucy back to the big boat and upon their return to shore, we all walked down to the beach.

We had some ice cream and took a long, leisurely walk on the beach on this beautiful afternoon joining the many people out in the sunshine and the water. We had been told that we could not take Lucy on the beach with us but, as it turned out, there were dogs all over the place (on leashes, of course). Next time out, Lucy will get a beach walk, too.

After our walk, we were all ready to head out to Blue Heron for some hors d’oeuvres and to share the bottle of champagne the Jacobsons had brought with them. We enjoyed our snack and decided it was time to go back to shore for dinner. Gale took Aura and Maureen in the dinghy on the first trip. As we neared the dinghy dock, Maureen realized that we were driving right under somebody’s fishing line. Several fishermen were at the public fishing pier and a couple of lines had been cast way out into the channel where the dinghies come through. On his way back to the boat to pick up John and Aaron, Gale tried to give the fishermen as wide a pass as possible and by so doing, ended up catching one of the lines with the motor and pulling a fishing pole over the rail and into the water. The “gentleman” whose pole had been snagged immediately began screaming obscenities, demanded $150 for the pole then pulled a knife and threatened Gale’s life and his dinghy. The guy put on quite a show for his parents, the little girl that was with him and all the rest of the fishermen. Gale declined to give the fisherman any cash, but he did give the young man’s dad his phone number and said he would return tomorrow to look for the pole. Gale continued on his way to pick up John and Aaron and brought them back to shore. Instead of parking the dinghy at the dinghy dock, however, Gale brought it around into the canal by the restaurant and left it where it would be in full view of the dining patrons.

Our dinner at the Matanzas Inn was okay, but not great. The best part was just being there with family. After dinner, John, Aura and Aaron had to leave for home. We took the dinghy back to our home on the water and chose to hoist the little boat and secure it rather than let it float behind as we had been. John called and said he thought he’d left sunglasses on the boat. We didn’t see any extra sunglasses, but we would look a little more closely tomorrow. Maureen had difficulty sleeping in light of the threats made earlier.