Tue, Dec 29, 2009 - Ft Myers Beach, FL

It was 48°F this morning! We hadn’t expected so much of this cold weather in Florida. Of course, comparatively, it wasn’t anything like the poor folks back home in the Midwest were experiencing, but it still seemed cold to us.

Both of us spent time on the computer during the morning hours. Gale ordered a 2000 Honda Generator for the boat. Maureen ordered a pad to go under the mattress which was meant to help prevent condensation. With the cold temperatures and our warm body heat, we were starting to see a mildew problem. We sent some emails, checked our bank account, and took care of some other business over the internet. Maureen saw that Jess was on line and started a “Google chat.” Jess had discovered Google’s video chat feature, so we tried that out and it worked pretty well! It will be a nice alternative when ‘Skype’ won’t work.

The mechanic we’d been trying to get to the boat had made arrangements to come this morning. He called and said he was running late but finally asked Gale to meet him at the dinghy dock at Bonita Bill’s at 12:30 pm. Mark and Diane Holt had also called this morning and said they would be coming through Ft Myers Beach about 1 pm and wanted to meet us for lunch. Gale had gone over to Bonita Bill’s dinghy dock to meet the mechanic but instead found Mark and Diane and brought them back to our boat in the dinghy. The mechanic called about thirty minutes later so Gale took Maureen, Diane and Mark back to Bonita Bill’s where they could enjoy lunch and then he and the mechanic returned to Blue Heron to review the repairs. Sadly, Mark and Diane had to leave before Gale made it back since they had a 3:30 pm appointment in Naples to pick up parts for their boat.

While Maureen was waiting for Gale, she ended up visiting with Dan and Jan from Pennsylvania who had come to Ft Myers Beach to make final arrangements for her father who had recently passed away. Gale arrived back at the dock with the mechanic and then joined Maureen for a beer and some stone crab claws. We continued visiting with Dan and Jan and invited them to our boat for a drink. At 5 pm, we took them back to Bonita Bill’s and returned home to heat up the last of the lasagna for our dinner. We were in bed early, in fact, it was a little too early because we both felt the night was a bit too long and did not sleep well.