Muscle sore Geezer - Al is fine!

Wild beach on the way to Cape Romano

Tuesday - March 15th. A warm, sunny and breezy day in south Florida. We got moving in reasonable time this morning and headed to Marco Island for a paddle in the Gulf out to Cape Romano, to the south of Marco's Caxambas Park. We had a great paddle - headwinds and beam waves in both directions! Aside from that, the scenery was beautiful with ospreys, bald eagles and dolphins to keep us company. The total trip took us almost 7 hours to cover the 12 miles including stops to stretch and have a bite to eat. Mike was hurting and about 3 mile from the finish, the Geezers put ashore on a white sand beech for a nap, Whalen style - just plop your arse down on the sand and sleep! It felt great, though we can now add sunburn to the list of hurts (hip, knee, shoulder, back, wrist, elbow). A sip of water and a granola bar and we were good as new for the final leg across the harbor back to the car. An incoming tide gave us a much appreciated push and the guys packed it up about 7:00pm.

Same place, looking back at Marco Island - not so wild

Too tired, sweaty and grungy to think about fine dining, we stopped at a supermarket in toney Marco Island to grab provisions for a home cooked dinner. Since the ladies left, our home cooking has take on a bit more of a utilitarian, "one pot" flavor. In Twain's "Huckleberry Finn" Huck laments about the Widow Douglas's cooking. "...there warn't anything the matter with them. That is, nothing only that everthing was cooked by itself. In a barrel of odds 'n ends it is different; things get mixed up, and the juice kind of swaps around, and thing go better." Well, our barrel of odds-n-ends tasted great after a long day on the water.

Black Skimmers, terns and more

A full stomach, a cold beer, a hot shower and 1000mg of Vitamin I and we feel human again. Speaking of food, here we are two days before Paddy's Day and Mike still has yet to nail down a source for corned beef and cabbage in either Naples or Marco Island! We will keep you briefed on the progress of his mission!

Found on the beach near Cape Romano - see note

Note - here is the story on the dome house: http://www.marconews.com/news/2007/dec/19/dome-house-relies-permit-survive/