Fort Myers, Florida with a road trip to the "Keys"

Our plan from the very beginning was to make our way by boat to the Florida Keys. We've been watching the weather carefully, and decided to stop in Fort Myers for a few days, to give the wave action a chance to settle down out in the Gulf, and to explore a bit.

Sea Loons safe at Fort Myers Yacht Bassin

Our friends (fellow boaters from Ontario, MV Best Friends) rented a place not to far from here to spend some of the winter months away from the snow. We were a bit worried that we would miss them, and I am really glad we were able to meet up and spend time with them. Because of them, we got to visit much more of the area than we normally would have. Sanibel & Captiva Island (no photos), Naples (and it's Pier), the Everglades National Park, Ochopee (and the smallest post office), just to name a few of the places we got to see.

We only intended to stay in Fort Myers a week and then move on - to where? That, we were unsure of. The wave action in the Gulf to get to the Keys were predicting 3 to 4 feet wave for part of the way we would need to go... A "no go" for my "half" of the boat, especially when we have other options. Option one: cross Lake Okeechobee and boat down the East side to the Keys; option two: cross Lake Okeechobee, leave boat at a marina and rent a car to drive to the Keys (oh, and buy a tent): or option three: just leave the boat in Fort Myers, rent a car (buy tent) and go camping in the Keys.  We chose option three!

It's been a long time since we tented!!!

We rented the car from enterprise and went tent shopping in Fort Myers. Bass Pro Shop, Uncle Dick's, Costco, Camping World and Walmart... We finally found one we liked at Walmart and were all set. The campground we stayed at was in Key Largo and it was fine for a few nights. But, we found it to be noisy, it was right beside HW 1 (lots of traffic), but they had nice showers/washrooms and availability for the dates we wanted, so we were happy with where we were. (Note to self: Don't wait to the day before leaving to find and book accommodations in the Keys!)

  

We're "almost" glad it was too windy for us to go by boat - "almost". With the car we got to see a lot more of the Keys than we would of if we had boated in. I have a cousin (with family) who is renting in Key West right now (awesome surprise) and we got to visit them and spend time with them too. (Love meeting up with everyone that we have.)

  

My cousin took us out on the town! For real! We got a personal tour - it was great! We walked the boardwalks, visited the Santa Maria ship, visited the Key West Gardens, ate great food, saw and got our picture taken at the famous spots - I am sure most will recognize them, and more (in a very short period of time). 

   

 

  

 

  

 

Some of the other places we visited during our trip where: The History of Diving Museum, The Turtle Hospital, the Shell World Store, the Crane Point Museum & Nature Center (no photos) and the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park (no photos). There were many more places we wanted to go, but we ran out of time.

We're back at the boat now. I can't really say we're well rested, but we had a great time. And like we've already said, we really want to come back someday (to Fort Myers and the Keys and everywhere in between!) We leave tomorrow and are planning on taking about three days to cross the Okeechobee Waterway to get to the East Coast of Florida. We'll be starting our trek up North soon!

Tina & Papi

"In life, it's not where you go, it's who you travel with" 

– Charles Schultz

(I know... what's with visiting places and not taking any picture? I'll be trying not to make a habit of that!)