Ft. Myers Beach - Again

We had no trouble getting on a mooring as Bill had gone ahead of us and tied up and then launched his dinghy to come over and assist us. The mooring balls here have no pennant (line attached to float) so you must be able to get to the water line to run your line through the loop on the mooring ball. Since we have a raised aft deck there is no easy way to get to the water line while holding the boat in position. Ft. Myers Beach is working to rectify this problem in the future with upgrades to the mooring balls. We are moored close to a small (little known about) canal that ends behind a grocery store and beach access. We must land the dinghy in the mud and tie to the mangroves but this is much more convenient than going to the dinghy dock and taking the trolley.



Bill and I left for another adventure and tried to go to the civic center for a RV show but apparently the Ft. Myers bus system doesn't go to their civic center (go figure). Instead, we got off and visited the Thomas Edison home and laboratory in town. Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone joined together to find a way to produce latex for rubber (tires) from plants that can grow in the US. Since Ft. Myers was the location of their winter homes, they set up a lab here and developed varieties of Goldenrod that grow to 12 ft. and produce a high percentage of latex. I was unaware that Edison did botanical research along with his other endeavors. And all with only three years of formal education. The lab is exactly as it was left in the early 1930's and tours are given of the home, lab and grounds. The one piece of trivia I picked up from the guide (not independently verified) is that the original filament for his light bulb was bamboo.



We saw another boat that we had seen anchored in Sarasota and Stacy went to make acquaintence. It is a couple from Vancouver, WA and they are traveling the Loop as well. They had their boat trucked from Washington to Iowa and started down the river system and Gulf of Mexico. They will be heading up the east coast later in the spring so maybe we will meet up with them again.

Last night we went to the sports pub for their Karaoke night where Bill sang an old Al Jolsen number and Bill, Stacy and Chris sang "Leaving on a Jet Plane" by Peter, Paul & Mary. It was as interesting a place as it was the last time we were here.