Today we moved on from Fort Lauderdale and headed to the west coast of Florida to spend a week in Fort Myers Beach. We had swapped one of our Marriott timeshare weeks to stay at the Marina Village at Snug Harbor. https://marinavillage.cc/ We got a 2 bed/2 bath condo which is far bigger than we need but on the other hand, very comfortable.
We packed up and set off from Fort Lauderdale about 1130. The weather was gorgeous again, sunny, warm – 27C – just a lovely temperature. We were taking I75 westwards across Florida from the east coast to the west coast. It is a toll road (EEEEKK) and runs very straight across a huge, huge area of virgin swamp and water wilderness. The road is called Alligator Alley because of the huge numbers of alligators that live in the wetlands on either side. The swamps are cut by canal-like waterways that allow for some penetration. There are very many birds of all types too. The whole area is a paradise for fisherman and birdwatchers. We spotted so many birds just driving through – red kites, white storks, blue herons…. It took about 2 hours plus to cross over and we stopped for a while in one of the recreation areas for our picnic lunch.
A nerve-wracking moment came when we approached the first toll plaza. Bob had fixed the transponder to the front windscreen but we weren’t sure if it would indicate if it worked or not. Maybe we would drive through and it wouldn’t register and we would end up owing money all over Florida!!!!! As it happens, this toll plaza had some non Sun Pass lanes too. Anyway, as we passed through the booth, an electronic sign flashed “Go Sun Pass” at us!!! Hooray!
We reached the coast at Naples and the road turned north getting closer to the sea once past Bonita Springs. It’s quite a spectacular road linking lots of offshore islands into one long coastal strip. Wowzer there were some amazing houses backing along the white sand beaches. Really stunning designs.
We got to Fort Myers Beach at about 230. There was a big charity event going on. We passed numerous people – men and women – wearing long African style kaftans and beads and wearing ginger curly wigs. Most of them appeared to have imbibed a few cocktails! It turned out to be a charity fund raiser based on the character of Helen Roper from the television programme The Ropers. They were having a lot of fun and that’s for sure. It’s quite a big weekend over here. Tomorrow is Superbowl Sunday, so the beach is very busy and all the bars are doing great business too.
We got to our condo about 250. It’s a really nice place with very friendly staff. Positioned on the marina on the bay side of the island (not the beach side). Lovely views from our balcony over the marina and all the boat traffic. We were really pleasantly surprised with the condo. We never expect the same standards of a non-Marriott property. However, this is really, really nice. It’s really spacious and well furnished and equipped like a real home from home. We even have a washing machine and tumble drier, dishwasher, blender, mixer….. huge fridge/freezer, you name it. There are two bedrooms: the master bedroom has its own bathroom and a large walk in wardrobe. There is also a twin bedroom with another bathroom.
Anyway we had a really lazy evening and a lazy dinner eaten in. The sunset was very good. Tomorrow night we’ll go up to the roof terrace and watch it from there.
Anyway, looking forward to exploring around here over the next week.