Southwest Florida Yacht Club (SFYC) continues to cruise through the summer with trips to the Naples Boat Club (Burger/Marta) and Palm Island (Zych/McKinley) in June, Snook Bight (Burger/Scheinert) in July, and South Seas (Hummer) and Legacy Harbour (Barnhart/Mann) in August. The over-riding theme for the summer cruises was Relaxation.
A lot of time on these cruises was spent relaxing by the pool and/or beach, enjoying casual pot luck and restaurant dinners, excursions to shop, and hanging out with friends. Many of the boaters made other stops on the way to/from the destination to extend their trip a few days.
The South Seas cruise was enjoyed by all as it had a large number of youngsters and teenagers. Some came from as far away as England to cruise with their grandparents. They all spent a lot of time at the beach and in the pools, and kept all of the adults entertained.
SFYC is a very active yacht club with over 35 scheduled cruises per year ranging from 3 days/2 nights to 3-4 weeks in length. Upcoming cruises include Snook Bight, Cape Harbour, Tampa Bay (2 weeks), Palm Island, Pink Shell. SFYC also has on average two social functions per month, many at our home base, The Marina at Edison Ford/Pincher’s in Fort Myers.
If you are interested in participating in a trial cruise to meet us and see what we’re about, or to arrange to attend one of our monthly meetings, please contact our Fleet Captain, Harvey Steele, at (239) 671-8887 or [email protected]. Much more information, including our cruise schedule, is also available on our website www.southwestfloridayachtclub.com. You can also visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/SouthwestFloridaYachtClub.
Most months of the year the Cape Coral Cruise Club schedules a cruise to a selected destination where the boats typically tie up for 3 days. Once the boats are tied and secure the club members engage in socializing and eating and games and consumption of beverages. The destination for this first cruise of 2015 was Legacy Harbor in Ft Myers. At this high season this marina, as many others, is mostly full and it was a good work of logistics for the harbormaster to accommodate the group. The marina is very well maintained and the staff was ever helpful from assisting on arrival and answering questions. The marina is blessed with wider than usual slip fingers, making the process of boarding much easier than is the case in many other marinas I have visited in Florida.
10 Boats journeyed to Legacy Harbour on Tuesday January 20th. There are 3 boaters who live aboard at Legacy Harbour, so no cruising was involved for them. This cruise was organized by leaders Pat & Phil Kryger aboard Yknot. A lot of work goes into this planning of a cruise, and we thank Phil and Pat Kryger for their effort!
The weather was very favorable on Tuesday, making it a nice smooth ride. Docking at Legacy was handled efficiently by Erick and Lana; they got us all settled in with lines and electric on the floating docks. Ten others arrived by car, and joined the festivities. bringing appetizers and their favorite libations. Then it was 4:30 and time for happy hour under the Tiki Hut, and a great time to relax after a “long hard” trip. Then it was right into dinner with 4 different types of chili. There was hot sauce if you wanted to kick it up , cornbread, oyster crackers, cheese, onions, great salads and desserts. As always, there was plenty to eat and then some!
Wednesday morning we blew the circuit breakers because of a proliferation of electric skillets, while cooking the eggs, French toast and sausage. So, improvising, Gary Taake cooked the eggs on his boat, while Lee Jetton cooked the sausage on the gas grill, and Phil Kryger did the French toast on the electric grill. Add to this fresh fruit, juice and muffins, and that makes a nice start of the day, and the weather was very fine also.
Usually on these cruises there is a group game activity and this one featured an “ informational” scavenger hunt. There were 6 teams of 3. Teams deployed around the marina to find 20 different things like women’s names on boats, number of slips at the Marina, concrete swans (very tricky finding those) and other information. It took most teams about 30 minutes to complete the hunt.
We were joined by the same group arriving by car that came Tuesday plus others, bringing more snacks and libations.
After Happy Hour the group dispatched to Pinchers at Edison Ford Marina for dinner with 40 members. We were seated on a veranda with a beautiful view of the glorious sunset that day.
Thursday people did whatever they fancied; some had breakfast at First Watch or Bennett’s Fresh Roast, some played games and some walked downtown to Fort Myers, and some cleaned their boats or relaxed.
That evening many of us went to Firestone Restaurant and the Sky Bar for another sunset and dinner.
Friday was the return cruise to each individual’s home port. The weather was pretty windy but navigable for all, and it is this writer’s impression that a very good time was had by all.
By J. G. Brehm MD
The Cape Coral Cruise Club is open to new members who own a boat with overnight accommodations and reside in the Cape Coral / Ft. Myers area. For membership information please contact Phil Kryger at 239-541-0236. View a short picture video of recent Club activities and read additional Club information on its website, www.c-c-c-c.org Like us on Facebook.
