We were planning to stay on the hook for the first few days of the New Year and find a marina on the 3rd or 4th. Mother Nature had other plans. We had been watching the forecast and it was getting worse and worse. By Friday, the Sunday forecast was showing winds picking up to 20-25 knots and up to six foot waves off shore. While not necessarily dangerous to stay on the hook, it would certainly have been uncomfortable, so we decided to look for a marina to hide for a few days.

After a bit of calling around, we found a slip at the Ft. Myers Yacht Basin. They told us to try to come in a little later in the afternoon to make sure other boats had cleared out.

On New Year’s Day, we woke in time to catch a glorious sunrise on a clear day. What a way to welcome the new year. We had a peaceful morning sitting on deck, reading our new books, and feeling the sway of the boat. At around 11, the Yacht Basin called to confirm our reservation and said that we could come any time. We enjoyed a leisurely lunch, pulled anchor, and headed up river.

Oh. My. Goodness… once we got into the channel, the traffic was insane. It looked like the every boat in Ft. Myers was heading to sea to meet the new year. At times, there were no less than 40 boats within a quarter mile of a narrow channel and we were swimming upstream against most of them. Some of the captains were inconsiderate, inexperienced, or downright unsafe. At one point a large power cat pushed us out of the channel and our depth warnings went nuts. It was a stressful drive.

The stress wasn’t over yet…

After 21 miles, we made it to the Ft. Myers Yacht Basin. They directed us into the right side into a slip near the office in the first fairway. We prefer to dock bow first because our dinghy is tipped up on the swim deck. We can’t use the swim deck to board and parking bow first gives us the option to take the dinghy out if we need to. When we got to the slip, it had a short fingerling dock. We tried, but couldn’t get far enough in to be able to get off the boat.

Argh.

Thankfully, they had another slip on the other side that had a full length dock. We pulled out and drove around to the other side. By the time we got there, the wind had picked up and there was a countercurrent causing me fits. I was having a lot of trouble getting the boat to behave and get into the slip. The dock hand wasn’t much help and Wendy had to really work hard to get the lines on the pilings. In a normal situation, I wouldn’t have bothered with tying to the pilings. The cleats on the concrete dock were plenty to secure the boat, but the dock hand insisted that we must be tied to both pilings. It must be a city regulation or something.

We finally got the boat secure. After taking a bit of time to adjust the lines and hook up power, we grabbed a shower and decided to treat ourselves to dinner. On the way to dinner, we checked in with the very nice people at the office. They were very friendly and helpful. The facilities were pretty nice with bathroom and laundry facilities.

We walked the short two blocks to 1st Street. It was lively on a Saturday night (and New Year’s Day) with lines at most restaurants. We got in line at Capone’s and browsed the local stores as we waited. After sitting, the service was very friendly, but slow. It took an hour-and-a-half, but we enjoyed a fantastic bruschetta and pizza.

Spent, we headed back to the boat and called it a day.

Happy New Year!