Good morning from Naples. We had another raining but calm run from Captiva down to Naples. I am really getting tired of traveling in all the rain. I hope this FL weather takes a turn for sunny, warmer, and calm winds soon!

At the request of a great friend, I will now be putting the NEBO map at the beginning of the post so everyone can see the route before they read the post! Great suggestion Andy!

The run was just under 50 miles and plenty of FL deep water, you know, 8-12′!

It was fun to see Captiva and parts of Sanibel. Captiva is mostly rebuilt and the village area is all open for business. South Seas does not have much open for accommodations yet, but they are working hard on that as well.

The pools are all rebuilt, and the water was warm! Not a lot of sun and the 65-degree temps did not entice me to stay in very long. But I did need to put my suit on for the first time on this trip!

We spent the evening with some fellow Loopers who have a house on Sanibel. We went out for a great dinner and enjoyed some wine at the boat after. It was good to see them and catch up. We hope to see them again in the Bahamas.

On the trip south from Captiva, we did go under the Sanibel causeway that was partially destroyed from Ian. It is open but they are still working hard to rebuild it so it does not happen again. Time will tell!

After coming under the causeway, we went right by the famous lighthouse on the south end of the island. This was all but destroyed and was left standing with several legs missing.

It is now rebuilt and a beacon and sign of the resiliency of the people on Sanibel.

We ran slowly for the first several hours to dodge storms that were coming across the Gulf. The plan worked and we stayed out of the major storms the entire way. Actually, got out of rain before the southern tip of Sanibel and stayed dry all the way to Naples.

After arriving in Naples Andy and Laura, friends from DC, picked us up and we had dinner with them and neighbors from Door County. It was great to see everyone. Thanks for dinner Andy!

We spent the next couple days exploring the Naples area. I can verify that there is a lot of money down here, I mean a lot!

We are a small boat in this harbor!

Great sunrise over the channel! I know, I get up too early still. Hard habit to break.

We enjoyed seeing the area for two days with Andy and Laura and learning about their plans for the future.

Lunch at the Yacht Club they are hoping to join.

Stopped by Tom and TJ’s house but no one was home. They really should lock the house when they are gone, you never know who will just stop in!

Amy and Andy enjoying some east coast oysters at the restaurant at the harbor!

It seems like our theme here has been find the next great place to have a drink and some fantastic food. I think the quest was very successful.

Amy and I can’t thank Andy and Laura enough for showing us the area, driving us around to stores to stock the boat, grab a few items for us from a store on the way to our boat, and all the great meals we have shared together. But the best was the first night we arrived we took showers at their place and I got to shave with a full size mirror! What a treat! We miss seeing and spending time with our friends on this trip, so it has been a blast to catch up.

They will hop on the boat and join us for the short trip down to Marco Island today. Can’t wait.

Amy was able to get a picture of some dolphins playing in the wake just beside the boat on the way down to Naples. This is the first time they have been playing beside us. There were so many, they had to pick different spots to get pushed!

I will post again from Marco Island before we travel to Everglades City in the middle of the week.

Hope you have a great week and glad to hear things are warming up a little in the north!