New Year in Ft Meyers

We had been told that the boat yard would be closed for the week between Christmas and New Year. Even though we technically weren’t supposed to be living aboard, we spent the night on the dock and slept in late the next day since we’d arrived home from the airport so late.

We fired up the engines and set off towards Longboat Key where we were planning to meet up with some friends who also own an Endeavour. We had met them back when we still had the Meridian, but were looking at Endeavours. They pulled in to the slip next to us and graciously let us tour their boat.

The new shaft seal seems to be working fine now, but we still have a small vibraion on that side of the boat. This suggests to us know that we might have bent the prop shaft…perhaps back in Cocoa when I got that line snagged around the prop :(. Unfortunately due to the arrangement of the shaft savers and our props, the only way to examine this is another haul out to completely remove the shaft from the engine. Luckily we are already trying to organize a haul out in the spring for some major projects, so we’ve just added this to the list.

As we were nearing the Longboat Key Moorings Resort, David noticed that the water temp was in the seventies. Knowing that I love the water, he encouraged me to go for a quick swim before we entered entered the marina.

When we arrived in the marina, we realized that it was actually a full resort that included a free shuttle to their main complex which had a big pool, poolside restaurant and bar, private beach, and other amenities. Since it was late-ish in the afternoon, but still very hot, we decided to go for a swim in the small pool by the marina before meeting up with our friends for dinner.

We had a lovely evening to cap off our weekend before we started work for the next day. Since we both had a light day and we wanted to take advantage of the weather and the resort, we played hooky for the afternoon and took the shuttle to the main resort area. We had a lovely half-hour relaxing on the beach before swimming in the ocean and then some snacks at the poolside bar.

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The rest of the week passed relatively uneventfully and we began to make plans for where we would ring in the new year. Since we were planning so last minute, all the marinas in the Ft Meyers area were fully booked, but our friends from Bella Vita, who had just installed a new dock outside their new house, invited us to stay with them! We enjoyed their hospitality (and their pool and hot tub) for the New Year weekend. We had a lovely low-key dinner with them on New Year’s Eve.

At this point, we are extremely close to “crossing our wake”, which is the term used by Loopers when they complete the Loop. For us, we have decided this will be in Key West, since this is the furthest southern point from which we boated with Meridian-Highwind. We will probably also give a nod to Ft Lauderdale where this entire adventure began, and to Stuart, where Endeavour-Highwind will have fully completed its loop. We started out the year in the Florida Keys and have visited places both old and new as we cruised up the East Coast and this year went inland to explore the Great Lakes and the inland waterways. We’ll talk more about the Great Loop as an adventure in our actual “Crossing our Wake” post, but this is a post marking the end of 2021. I feel so lucky to be able to have the life that we do and to be on this grand adventure with my best friend.

This year we were able to get vaccinated and experienced dining indoors anew. We visited museums, were less afraid to meet new people, and we experienced the different attitudes towards Covid through a good portion of the US. We flew back to Seattle and saw family in person for the first time since we moved onto the boat.

This year we said goodbye to Meridian-Highwind and began a new adventure in what many call our “floating condo” the Endeavour-Highwind. We have been thankful for the additional room giving us both a dedicated office space for our work. She’s not been without her technical issues, but overall we are very happy catamaran owners.

This year I got to meet my colleagues in person for the first time ever, and I got to be a NY commuter for two days. David also met some of his colleagues in person for the first time and we took our first international plane flight since the pandemic for a work trip to Prague.

We are so thankful for everything that makes us able to live this life and to the science that created vaccines so that we could see friends and family in person again. We hope to be able to see more people this year, and host more people to join us in our adventures. Happy New Year!