Today’s route (Sunday) was marginally shortened due to predicted strong head winds. We backtracked east to the City of LaBelle putting in at the local public boat ramp – very nice, excellent area to launch, and a bit protected. Today’s route is a 19-mile row (originally we had planned to put in at Ortona Lock which would’ve added another 8 miles to today’s row) ending at the W.P. Franklin Lock Recreational Area.
Again, we rowed under a cloudless blue sky and comfortable temperatures in the 70’s. We started out with light winds off our bows that built over time. The homes, large private yachts, and wildlife along the route were spectacular. Although we saw no alligators or manatees today we did see a camel!
Chrissy selected today’s line-ups – the “Anneliese” was rowed by Chrissy, Christy, Laurie, Tim, and Ageo while the “Arnold” was rowed by Nate, Carol, Marla, Jen, and Ned. Bean jumped in #3 seat of the Anneliese for the last hour - a nice change from manning the launch.
We started our row at 10 AM finishing up around 2 PM after locking through the W.P. Franklin Lock. There is a nice park and beach where we took out, de-rigged, and loaded the trailer.
We returned to our hotel for some pool time and to catch up on the blog. We are eating at “Rumrunners” tonight – a beautiful restaurant adjacent to the Cape Coral Rowing Club, about 10 miles west of our hotel. Su Sweeney one of Cape Coral RC’s members is joining us.
As an aside, our hotel has been solidly booked for days as the Red Sox play their spring training games just over the bridge – Cat and Matt, eat your heart out!
