ssloop: Fort Myers Beach-Port Charlotte

Just one more week left of this year's adventure. On Wednesday, March 11, we left Fort Myers Beach and traveled a short 8 miles to an anchorage just off of Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge located on Sanibel Island. We were beginning to hear rumblings about the Coronavirus and were happy to be on anchor away from "the world". Our timing was good in regards to the weather as the winds finally dropped so it was perfect for anchoring out. We took advantage of this fabulous weather and stayed "on the hook" for the next 4 nights. We spent 2 nights just off of Cabbage Key, 1 night near Cayo Costa and 1 night near Boca Grande.

We just learned the term "social distancing" and felt we were in the perfect place to follow these guidelines. Days were spent relaxing, swimming and exploring via dinghy. It was hard to imagine while we were enjoying our solitude, the rest of the world was starting to go nuts.

On Monday, we pulled into Fisherman's Village Marina in Punta Gorda. We started prepping the boat for storage. (always a sad day) That evening we went out to dinner at a local restaurant in Fisherman's Village. Little did we know, this would be our last dining out experience for months!

Tuesday morning we cruised 10 miles across Charlotte Harbor and thru the lock which put us in fresh water for our last 8 miles to the storage yard. That afternoon the PV2 was pulled out. We spent the afternoon stripping the upholstery from the flybridge, and storing it inside the boat where we run a dehumidifier for the summer. We spent the night onboard and flew home the next day. We came back to Michigan on March 18 as scheduled which was 6 weeks earlier than last year. With the Covoid-19 virus coming on fast and hard, we were very thankful to be home.