Cooked up a nice dinner at home on friday evening.  Had our cousins and aunt over for their last dinner before they headed back to chicago on saturday morning.

Hanging out this week with my cousins and aunt. We picked them up at the airport on Sunday night. Took a road trip out to Sanibel on Monday. It was a bit chilly, but a beautiful beach.

Rode up to a Cuban restaurant for breakfast this morning. 3.50 for 3 eggs, bacon, Cuban toast and a fresh squeezed OJ! Loaded up our bikes and drive towards Fort Meyers beach. Parked in an empty lot before the bridge and biked the rest. Crazy traffic going into the beach. Had a great time enjoying the sights and sounds of spring break!

Dropped our kayaks in the water around noon on friday.  Planned to drive over to my grandfather’s house which is a couple miles away.  Pulled up to his dock about 45 minutes later.  Went around front to see if anyone was home and they were.  Stayed for a few hours chatting over a few drinks.  Headed back to our house before dark and cooked up a nice meal at home for dinner.

A mid-afternoon kayak journey in the canals and river of cape coral

Grandpa out for a cruise on the Hobie

A common sight here... old florida and new florida

Weather here has been unusually cloudy and cool the last few days.  Looks like a couple more days, then back to the normal 70s and 80s with sun.  Hit up the farmer’s market in cape coral this morning and then checked out the flea market in fort myers.  A really nice and varied farmers market, but an amazing collection of junk for sale at the flea market.

Checking out the local greyhound track tonight.  It’s cindy’s first time at the dog track.  Pretty good luck on our bets so far..

Plan on spending at least a month down here in cape coral, so I decided to work on a project the last couple days.  Been reading and watching videos recently about growing veggies and worm composting using plastic tubs.  Obviously a normal garden in the ground is straightforward, but this tub solution seems to offer some additional benefits.  Growing inside a screen enclosure limits the pests without spraying, subterranean hydration limits water loss due to evaporation saving $$, allows the plants to use water as needed and doesn’t require manual daily watering.  We planted 2 tomatoes and a bell pepper.

Off and running with our veggies

The second project is a worm composting tub.  Much simpler to construct, but it needs a couple weeks to ferment before buying and adding the red wiggler worms.  Nice way to compost leftover food scraps, especially with our vegetarian diet these days.  Plus they output some of the best dirt and worm tea for enhancing growth of our veggies.

Looks tasty, right?

Will see how well these projects perform, then maybe go the next step into hydroponics (only growing legal greenery, of course).  We used to buy delicious lettuce at the riverside arts market in jacksonville.  The couple running the business grew all their items hydroponically.  Appear to be a ton of mangoes on our tree in the yard and likely another banner avocado season.  Could see ourselves having a table at a future farmers market selling produce we grow..

Ladies enjoying a sunny afternoon by the pool

Had a smooth drive yesterday on our way from cocoa beach to cape coral. Packed the truck as full as possible. Amazing how much still we still have.. Was about a 4.5 hour drive which included a couple stops along the way. Expected somewhat of a shorter drive, since it used to be about 5.5 hours to drive from Jax. Picked up some delicious honeybell oranges, fish dip and pickles at a farm stand near fort pierce. Honeybell juice + vodka + ice = amazing screwdriver My mom arrived earlier in the day from chicago, so we greeted her when we arrived. Had dinner at a nearby italian restaurant, likely leftovers for tuesday night too! One of the best tiramisu desserts i have ever had. Unpacked and settled in today. Weather was windy and rained later in the day, so good timing for an unpacking day. Plan on some sightseeing around the area this week.

Jalapeno had no issue finding her favorite spot at the new house

Starting to exchange photos with the BVI sailing group.  Came across a couple of Cindy and I which came out nice.  Some beautiful blue water!

A peaceful sailing afternoon

Keeping an eye on things from the helm

Spectacular sunsets in the islands

Spent some time today to gather our Costa Rica footage and lay it together with some sweet music..  ENJOY!

Costa Rica Surfing 2013 from Chris Schaul on Vimeo.

Follow along below from February 8th-18th with a daily captain’s log, which I added this evening.

Drove back to cocoa beach this afternoon. A smooth drive from south florida, other than the usual crazy drivers for the first couple hours..

Our jalapeno was glad to see us again