Legacy Harbor marina -Fort Myers

 Sunday, January 31, 2021. Day 56.

Entering Legacy Marina in Fort Myers was an interesting event. The marina was packed, and the slips are narrow and short. We were assigned slip C6, and told that we could find the C dock by the yellow flag. Finally Roland spotted the yellow flag and we made our way in, zigzaging around several turns to get in to C dock. C6 was very narrow and very short, (we are 17 feet wide, the slip is 18 feet wide). But Captain Roland did an incredible job getting in. The dock hands were there to help us dock, bow in, port side (not my favorite).

We have a walk around only on the starboard side so getting on and off the boat on the port side is a little bit of a gymnastic feat for me. We have two possibilities of exit: one towards the stern and one towards the bow. Both were challenging. But I ended up going in and out near the stern, saying a short prayer each time I got on and off the boat for the entire time we were in Fort Myers.

There was a very large boat next to us, Sassy, and Janice and Jerome greeted us warmly when they returned from their outing. Their boat was so high off the dock that it took Jerome about 30 to 40 minutes to assemble a ladder so that they could get on and off Sassy. Unfortunately, the ladder took up most of the width of the narrow dock. Every time I went passed their ladder to get on and off my boat, I had to walk sideways. It was rather inconvenient.

Janice and Jerome were very nice and welcoming. They are from Toronto, and had already gotten both of their vaccines in Florida, without the need to show any documentation that they are Florida residents, and of course, they are not stressing, every day, over getting the vaccine and not in the vaccine frenzy that is dominating my life.

As is my practice, as soon as we get into the marina, I start my 4-6 loads of laundry, and providing the weather is good, go for a walk.

Fort Myers is the county seat of Lee County and there were several government buildings, a beautiful regional library, lots of lawyers' offices, some fun public art, and many outdoor restaurants. 

Unfortunately the outdoor restaurants were very crowded and, as we have found in many places in Florida, almost no one is wearing a mask. 

One of the reasons we wanted to go into a marina that week, was the forecast. Heavy winds were expected for the next couple days.

I had plenty of tasks that had to be completed over the next few days so I did not really mind the fact that the weather was unappealing. We were tied very tightly onto the dock but, due to the heavy winds, we were doing a lot of rocking and rolling. I had 18 WIL grant applications to review, and a WIL board meeting. The blog needed some attention and of course, being on land, endless errands. We were within a very short walking distance to Publix, which means we tend to shop everyday.

The reports from Philadelphia and New Jersey were that there was going to be lots of snow. They were having a storm similar to ours; while I was rocking and rolling in the marina, they were shoveling snow. As one friend noted, this was a great winter to cut out!

Because I hadn't been able to get an appointment online for a vaccine at Publix, I went every evening to the local Publix to see if anyone had failed to appear for their vaccine, hoping that I could snag one. On the third night of my visit, the store manager, who was not too happy with me, and announced that everybody shows up, there has never been a no show, and to even if there were, they would not give it to me! The had the required refrigeration and would just roll the dose over to the next week. He suggested I stop wasting my time stopping by very evening. If I were to get a shot due to a no show, it wouldn't be at this Publix!

Our next shot at an appointment (no pun intended), was at 6 am, on Wednesday morning February 3. Meanwhile, I had signed up all over Florida, and Philadelphia, and New Jersey; I was determined....or possibly, obsessed!

On Monday, we took a walk around the marina and stopped by another Kadey Krogen, Sabrina, docked at the Legacy Marina, and met Kitty. Kenny was out doing errands. Kitty showed us their brand new, never been used, dinghy. They had had their boat for four years and Kevin had never been in the original dinghy. They were thrilled. I, of course, admired the new dinghy, considering ours, too, was not my dream tender.

Whenever we are at a dock, and therefore land is accessable, if the weather is good, I try to run 3 miles, once or twice a week, and running around Fort Meyers was delightful. The area around the courthouse and the government buildings in the library usually were empty early in the morning. The temperatures were perfect.

Wednesday, February 3, 2021. Day 59.

The alarm went off at 5:10an, so I could get myself together (I wakened Roland at 5:30), so that at 6am, we would be ready to get online to try to get a vaccine appointment at Publix. The system is so random and so frustrating, but finally, after about an hour Roland got two opportunities for an appointment, one for each of us. Unfortunately, the appointments were in the panhandle, 600 miles away – one way. Our appointments were on Saturday and Sunday which would mean not only driving 1200 miles round-trip but also one or two nights in a hotel. We would of course have to rent a car, neither MM, nor our 20 inch folding bicycles would have made it in a reasonable amount of time. Furthermore, we would have to have our second doses in the same the location, 28 days later (Moderna). This was going to be an expensive odyssey.

Lots of arrangements were required. Our stay in the marina must be extended (assuming they had space). Roland went to the marina office and spoke to the dockmaster to arrange for us to have a monthly fee (which is way more inexpensive than 2 weeks), but we had to agree to come and go because they didn't always have a slip available for us. We worked out the specific days and then made the other arrangements: the rental car, the hotel for the first trip to Okaloosa County, Fort Walton Beach.

Thursday, February 4, 2021. Day 60.

The temperature was rather cold for Florida this time of year, in the 50s. I had plenty of work to do in preparation for my three hour zoom meeting of the Wil Grant Committee, more laundry, dishes, and cleaning; Roland washed the outside of the boat.

In the afternoon, I went for a walk and then met Roland at SoHo Garden where we had happy hour outside at a small corner table for two. On Thursday, the cocktails were two for one, and sushi was half price.

Friday, February 5, 2021. Day 59.

We were up early, and tried to get an appointment at Publix someplace closer then 600 miles. We were not successful. I had my three hour WIL Grant Committee meeting, which went extremely well.

Meanwhile Roland did his last-minute Publix shopping, packed for our trip to the panhandle and went to Enterprise to get a rental car.

After the zoom meeting I took a quick shower, got dressed, got in the car, and we started our absurdly ridiculous and arduous, long trek to get our vaccines.