M/V Nearly Perfect: February 2018

We started February off with a birthday celebration for Linda (Cooyon), followed by a fun pre-super bowl gathering on Sunday afternoon. February is a month of celebrations which makes Ft. Myers so much fun. Besides the super bowl, the first weekend was the weekend for a big arts festival in downtown Ft. Myers. All the streets are closed and tents are set up all over the main streets. It is always fun to see all the exotic art exhibits which are on display - and also quite expensive. Ft. Myers also celebrates Edison's birthday during the month (both Thomas Edison and Henry Ford had winter homes here). On the 11th, there was a children's parade in downtown to start the celebration. All the various children's organizations had floats or just marched in the parade. It was very cute. Valentine's Day was a lot of fun. Both Kent and Rob were serenaded by a barbershop quartet, and the marina had its monthly hamburger cookout. The weather was much nicer this month and a lot of people showed up. Rob, Tricia, Wally, Darcy and us had a fun day of shopping and eating Mexican food at Miromar Outlet Mall.

Another fun thing we did was go to a cooking school at Bruno's of New York, a very good New York style Italian restaurant (we've eaten there a few times). We were invited as guests of Fred and Melissa (Incognito) to watch Bruno prepare 3 dishes and then to eat them. The food was great and it was a very fun way to spent an afternoon.

Also during the month we had to say goodbye to Final Approach and Summertime. Final Approach headed east to continue the loop; Summertime headed to Clearwater to spend some time with their granddaughters.

Happy birthday Linda!! Toasting with David, Linda, Tricia, Rob . . .

Wally, Darcy and Jack

We even got her birthday cake.

Fort Myers Artfest - a great 2 day art festival

High schools compete with their chalk art

Another chalk art entry

Big pre-super bowl party - Darlene (Final Approach), Darcy (Summertime),

Karen (Kara Mia) and Tricia (Linda Jean)

A fun day at the Miromar Outlet Mall

Farewell dinner for Summertime - Wally, Rob, Tricia, Darcy,

Jack and me

Off they go (I have a similar picture two years ago

when they left to start the loop)

Heading to Clearwater

One of the many back deck gatherings - Janis (Paraiso), Kit (India Jane),

Darlene (Final Approach), Tricia (Linda Jean), Kent (Final Approach) ...

Kent (again), Jack (Dixie), Pam (India Jane), Chris (Paraiso) and

Rob (Linda Jean)

The children's Edison parade

This little donkey just walks along with no handler

One of the many floats filled with children

Barb and Ross enjoying a sunset

Kent blows his conch horn every night at sundown

Kent and Jane, Rising Tide

Valentine's day serenade for Kent and Rob

Watching Bruno prepare our appetizer

Our appetizer - potatoes, green beans, onion - yum, yum

Our main entre

Docktails aboard Final Approach

Our marina hamburger cookout - Jack, Jane and Jack (Dixie), Lance

and Christina (Little Lady), and Rob and Tricia

Listening to one our favorite bands in downtown - Memphis 56

(they sing Johnny Cash better than Johnny Cash)

Every once in a while we do some work on the boat

After a great New Year's Eve anchored with Summertime and Linda Jean, we untied Summertime early on January 1 and they headed for Ft. Myers. Linda Jean just moved a little deeper into our anchorage. They were going to ride out some weather and then travel a bit before heading back to Ft. Myers. We then left and had a beautiful ride to Ft. Myers. The weather was great and we saw many happy dolphins along the way. Right before we entered the marina, the winds picked up and we had a hard time docking to get Mr. Scooter off. After we got the scooter off, we docked at our usual spot (the one we have had the last two years). Summertime was already in. Ft. Myers is a Looper's paradise. We spent a lot of time revisiting with old friends and throughout the month met many new Loopers. It was pretty cold the first week, but eventually the weather warmed up and everyone came out to socialize.

Barb and Ross took us to Walmart our second day here (they are always happy to run us around). Over the month we had many docktails and dinners on the back deck. Linda Jean didn't like the weather, so they ended up coming back a few days later. Larry and Jan (Panacea) and Don and Anita (Limelight) came into town one weekend. Our friends from Houston, Mark and Beth drove down from St. Petersburg for a visit. Brian and Janice (Fugitive) were at their condo in Naples and drove up one day for a visit. We also had a visit from Danny and June who were in their RV heading to Key West (where it was warm). We spent a very fun day touring the Edison-Ford museum and winter houses. We spent several evenings with Jim and Mandy (Shell Belle). David and Linda (Cooyon) came into town. We had not seen them since we stayed with them in Newport News. We met Jeanine and Richard (Almost Perfect) and Lynn and Ken (Rise and Shine - a 43' Hatteras). We met two brand new Loopers -- Mark and Lezlie (Antonia) and Steve and Jane (Sabbatical). We spent an evening with them (and about 10 others) answering their questions.

Besides all the social events, we had TJ (the young man who does work around the marina) varnish all our rails. They look really good. While TJ was working, his dog Ivy would come on the boat and spend time with us. We also had our friend Mike, make some new curtains for the bridge and a cover to keep our newly varnished rails looking nice. Wally and Darcy did some painting and put a new "Summertime" on their boat. Rob had a new refrigerator to install which meant bringing his boat over by us, taking a window out, and having about 8 people move the new refrigerator onto the boat. It was a busy month.