Larry, John, Linda, Jane, Wendy and Me.

It was a very windy day, with storm warnings from Tampa to Naples as the Nixons departed. Wendy and I took the rental car for a nice long drive down to Punta Gorda and back, The storms were short lived and added another dimension to the views around the area.

A Pleasant Surprise

We were indeed happy to see some old friends that were scheduled to stop in for a visit at Linda and John's on their way back from Fort Myers to their home in Lakeland. Larry and Jane were neighbors of John and Linda years ago. Linda taught with Jane and coincidently lived a few doors apart in London. That's got to be over twenty years ago. It was good to get caught up on old times and inevitably we wound up eating again at Marker 4. If I gained weight on the cruise, it was probably less than what I gained during our extended stay in Florida.

Me on the left, then Jane, Larry, John, Linda, and Wendy.

Friday in Florida

The sunsets are really a big feature at Marker 4, but the cheap beer and food are the toppers. Dinner here is early since the sun goes down at 5:30. I often wondered why the Florida tourists eat so early. Now I know!

Thanksgiving Day

Hamming it up at 'the Kiss' statue

Lots of kissing going on!

The morning paper was bulging with ads but of course nothing is open so we thought it would be a good day to take a drive up to Sarasota and St Armand’s circle. Kissing beside the “Unconditional Surrender” statue on the way set the stage for a leisurely walk around St Armand’s Circle. Pretty smart eh? Taking the girls to the ‘Rodeo Drive’ of Sarasota on a holiday when most of the expensive shops were closed?
On the way back we paused briefly at Siesta Beach on Siesta Key to view one of the most amazing, sugar white beaches I’ve ever seen.

That's me (left) with John and John's brother-in-law, my old friend Doug

Linda's sister Sharon.

Doug and Sharon brought their houseguests, John and Martha from Ingersoll.

For Thanksgiving dinner we again met with Doug and Sharon. This time with their guests at Ophelia's. I brought my mint sauce for Doug, since he had mentioned the lamb shanks. I don't think any of us had the turkey.
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Wednesday

The girls took their walk down the beach as John made a nice breakfast. TJ Maxx is apparently on the list for today and John plans on watching the Classic channel at noon. And the name of the noon movie? High Noon of course, duh!

I always go to the consignment boat parts store Nautical Trader when I’m here, so I‘ll do that by myself today, since it’s a little cool. I found a 15 to 30 amp electrical adapter for my friend David for $20. New, these are at least $60. I hung around gabbing with the sales guys in the store about northern vs. southern boating and other tall tales. I think I could work there.

I got back in time to see the end of High Noon before taking a walk with John through the marina and down the beach and back. It doesn’t take long to get into the ‘do-nothing mode’ in Florida.

For dinner we met Linda’s sister Sharon and her husband Doug at Pelican Alley. I knew Doug from my job at the London TV station 35 years ago. Doug was a career news film photographer and I worked for a year or two in studio production.

Wendy had the special - prime rib. It was so large she couldn’t eat it all. The food is very good here and the place is always busy. It is located in a somewhat ramshackle structure on the banks of the Intracoastal Waterway beside the Albee Rd lift bridge leading to Casey Key.

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Tuesday on Venice Beach

John and Linda went to play golf so Wendy and I took our rented Nissan to explore around on our own.

You can see this pier from the condo.

The condo is off in the distance.

From the condo you can see a long pier (Sharky's) a couple of miles down the beach so that was our first stop. Lots of fishermen and birds to photograph. Later of course we had to stop at Target for supplies. The malls down here are working up to a fever pitch as everyone gets ready for Thanksgiving. There are warnings on the radio about ‘road rage’ in the parking lots as drivers are becoming more aggressive. Parking spots are at a premium. It looks as busy as Christmas.

For dinner we went to Bogie’s. A busy sports bar spot with many TV’s and good pub fare. Since we've known each other for so long, we never run out of good conversation.

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Monday GM Service (or maybe this is why they’re going broke)

The front turn signal bulb burned out on John’s Cadillac so we paid a visit to a fancy dealer, Crest Cadillac in Venice. While waiting we all had a lovely breakfast at nearby N’Tino’s. Try the Greek omelet if you ever get to Venice. John went back to pick up the car and was shocked to hear that it would cost nearly $200 to replace the $16 bulb. If $16 wasn’t enough for a turn signal bulb, they said their shop rate was $108 per hour and it would take 1 ½ hours because they have to remove part of the fender from under the car to access the bulb socket. Take the car apart for a bulb replacement? Who is designing this stuff? Sounds like hooey to me. Oh well, what can you do? John didn’t want some kid in Wal-Mart dismantling his car.

The dinner later at Pelican Alley beside the Albee Road lift bridge on the Intercoastal Waterway was great. The place featured a spectacular sunset, 99 cent draft beer, 40 cent wings, and all you can eat snow crab for $19.99. Wendy had the crab, Linda and I the wings, and I forget what John had. The $5 pitchers of draft held about eight glasses. Linda was our designated driver as we had at least 4 pitchers.

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Wendy’s Birthday

The jetties line both sides of the inlet between Venice Island and Casey Key. A popular fishing spot

Wendy helps remove a fish hook from the throat of an unfortunate bird. One good tern...

Sunday morning John prepared a lovely breakfast that we enjoyed out in the lanai. Then John took us for a lovely drive in his Cadillac, of course stopping for the girls to shop at Beall’s and ending with a tour of Casey Key. It’s been at least four years since we stayed at the Beachcomber on Casey Key and at that time Wendy cooked a turkey to bring to our landlords’ Thanksgiving dinner where we shared in their generous hospitality. We made friends with the owners Val Phillips and her daughter Teckla but unfortunately never had the opportunity to return until now.

What luck! As we drove by, Teckla was out front and John backed up as I caught her eye. We vowed to keep in touch as we exchanged email addresses in an all too brief exchange of greetings. Perhaps we’ll have time to talk further before we go back home. It was then back to the condo for hors doeuvres before a nice dinner consisting of the reheated leftovers from the enormous ‘doggy bag’ from last night’s visit to Luna’s. As we get older, the less said about birthdays the better but we all wished Wendy happy birthday as we retired to bed for another night.

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Uneventful Drive Across Florida’s Alligator Alley

We had a nice buffet breakfast at the Oceanside before our complimentary ride arrived to take us to sign up for our rental car at 10 am. By 10:30 we were on Alligator Alley heading across Florida for Venice Beach on the gulf coast. When we arrived in Venice around 1:30 we went to the Publix grocery store and Walgreen’s for some supplies.

We found the San Marco condo unit and when we pulled into the visitors’ parking, Linda was waiting for us on the sun deck by the pool. Drinks and snacks and lots of good conversation made the time fly by.

After watching a beautiful sunset from their balcony lanai, John drove us over to one of our favorite restaurants - Luna’s. This quaint sports bar Italian restaurant is always packed busy, features huge portions, and takes cash only.

We certainly weren’t disappointed by the huge portion sizes. John and Linda had the pizza, Wendy a huge pasta plate with shrimp and scallops and I had a combo sandwich of gigantic proportion.

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Back in Fort Lauderdale At Least Ten Pounds Heavier

We said our goodbyes to our great cruising friends last night because they had to be first off the ship as their plane was to leave FLL at around 10 am. We had a leisurely breakfast at the Lido Deck buffet and rolled ourselves and our luggage off at about 9:30 am. A short taxi ride brought us back to Best Western Oceanside as planned. What we didn’t plan was a weather event and an excuse to stay here. Big snow back home prompted us to change our flight and stay in Florida for another 10 or 11 days.

The Quarterdeck is always a favorite, although they no longer feature the huge prime rib.

“Why rush home?” we said to ourselves over a lunch of chicken wings and beer at the Quarterdeck on Las Olas Blvd. in the action part of Fort Lauderdale. We called our good friends John and Linda from Grand Bend who are staying over in Venice Florida, in a condo right on the beach. We rented a car and will drive the hundred and ninety or so miles to meet up with them tomorrow. They graciously invited us to stay with them so we may do that for a day or so until we get our own spot.

Warnings

London - Parkhill - Eastern Middlesex County
6:40 PM EST Friday 21 November 2008
Snowsquall warning

White out conditions in squalls off Lake Huron and Georgian Bay into Saturday morning.
This is a warning that snowsqualls are imminent or occurring in these regions. Monitor weather conditions..Listen for updated statements.

Lake Huron squalls..At 6:30 PM radar showed several snowsqualls moving southeastward off Lake Huron. The strongest squall was coming onshore just north of Grand Bend then extending southeastward through eastern Middlesex and Oxford counties and extreme eastern Elgin county. The squall is expected to remain nearly stationary much of the evening then begin sliding slowly back to the west later this evening or overnight. The squall will weaken Saturday morning but will still give heavy snow to some areas near the Lake Huron shore. Local snowfall amounts of 25 centimetres are expected tonight with some of the higher amounts occurring well inland as well as near Lake Huron. Saturday will see local amounts near 15 centimetres but only in areas quite close to the lake including portions of western Middlesex and eastern Lambton counties.

Motorists should be prepared for dangerous winter driving conditions due to sudden zero visibility and whiteout conditions in bursts of very heavy snow as well as heavy accumulation.

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Day Fourteen – Half Moon Cay - Pure White Sand

The clocks were set forward again one hour as we came back into our home time zone (EST). This gave us an extra hour to sleep in before we tendered in to the private Holland America island of Half Moon Cay (Little San Salvador Island) in the Bahamas. Everyone wondered if it would be too rough to stop, but after a little morning overcast, the sea was calm and the sun came out amidst temperatures in the mid to high seventies. The beach is truly spectacular.

Back aboard at 2:30 pm, we anticipated a big show tonight and the last dinner in the dining room featuring the gala march of the baked Alaska.