Since arriving here in Punta Gorda on Dec. 8th we traveled back home via rental car, spent the holidays with family and friends and made the journey back down in our own vehicle arriving back here on January 4th.
The marina life is good. Almost our entire dock is live-aboards and we have meet some great folks from all over. The Loopers have all gone farther South and we are settling in with our dock community.
We have been out sailing only a handful of times, twice overnight and a couple of day sails taking out visitors. We have had quite a bit of company including old high school friends, MN friends, siblings, nieces and nephews and dock mates from our Quarterdeck days.
We have been taking in as much flora and fauna as we can get in, still enjoying our share of gators! And Molly is turning into a great boat kitty, she is taking to it like a duck to water now.
We've had some challenges as well as I made my first trip to the ER. My back decided to fail me and I ended up with a surprise trip to the hospital. Good news is I was only in for 4 hours, bad news is that 22 years after my back surgery I apparently have severe degeneration and am not as invincible as I thought I was. Am very much on the mend now and feeling much better. Just have to accept that aging is part of the deal and I have to be smart about how I choose to move. We haven't been able to play tennis and my bike riding is out for now but we are hiking and I was able take a spin in the kayak.
We are looking forward to doing some more sailing to our South through some of the islands and down to Fort Meyers in March. It has been a windy month and we are hoping temps and winds cooperate so we can spend more time at anchor soon. We will post some pics as we traverse farther South.
Our plan right now is to pull Free Bird out of the water early April and will head for the big boat in Door County (otherwise known as Cedar Shores Lodge) mid-April.
To all of our friends up North, be well and stay warm!!!
