March 8, 2009 - St. Charles YC, Ft Myers, Florida

Out next stop on our “club-hopping” expedition is St. Charles Yacht Club in Ft. Meyers. They have a sign in the water to point the way.

The club is very nice, with beautiful docks and facilities….

…….including a heated pool.

And it’s in a very tony neighborhood. This home across the harbor is a single family, 19,000 square-foot monster, stretching from lot line to lot line on its double lot.

The harbor master made us feel welcome, as we awaited the arrival of our boat guests, Janet and Jim Sass from the Washington, DC area. We also had a delightful spur of the moment visit from Rick and Carol Herman of Tobermory, and friends.

March 7, 2009 - Cape Coral, Florida

Today the dolphins played in our wake for hours, as we made our way toward Ft. Myers.

They came in groups and singly and were real “hams.”

Along the way, on this nice day, we saw people out enjoying the water. These folks were picnicking on Picnic Island.

We decided to spend the night in Bimini Basin, in Cape Coral. The area has both old Florida-style homes and new McMansions, like this one.

Here’s Monarch at anchor in the basin. We enjoyed the nice weather today.

March 6, 2010 - Cayo Costa State Park, Florida

Back to our favorite anchorage, Cayo Costa, just off the northwest end of Pine Island Sound.

The entrance appears wide, but the navigable channel is very close to the island’s sand bar.

The water is deep within a boat length of the sand bar.

The park features beautiful beaches on the gulf side, just a short walk from this park landing.

Our neighbor for the night was this small catamaran, tucked near the mangroves.

We enjoyed the quiet of the anchorage.

The bay is surrounded by mangroves. An occasional pass allows dinghy passage, but only at high tide.

The following day, a few more boats arrived for a rendezvous. They were from the Cape Coral Yacht Club, and all came together for cocktails on the largest boat of their fleet. The catamaran looked like a sow with nursing piglets!

The next day we carefully exited Cayo Cost and headed south toward Fort Myers.

March 5, 2010 - Punta Gorda, Florida

It was a short trip to our next stop, Isles Yacht Club, in Punta Gorda, just two miles across Charlotte Harbor.

Here, we knew we were in the right channel, as the Club had a welcome sign on a piling in the water.

The Club is beautiful, rebuilt since Hurricane Charley ruined their clubhouse, among many other buildings for miles around, including the Charlotte Harbor Yacht Club from which we had just departed. At IYC, their progression of reconstruction is documented through a photo gallery in the activity center: first a tent for member events, then a modular building (now housing the boaters’ showers, library, Laundromat and activity rooms), and finally this lovely clubhouse. An outdoor pool is just to the left of the clubhouse.

While there, we treated ourselves to a fine prime rib dinner, served in style, with linen tablecloths, and fine china and glassware monogrammed with the Club burgee.

Speaking of burgees, we are pleased to notice when we enter a reciprocal yacht club harbor as a guest, the club will often hoist the Marathon Yacht Club burgee on the yardarm, to make us feel especially welcomed.

We happened to arrive the day before this Club’s big celebration of the blessing of the fleet, and the docks were dressed with colorful flags. We did need to depart in the morning, as they had a full house booked with member boats for the festivities.

March 1, 2010 - Charlotte Harbor, Florida

Now, as members of Marathon Yacht Club, a Florida Council of Yacht Clubs affiliate, we are able to visit other Florida member clubs and receive our first night’s dockage – FREE! So we plan to do some “club hopping” for the remainder of the winter season.
First on our list was the Charlotte Harbor Yacht Club, near Port Charlotte at the head of Charlotte Harbor.

We docked at this friendly club for four nights, as Marty was heading north for a Michigan Technological University Board meeting and needed to catch a plane at Fort Myers airport.

Both the Commodore and Rear Commodore stopped by Monarch to make us feel welcomed.

More than five years ago, Hurricane Charley ruined this clubhouse, among many other buildings for miles around. Since then, the clubhouse and the marina headquarters has been rebuilt. While the club is busy and vibrant, membership has not fully recovered from the unfortunate event.

February 27, 2010 - Cayo Costa, Florida

After spending a week anchoring near Marco Island and visiting with friends Carl and Nancy Meyers, we departed for parts north. We passed this lovely ship, Summer Love, a 95-foot Feadship, beautifully kept and shining despite the heavy overcast skies.

We had a nice run north in the Gulf, before ducking into the Intracoastal Waterway at Point Ybel, with its distinctive light. We skirted along the east side of Sanibel and Captiva Islands, and dropped the hook off Pine Island’s St. James City.

The next morning it was up and off to Cayo Costa, one of our favorite anchorages, and home to a State Park which is accessible only by boat. The entrance is deep, but so lopsidedly close to the eastern shore and this sandbar, that if you didn’t know the way, you might run aground.

The narrow sand spit which borders the entrance channel is deep on both sides, allowing this fishing boat to “park” its bow securely on the beach, without tilting up its outboard.

We picked a protected spot to drop the hook, next to this catamaran. Some times we are in this harbor with 70 other boats, today it was eight! We think the cold weather has discouraged boaters.

Mangroves line the shore, and are beginning to make a recovery from devastating Hurricane Charley, which hit here over five years ago.

The park headquarters has built a new shelter adjacent to the dock, to provide sun and rain protection for visitors awaiting transit via ferry.

We departed Cayo Costa after two nights, heading through the narrow channel toward Charlotte Harbor.