Boca Grande to Fort Myers Beach to Naples

After two enjoyable days in Boca Grande, it was time to move on to our next port of call in Fort Myers Beach, The Pink Shell Resort & Marina. Since the wind had subsided somewhat, the run across Pine Island Sound was relatively smooth except for the buildup of "boat traffic" heading out for the holiday weekend.

We have stayed at Pink Shell before and always enjoy it. It is a relatively small marina with excellent floating docks and top notch crew to match. We did have one little surprise on our arrival, we were docked right next to another Sabre 48 for the night! What are the odds?

A pair of Sabre 48's "Truly Blessed" and "Endless Summer"

After a relaxing afternoon we headed off to dinner at a new restaurant call Coste located in the Diamondhead Hotel. Now, I'm not normally a fan of restaurants in hotels (much less beach type hotels) but this place had already gotten such great reviews, we decided to give it a shot. Wow -- it was all it was cracked up to be and must confess, one of the best preparations of grouper I have ever had.

The next morning, we lazed around the boat, resort and beach for a couple of hours before getting underway to Naples. The 12-15 mph ENE winds were in our favor as we headed south running close to shore (about a half mile out) before turning in to the Gordon River. The short 5 mile run to the headwaters was filled with all manner of fishing boats, pleasure boats, jet skiers, sailboats, kayaks -- you name it, it was out on the river enjoying a beautiful Saturday holiday weekend.

Sunrise over the harbor at Pink Shell

Lazy days!

Upon arriving at the Naples Boat Club, we refueled "Endless Summer" in preparation of our Monday trip to Key West. The winds have been rather brisk the last few days so we're hoping it will calm down before we run 100 miles offshore.