Fort Myers Beach - Dec 21-30

Monday morning we walked about to check out our new hometown. We are a block away from many restaurants and shops. Just a few blocks away is "Time Square", the heart of what's happening in Fort Myers Beach. We are 1/10 of a mile from our marina located on the Intracoastal side of the island to the big beach on the Gulf side. The tourists are all here for the holidays! Wow! We contacted Steve's uncle and aunt, Ken and Joyce Sterk from Green Lake who winter down here and dinner with them. 

Tuesday we jumped in the dinghy and cruised 7 miles to Lovers Key State Park (the next island south).

It was a warm sunny day so we hung on the beach on Lovers Key. 

We had a wonderful Florida Christmas.  We went to an Candlelight Christmas Eve service with Uncle Ken and Aunt Joyce at their church. After church they treated us root beer floats at their place. 

Once we were back on the boat for the evening, a storm came through with high winds and really rocked the boats in the marina. Christmas morning we took a walk on the beach and came across a sailboat that had washed up on the beach during the storm. Glad it wasn't us! Ken and Joyce invited us to join them for a Christmas potluck at their park. The home cooked food sure was yummy!

Many people were interested and had lots of questions about our Great Loop Adventure.  Ken and Joyce were great family to share Christmas with. 

Since Christmas, we have continued to explore the area by foot, bike, trolley and dinghy. The weather has been sunny and unseasonably warm (yes!) and mostly calm winds. In fact one day we did a "Mini Loop" by taking our dinghy all the way around the island! (with an 8 mile stretch on the Gulf of Mexico!)

Since we love this area we have decided to stay here for a couple more weeks. From here we plan to head to the Keys. 

Selfie on beach Christmas morning!

 Sailboat washed up from Christmas Eve storm.

 Christmas tree Florida style!

 Fort Myers Beach shopping. (Love the palms!)

 Sharing Christmas with Uncle Ken & Aunt Joyce Sterk

 Sheli messing with a pelican.

 Pelican about to mess with Sheli!

 This looks fun, haven't tried it...yet!

 Got up one morning and saw this across the water from us. Note there is a sunk boat in front of the burnt boat.