It's been a great stay here at Marina Paraiso. Although we've stayed on this wonderful island many times on vacation, it's very different as sailors. My dear friend Laurie arrived from Wisconsin on Sunday, it was about a 90 degree temp swing from when she left. It was 10 below zero.
North Beach probably gets my vote as the best in the world - at least of the many places I've traveled. It's truly magnificent! In fact, while swimming there I asked Laurie "So, how do you like my 'pool'?" She laughed and said she liked it very much! We went to the usual places, and a new one called the Soggy Peso - just a couple of doors down from the marina. We finally figured out that it's an early drinking establishment - it closes at 8 pm!I paid a visit to the Turtle Farm (preserve) and was pleased to see a large number of these amazing creatures. When I visited in June with my mom we saw the protected nests of eggs waiting to hatch. It was good to see so many of them (see photo gallery).
As much as we love the place, we had to move on. We'd planned to be in Panama City, FL by Jan/Feb - it's now March. We did make it to Panama City by then - it just wasn't the RIGHT Panama City! (Panama)
We'd planned to leave today to head to the FL Keys, but the weather wasn't good so we're leaving on Saturday. Laurie is sailing with us to Ft. Myers, FL. Unfortunately Canaan is leaving for Portland, OR today for a good job opportunity. We've decided to go to the Dry Tortugas to stop and rest, then continue to Ft. Myers.
It's 70 mile to the Keys from the Dry Tortugas, and 120 miles to Ft. Myers - but it's still 120 miles from Key West to Ft. Myers so we'll skip the 70 miles to the Keys and go straight to Ft. Myers. We also discovered that Laurie would have a 4 hour bus ride to the Miami Airport so she'll leave from Ft. Myers instead.