Friday 5/29/2020 - Hanging out in Marco Island another day

We were pretty tired yesterday, only saw a fraction of what Marco might have to offer, and we now know that our water pumps won't arrive at our next planned stopped until Tuesday of next week.  So, we decided to stay another day/night at Marco Island Marina.

We've determined that at upscale marinas 95% of the boats are ALL white.  Our off white and maroon stands out a bit but we love our classic look

We slept in until 7 am....unheard of for us!   Apparently the sun and water takes it out of us. 

Renee had some catching up to do on school work for her masters class and spent the better part of the morning completing her homework.  Erik went out and about to run some errands and try to spend all our money....shouldn't have taken more than an hour or so 😆

He started out to go grocery shopping to stock up on some things since we have read that Everglades City (our next destination where we will be for four or so days) has limited shopping choices.   The problem with grocery stores on Marco Island is that there are a lot of distractions nearby.   Directly next door to the Publix there was a West Marine and everyone knows that no respectful boater can pass up going in to take a look at what they might have on sale that they NEED!  Sure enough....they had a great deal on a Garmin chart plotter.   Normally $499, on sale for $399 AND with a $100 mail in rebate it was down to $299.   We have been navigating thus far utilizing Navionics (which is really good!) but on our phones.  Additionally, our old Lowrance fish/depth finder that has minimal plotting capabilities has been acting up from time to time and it gives us crazy shallow depth readings that are inaccurate.    After almost pulling the trigger, Erik decided it best to wait till later to bring Renee who is much more versed on technology to ensure we are getting what we want. 

How could we pass up a deal like this?!?! 

While leaving West Marine instead of immediately looking to the right toward the Publix, Erik looked to the left toward the beach wear boutique.   His mind has been set on getting Renee into a two piece suit for months now.   This could be his golden opportunity!   Shortly after entering the shop he realized several things: 

a) women's swim suits are ridiculously expensive for such small pieces of fabric and Erik is a cheapskate. 

b) Renee has a hard time picking a suit for herself....could he REALLY pick one that she would like 

    or wear?  

c) Maybe it would be best to bring her back later and convince her that every beautiful Florida   

   navigator should have a new sexy bathing suit to wear while operating their new chart plotter and 

   have her make the selection!

This gal needs to get our into the sun more!  

So, an hour or more into the outing Erik finally made his way into Publix where he did the grocery and other essential shopping for the next week or so.   When he returned to the Marina Renee was tired of thinking of math theory and had all but her last problem solved.   She would have to watch a couple more videos to be in a place to complete this.   That would have to wait till this evening.   The sun was now hot and the beach was beckoning.    

On the way to the beach, we stopped back into West Marine.   The salesman there was VERY knowledgeable and answered all our questions.    However.....Renee is almost as cheap as Erik and between them the decision was made to hold off and try to utilize Renee's Ipad in a way that we have not tried previously for charting courses.   We will see how that goes on our next leg.   But wait...look there....a bathing suit boutique Renee!   We should stop in there.   Erik had her sooooo close and we went in to take a look.   After all these years Erik should know better.   Did we mention that Renee is almost as cheap as Erik?  Also, have you figured out yet that Renee in a two piece is really more appealing to Erik then Renee?    All that shopping and no purchases made today.   

On to the beach we rode.   It was a hot and sunny day and the beach had significantly more people on it than it did yesterday evening.   With our suits on this time we immediately cooled down from the bike ride with a long dip in the blue waters.   Ahhhh....very refreshing.    We took a nice long walk down the beach and back and then headed back to the marina.   Back at the marina a quick dip in the pool to refresh and rinse the saltwater off.   

Dinner was delicious; five cheese tortellini with mild Italian sausage and portabella mushrooms in alfredo sauce 😲   Ok....so the purchases for the day were fabulous, even if they were just food!  

After dinner we did our dock walking and gawking at fabulous boats (none of which are as cool as Aquaholic!).   We worked our way back up to the pool for another dip at sunset and then showered up to prepare for bed.     Overall, a very nice and relaxing day of  staying in place and smelling the roses.  Or, in this case smelling the ocean air!   God is good!

One of multiple crazy yachts at this marina.  This particular one is 100' long and was almost menacing looking

This pic was from yesterday as we were getting close to Marco Island.  this guy had just taken off from a bridge we had just gone under and did several very low fly bys of our boat and this other oncoming boat

A relaxing dip in the pool at sunset