Wednesday, 7 January 20.9 SM
Estero Bay is narrow and shoal but it’s long. That means it’s a long way, more than a mile, to the town dock. That’s where the dinghy’s headed now, the little gray electric outboard buzzing as the dink wends her way among the dozens of boats moored in here.
Watering holes abound on Estero Blvd.
Now, there’s plenty of room out here so what’s that guy thinkin’? Why’s he have his inflatable bearing down on the only other tender out here: ours?
The electric whine lowers to a hum, the dink slows. The inflatable bears down on the dink’s transom.
“Ahoy!” It’s the Avon’s skipper, on his feet, one hand on the tiller extension, the other waving in a wide arc, side-to-side. He throttles back. The boats come to a stop, drifting side by side.
“Hi! Say by any chance did you guys find a boat hook when you picked up your mooring pennant?”
Now THAT’s funny. And what if we did, one wonders aloud, with a questioning smile.
“Well, it belongs to someone we know,” alleges Inflatable Skipper, “and he asked me to get it for him.”
Easy to see how a boat hook (shown) got snagged on this pennant!
Ri-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ght.
“No, really. He’s on a Grand Banks 42. After they lost their boat hook, they came over and picked up a mooring next to us. He can’t get his dinghy off the deck so he asked if we’d come check for him.”
Wow. Even if it weren’t true—and it’s too wacky to make up—you’d have to give the guy credit. Good story. Besides, there’s no need for another on Steadfast and, having been submerged a while, said boat hook is full of water. So…
“Sure. It’s up on the bow,” he is told. “Draining.” And with another wave and a smile, Inflatable Skipper is off to snag his buddy’s boat hook.
Meanwhile, Fort Myers Beach beckons. Once the dink’s tied off, it’s a short two blocks up to the beach itself. Well, first there’s Estero Boulevard to negotiate, meaning car traffic, tourists and tee-shirts. Beach bars, too, of course. Lots of ‘em.
It’s a bit of a maze, more challenging than the trip over from Sanibel and through Matanzas Pass but the effort delivers a something none of the shops can: sundown across the Gulf, the first of the trip.
And with no snags, either.
Steadfast out.
At Sea with Steadfast 
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