Dolphins, Rainbows and Charming Fort Myers

We finally found a Florida city that we both like - Fort Myers. Even our trip that day from Palm Island Marina to Fort Myers was special. That’s the day that three sets of dolphins swam with us and rainbows appeared in the late afternoon sky.

As we traveled east on the Caloosahatchee River in the afternoon, we encountered three different sets of dolphins who traveled with us for 5 to 15 minutes. They seem to have their own boundaries that they won’t pass. We saw one dolphin actually turn around when she reached a certain point, but usually they just vanished after a while. They looked so joyful in their pursuit of swimming in our wake at 10 miles per hour and leaping out of the water to catch a breath from time to time.

As we got closer to Fort Myers, the sun came through the clouds and a huge, bright and colorful rainbow appeared in the sky. Another one appeared just before sundown.

We had been heading for Sanibel Island where there’s a nice anchorage and a national wildlife refugee on the north side of the island. The winds were too strong from the east at 20 mph, so it would have been a rocky night and Brian wanted something more protected. The Fort Myers Yacht Basin had only one slip available, and for one night only, but that suited us just fine. When we arrived, the Fort Myers Boat Show was all set up in the west half of the marina. All the boats that were usually in those slips had been moved to the east side, so it was really crowded. Brian wanted to see the new Nordic Tug 44, so we walked over and got a preview of everything. Lots of boats of all sizes. 

Even though we were eager to get going Wednesday morning, we realized that we had to get off the boat and walk to town to at least get a feel for the place. We were very glad we did. They have preserved the old downtown from the early 1900s. The streets are paved with brick and stone and lined with large Royal Palms, a very impressive sight. The buildings are no more than three stories high and retain their charming exteriors with lots of color and details. There were people walking their dogs, taking a morning walk, or just wandering around. We found a great place for a good English breakfast, the United Cafe. Some people sat outside to eat, but we enjoyed the air conditioning. The town made a very good impression on us. I especially liked the enormous old banyon trees with their roots exposed, the eagle carved from the tall stump of an old oak, and the rows of palms everywhere.

After Fort Myers, we continued heading east on the ICW, through through two more locks (#111 and #112 for us) and one swing-bridge. Once we were past a lock there would be no more dolphins, of course, and the water was as black as any we had ever seen - from the tannins. By late-afternoon we reached River Forest Marina where we are putting Pearl in dry-dock while we go back to Connecticut for the winter. I think that’s backwards - people go to Florida for the winter, not Connecticut!