Enjoying Southwest Florida!!!

Hi y'all and happy February!  It's hard to believe we've been calling Quality Time home for almost 4 months now, and I believe we are finally getting the hang of relaxing.  Of course, it helps to be on the southern Gulf Coast of Florida, right?  There are so many interesting places to explore here, and the scenery and weather have been postcard-perfect.  We are back at the Pink Shell Resort and Marina in Fort Myers Beach, where we plan to stay for the whole month of February; it feels like a vacation from our vacation here!





In keeping with our theme of hitting all the Florida State Parks nearby, we spent a few days anchored at Cayo Costa State Park.  It was like hitting the boating jackpot for us; a spacious and protected anchorage, plentiful wide hiking trails, many remote beaches reachable by dinghy, and unbelievable sea shelling.  And I still can't believe, it, but Mark actually convinced me to go looking for alligators in the dinghy (other boaters told us where they had spotted the gators previously); to Mark's dismay (and my relief) we did not find any.












Well, duh - right?




Apparently Mark doesn't mind being alligator bait - that's why I'm taking the picture from a good distance away!


















We did not realize previously that "sea-shelling" can be an action verb; we were both actually quite sore for a few days from all the squatting and stooping involved.  The proliferation of shells also brought out my compulsive nature; the perfect shell or that elusive, rare shell must surely be in the next stretch of beach...   Cant.Stop.Shelling.....









Another "happy shell"   : )





Mark has been very successful fishing so far - if you consider catching small catfish success LOL.  He has also had several small mechanical issues to address, such as an oil leak on the fuel pump (the best solution apparently is to just replace the fuel pump - it's on order already) and a water leak on the kitchen faucet (awaiting trouble-shooting).  Later today, Mark also plans to add a ring or two of Teflon packing to the rudder shaft - for those who understand what that means.




We hope that y'all are staying busy and warm, and we can honestly say - wish you were here!!!!!!