For Sale or Seasonal Rental, this spacious (1700+ sq ft, 3-bed, 2.5 bath) fully furnished condo is located in The Preserve at Charlotte Harbor (PCH), a resort style-gated community.
This open concept unit is completely turnkey, simply pack your swimsuit! This unit can easily accommodate 6 persons (two bedrooms have queen size beds and the third has twin beds).
Conveniently located just minutes from downtown Punta Gorda’s many shops, dining options, parks, and walking trails (within 30 minutes from numerous Gulf Coast beaches).
PCH amenities include a large pool / spa area with a putting green, club house, fitness center, and grilling areas. There is a deeded parking space under the building, with optional guest parking for a second car. There is an elevator or stair access from the ground level covered parking to the condo level. (This unit is located on the 1st floor.)
For Sale: $210,000 (no relators please)
For Rent: November $3000 (1-month minimum) December $3000 (1-month minimum) January through March (3-month minimum) $3000/month April $3000 (1-month minimum) November 1 through April 30 (6-month rental) $2000/month
Rent includes basic cable, internet access, water, trash removal and electricity (up to $100/month electricity). There is an $800 refundable security deposit, a non-refundable $50/adult background check fee, and a non-refundable $200 cleaning fee.
For more information contact Michele at michelemaurina@gmail.com
Monday, July 23, 2018: The sunrise wasn’t the most beautiful, but I took a few photos anyway. I missed getting shots of the blood orange sunrise the week before, but it was still beautiful. (What sunrise isn’t?) The great thing about the location of the Institute is that it’s 50 yards off the Atlantic Ocean. Great for watching the sunrise and sunset. (Not so great for hurricane safety.) The 6:00 am Yoga class and many of the other classes are held in a building called the Beach House. The Beach House is on the ocean and from here you can look to the left to watch the sunset or in early hours, turn your gaze to the right and watch the sunrise. It truly is amazing.
The Beach House Deck at Sunrise
Sunrise to the right…
Sunset to the left….
If you recall, Leola explained her confusion about not immediately remembering me by telling me she thought she had been talking to the “other Michelle” and wondering how on earth Michelle knew she loved Fiji apples. Leola insisted that it was remarkable how much we resembled each other, therefore making it an easy mistake confusing me with this beautiful, young colon therapist and yoga instructor.
I wish I had taken a better photo of the “other Michelle”, but I think photo will give you an idea. I mean seriously, she is about 20 years younger than me, 20 pounds lighter, and about 4 inches taller, but yes other than those few obvious differences I would have to say we look like a couple of bookends!
Let’s see, tall, beautiful, young, Michelle and short, older (maybe wiser:), wheatgrass face Michele.
Yup, just a couple of bookends. Good try Miss Leola! (HAHA)
Sunday, July 22, 2018: Sunday (Domingo) was reserved for my friend and spiritual brother (mi amigo y hermano espiritual) Manuel Acevedo Santiago. Manuel was one of the Raw Food Chefs at AWNHI for many years. He worked mostly in the student kitchen assisting teachers, grocery shopping and preparing some amazing all vegan raw – living dehydrated foods. (Crackers, pizza crusts, cookies, “hamburgers”, and other amazing treats.) One awesome treat he made was a raw living cake for my 50th birthday. The first photo below is Manuel and I with the beautiful cake he made me and the second is a group photo of some of our coworkers that came to sing and share some birthday cake. Back row left to right: Petra, Daniel, Lydia, me, ?, Belkis, Rosa, Kaelash. Sitting on the floor left to right: MaryAnn, Manuel, Sandra is waving, Lalita and Michael. The photos were taken on October 27, 2008.
Manuel also was the chef for the book Lalita and I worked on for months, “Candida Health through Living Foods”. We were co-workers at AWNHI, however, an event happened that changed our relationship forever. I believe it was in 2008 (all my files on this mission are in Texas). Colin Campbell, the author of “The China Study” called and asked to speak with me. I happen to be downstairs in the reception area and our receptionist, Teresa, put a call on hold and said, “Michele there is a Colin Campbell on line one for you. Do you want me to take a message?” I said, “Teresa, are you sure? The caller said Colin Campbell?” She assured me she heard him correctly. Teresa had no idea who he was, but I was quite familiar with his work. I said, “No, I’ll take the call right now. I’ll use the back office.”
I will cut this part a little short because the Dominican mission is an entire story on its own, but, the result was that AWNHI needed to send someone to the Dominican on a healing mission. All the healers were either busy teaching or on other missions, so Lalita and I discussed it and we decided that if Manuel accompanied me to do the food prep and growing, that between us we could handle it (remember, I was the ED, Not a healer). Manuel and I spent 17 days in the Dominican on this healing mission, and during that time, we created a bond that will never be broken. Here are a few photos of Manuel and I in the Dominican. One of him taking care of the sprouts and wheat-grass he planted and one of Jesus, (a family friend of the man we were helping) me and Manuel.
We were planning a trip to his home, or I should say the rebuild of his home. Most of the houses, well, all buildings really, are made of cement. It makes them withstand hurricanes and termites much better. Manuel’s house was wooden except for some reason the baño (bathroom) that was made of cement. The entire house was blown away / destroyed by Maria’s fury, except the bathroom was still standing. (go figure!) After many months, Manuel received money from Fema. It was enough to cover about 2/3’s of the rebuild of his one bedroom one-bathroom home. It’s still a work in progress, but it will be adorable when it is completed. Along with the bedroom, and the indestructible bathroom, there is a carport big enough for one car, a patio, a laundry port, a kitchen dining living area.
Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico on September 20, 2015. Maria is considered the worst natural disaster on record to affect Dominican and Puerto Rico. Maria was a high-end Category 4 hurricane when it struck Puerto Rico.
As much as I was looking forward to seeing my friend, I was a little apprehensive. You must remember, Manuel speaks very little English and all these years later, I speak very little Spanish. Understand, I had no idea how we would be able to communicate without Google, but I had to see mi amigo y hermano espiritual. My worries were needless, as always, we found a way to communicate and had a great time.
The photo of Manuel is more recent, I borrowed it from one of his FB posts. The other photo was a selfie Manuel took of us inside his casa. I also took this from one of his FB posts.
As did Sandra, Manuel also wanted to say hello to Leola when he dropped me off. Leola lives in one of the Institutes apartment buildings. This specific one has 4 units. A one bedroom and a two bedroom on both the upper and lower levels. For years, Leola lived in the lower one bedroom. She had moved into the 2-bedroom the year before because her daughter Anita was scheduled to join Leola in Puerto Rico for a season. If you have been following this blog, you are aware that dear sweet Anita never made it to Puerto Rico, however Leola was still in the 2-bedroom. It was so funny, hysterical really – Manuel assumed (of course, who wouldn’t) that Leola was still in the lower 1-bedroom. The windows and door were open with just the screen door closed. Manuel headed to the one bedroom yelling loudly, “Leola! Leola, es Michele y Manuel! Leola!” And he proceeded to walk right into the apartment that some student was renting. Oh my gosh, I was laughing so hard I could hardly talk. Somehow, I managed to yell, “Manuel! Aquí! Aquí! Manuel, Leola es aquí! Finally, he heard me and stepped back out of the apartment. He was jabbering away in Spanish, I’m sure defending or explaining himself how Leola always lived here. OMG! It was so funny, it still makes me laugh. Leola was taking a siesta when we arrived, but that didn’t stop us, we went into her bedroom to visit. When I told her the story of Manuel bursting into a student’s apartment all three of us laughed almost until we cried.
Miss Leola was extremely happy to see Manuel, and even though we woke her up, we had a great visit. Manuel promised to make a living foods dinner in his new home for Leola, Lalita and I when I return to Puerto Rico. I will try to get back to Puerto Rico next season, but life is just so darn busy, who knows if it will happen? Maybe a quick trip? Who knows….
The next Puerto Rico post will be, A couple of book-ends! Take care and thanks for tagging along on this journey.
Friday, July 20, 2018 Talent Show The talent show always amazed me. Each class would be told about the show early in the week, so they would have time to prepare and to sign up. The institute always had some very talented singers and dancers that would fill in. The Friday night talent show was no exception to amazing talent. Only two people were scheduled to perform, Jordy a friend of Pamela’s (AWNHI’s Administrative Director and a Colon Therapist) and of course Miss Leola. Both sang, and both are extremely talented. Again, I did not take a single photo. I guess I was just too darn busy enjoying the show. In the end, 4 more people performed, Joy, Robin, and Pearl all sang and each was beautifully talented and unique in their performance. The 4th walk on performer was a gentleman from Greece. He and his wife were there and both spoke conversational English. He performed and told several jokes and to be honest we all laughed and laughed at his jokes. We could not understand half of what he was saying, but that made it even funnier! He was having a great time and laughing himself at his jokes which made us all laugh even more. I don’t remember the last time I laughed so darn hard.
Speaking of hidden talent, my friend Sandra worked at the Institute while I was there. Sandra is an extremely talented woman. Born and raised in Puerto Rico however, she spent most of her adult life in New York in the entertainment business. Sandra was in several movies, performed as a singer, dancer and later owned and ran a theater company where she produced and directed several plays. At some point Sandra was drawn back to her homeland and ended up working at the Institute. She still did some modeling and acting gigs in Puerto Rico, (mostly San Juan) and wrote and directed several plays around the island. I would go see her perform whenever I could and even when to a few of the plays she wrote and directed. All would be in Spanish, but Sandra would write a scene by scene synopsis of the plays for her gringo friends.
Here are a few photos of Sandra from about 2009 during a performance and the other at work with Alec or bookkeeper at the time.
The weekend finally came! I had plans on Saturday to spend the day with Sandra. I was very pumped about seeing her and although we hadn’t seen each other since 2009, we had stayed in touch over the years by phone, email, and more recently, Facebook. I was very choked up when I first saw my old friend and I must say, it was hard to pull myself together.
We drove all over my old neighborhood (Rincon) and stopped at a few of the beaches including Steps Beach (Playa Escalar). I used to walk my neighbor’s dog and we swam here in the morning before I had to go to work. This is where I would see most of the Helicopters looking for drug deals going on and “aliens”. Sometimes I would see yolas abandoned on the beach here with clothes and empty water bottles scattered around. I would always wonder if they made it or were detained before they could make it to the “safe-house”. I know I used this photo before, but I love Steps Beach. I spent many hours walking, snorkeling and swimming at this beach. There used to be an octopus that lived in the old pilings here. I’m not sure if he is still alive, but he used to be quite friendly.
You know we talked for hours. We sat on the patio overlooking the ocean and talked. We just picked up where we left off like it had been a few months instead of several years that we had last seen each other. The photo below is of mango’s I picked up from the ground at the resort Sandra now works at. The mangoes were left abandoned when they fell from the trees. The passion fruit were given to me by the owner of Sana (a local vegetarian restaurant). I always have and always will love the fresh fruit in Puerto Rico!
Sandra had not known about Annetta’s passing so, of course, when she dropped me off she had to stop in to visit Miss Leola and offer her condolences. Leola always a gracious hostess, was almost as happy to see Sandra as Sandra was to see her.
I cannot even explain how wonderful it was to see my friend. I swear, I will do everything in my power to make sure we find a way to see each other again before another 9-years slip by. Until next time Sandra, I love you and am sending hugs and positive vibes your way.
Next post will be After the Hurricane with Manuel. Until next time, take care and buy some type of exotic fruit!
I started noticing more helicopters than I recall as normal. They were obviously scanning the coastline, looking for something. There were always helicopters, looking for drug drops, however, mostly they were looking for Dominicans.
I know it went on while I lived in Puerto Rico, but I just didn’t remember so much of it. Maybe the “traffic” has increased or maybe it’s because I wasn’t working this trip so had more time to notice it. I’m not sure which, although I do recall waving to the helicopters during my morning walk and swim (I’m guessing they didn’t like that very much). I don’t know much about the drug trade, however I do know more about the Dominican “aliens” trying to get into the United States in hopes of a better life.
Since the beginning of the New Year Border Patrol Agents have apprehended 49 “aliens” that have illegally entered the United States via the Mona Passage. They were all taken to Ramey Border Patrol Station for processing.
Some fishing charter boats would take the Dominican Refugees as far as Mona Island, dress them in swimsuits and snorkel gear and drop them on the beach. The second crew would pick them up on Mona Island and sail or motor them back to Puerto Rico delivering them as tourists. I think those may have been the lucky ones that had family or friends in the US and money to make the journey.
More commonly, these “Illegals” are transported in rustic homemade and extremely unsafe wooden vessels called “yolas”. These yolas were underpowered usually with a single outboard motor and so overloaded with passengers and no life vests. It was not uncommon to come across one of these wooden vessels on my morning beach walk. Clothing and empty water bottles would be scattered around the boat. The clothing they wore on the journey was always discarded on the beach and whoever picked them up would bring fresh clothing, I guess so they had nothing to identify them as Dominican. The engine was always gone – repurposed as part of the payment for the “rescue” effort.
Somewhere in my photos I must still have pictures of a discarded boat with clothing and empty bottles scattered around, but I cannot seem to find one right now., so am borrowing one from the internet of a discarded yola. The second photo of my sister Linda is a boat discarded new AWNHI. I’m not positive it was a transport vessel, but it is very likely it was. Last is a loaded yola making the crossing. Luckily they had 2 engines…..
I do not know how you feel about it, but, these people (most who do not even know how to swim) must be so brave and so desperate to make that crossing that I sometimes think maybe we need to reconsider “aliens”.
I want to end this post with a sunset. It’s not Florida and it is definitely not the best of the sunsets I witnessed in Puerto Rico, but, I was too busy vegging out, reading, or getting massages to remember to take a phone with me!
Next post I’ll tell you about some undiscovered Hidden Talent.
Finally, I’m back at this Puerto Rico story. It’s taken me way too long to get back to it, but here goes. Tuesday and Wednesday were more days of reunion. It was so wonderful and yes emotional to run into people that were not expecting me and that I haven’t seen in 9 years. I think Edwin, the maintenance guy was the most fun, his double take when he saw me. First the look of shock, then of disbelief finally just pure happiness. Edwin speaks conversational English, I speak some Spanish, so we could communicate easily. Edwin and his wife Lydia both worked at AWNHI when I was there. Edwin was and remains the head maintenance guy and Lydia worked in Housekeeping. She’s moved on (disability I believe, Lydia was a work horse and paid the price with her back,) but, Edwin remains a full-time employee. The Institute is very lucky to still have Edwin and I believe they would be lost without him. He was always so conscientious and extremely reliable and trustworthy. Other workers told me that Edwin was at the institute within the first few days after the hurricane sorting through and cleaning up the mess left behind by Maria. Most of the time I did not have a phone with me while I was in Puerto Rico so yes, most of the pictures were taken on the one day I decided to take it with me for just that purpose.
Edwin is still just as sweet and dependable as I remember him! The Institute is lucky to have him.
The next two photos are of Migdalia and her husband Omar. Omar worked in the greenhouse and in the kitchen however has sense moved on. Migdalia used to be in housekeeping, then went to school (in Puerto Rico) to become a massage therapist. She is an outstanding therapist, however, not for the “weak of flesh”! Migdalia did an amazing job when she got out of school 10 years ago and she still does an amazing job today. I cannot even tell you how much of a treat it was getting a massage from her again. A few years ago, the Institute was in need of an additional colon therapist, so Migdalia being Migdalia, went to Colonic school in Florida and now splits her time giving massages and colonics. (She’s great at both.) The picture of me and Migdalia is not very flattering of her. She really is quite cute, but this photo does not do her justice, but it’s the only one I have of her. Omar’s photo looks good. (Yes I look terrible on both pictures, but this is what I have to work with!
This is nuts, but for as pumped up as I was for this trip, (I even set 2 alarms, one for 4:15 and one for 4:30 just to give myself enough time to be ready and early for my 7:05 flight to San Juan), I over slept! Never in my life have I missed a flight because I overslept. I’ve been rushed because I snoozed one too many times, but honest to God, never ever have I totally missed a flight because I overslept! Arrrggggg!
Somehow when I doubled checked my phone alarm before I went to bed, I must have inadvertently turned the darn things off. Both of them! Tod woke me up at 6:00 AM and said, “It’s 6:00 AM.” I couldn’t believe it, I’m usually awake between 5:00 and 5:30, but for some reason, the one day I really needed my internal alarm to get me going, it didn’t. I was rushing around thinking, there is a slight chance I could still make it. Tod made the half hour drive to DFW in about 15 minutes, but it was to no avail, they wouldn’t let me check a bag. I was already checked in and if I wouldn’t have had a bag to check I likely would have made it (well at least I would have had a chance), but, I did have a bag and they wouldn’t check it so close to the scheduled departure time. Damn the luck. The next flight I could get was at 4:40 PM with a 10:34 arrival into San Juan which put me in Aguada at 1:35 AM. I shouldn’t complain, at least it was the same day….
These girls are the two main reasons for my trip, everyone else I get to see will be a bonus! Leola Brooks and Lalita (Claudia) Salas Aguilar.
Miss Leola Brooks and Lalita (Claudia) Salas Aguilar became co-directors of AWNHI in 1994 after Ann Wigmore founder of The Living Foods Lifestyle died of smoke inhalation at the age of 84. Dr. Ann was still working full time splitting her time between the An Wigmore Foundation in Boston and The Ann Wigmore Natural Health Institute in Puerto Rico.
Monday, July 16, 2018
I didn’t even try to make it to the 6:00 AM sunrise yoga, but I did go to a few classes and saw a few people I had worked. I’ll introduce you to a few: Carolyn Marin was teaching the morning “Ann Wigmore” class. She was the first person I saw that I knew. Carolyn is a colon therapist and came to the Institute on and off to fill in whenever we needed the help. (Sort of like a substitute teacher.) She and her husband Luis Marin (a professional photographer) are from New York.
One time we contacted Lue to do the photo shoot for Lalita’s first book, “Candida Health Through Living Foods”. It was her first book, my first time being a ghost writer, but luckily it was not Lue’s first time doing a food shoot. I think we spent a week shooting. Manuel would prepare it, I would arrange it, and Luis took the photos. Of course, we had no studio, so we used one of the massage rooms and somehow, Lue made it work. There were many times he would send me back downstairs to the student kitchen to look for a different plate or bowl or to get props. He is a protectionist, but, in the end, it was well worth it, the photos came out beautiful.
Luis is still taking pictures and Carolyn is teaching classes and giving colonics, along with their 3 sons, they live in Puerto Rico full time and have been a blessing to the institute.
Neither one of them seem to have age a bit in the last 9 years! How is that fair! Must be all that raw living food!
The shoot for “Candida Health Through Living Foods” was upstairs in a converted massage room and the food prep was downstairs in the student kitchen. I can’t tell you how many times I ran up and down those stairs rearranging food displays.
This picture is my favorite photo from the book, it’s Berry Flake Cookies with Almond Milk. The little hand belongs to Oliver Marin, Carolyn and Lue’s oldest son.
Next, I ran into Kaelash (pronounced like eyelash except with a K) he was teaching the Breathing and Relaxation class. He teaches several classes including Yoga and Feldenkrais. Kaelash travels the world giving seminars and teaching by invite at many holistic health retreats. He is originally from Germany and other than Puerto Rico has lived in California and more recently, Brazil. He, his wife, and both of their sons speak German, English, Spanish and Portuguese. (I felt incompetent not being able to speak Spanish, now I really feel inept with my lack of linguistic skills!) At least Kaelash recognized me and was very happy and surprised to see me. He was laughing and hugging me and said, “You show up unannounced!” I replied, “Well, I did tell Leola I was coming.” He said, “I guess she must have forgot to tell me.” (LOL)
This brings me to Leola. If you recall, she was one of the main reasons I came rushing back to Puerto Rico. I had called her a few times before I made the trip telling her I was so happy to track her down and to see if there was anything at all that` I could bring her. She couldn’t think of anything, so I told her, “Just think about it and I’ll call Saturday morning.”
I told Tod, “Leola is going to ask me to bring her apples. I don’t remember what kind, but she will want apples.” I know it sounds crazy, of all the things to ask for, why apples? I understood, and remember how precious organic apples were in Puerto Rico, expensive and hard to come by. Leola’s daughter Anita used to send her boxes of apples and Leola would cut up an apple (yes a single apple) and share it with a few of us lucky ones. (I’m not kidding, apples were a hot item and we felt honored she would share this precious treat with us.) Sure enough, when I called Leola back on Saturday morning, she asked for organic fuji apples. You would think they were the most nutritious of apples, but no, that’s not why at all. It is simply because Leola loves the taste of fuji apples. It was funny really, when we were saying our goodbyes, I was saying, “I can’t wait to see you!” and at the exact same time, Leola was saying, “I can’t wait to taste apples!” I burst out laughing realizing where I stood compared to the precious apples!
Monday morning, I knocked on the open door and walked into Leola’s house. She was at the table drinking wheatgrass juice with Marilyn Pinder and some cute little Indian woman, (I later found out that her name is Vatsala and she lives with Leola. Vatsala also brings the students wheatgrass juice after yoga).
This is Vatsala whom I will later find out stays with Miss Leola and also juices the morning wheatgrass for students. Here she is serving wheatgrass on the deck of the Beach House. Many classes, including yoga are taught in the Beach House. Why yes, that is the Atlantic Ocean behind Vatsala!
I’m emotional and tear up a little when I see Leola and go over to hug her. She gives me a hug then says, “Who are you?” Needless to say, I was shocked, and more than a bit put out! So, I tried to explain without laughing or crying, “Leola, remember me? I’m Michele Jarvey, I worked here with you and Lalita. I was the executive director for 3 years. Don’t you remember me?” Leola replied, “Well Michele yes, but I thought you were the other Michelle.” I wasn’t sure if she really remembered me, but by now she was a little flustered too. So, what are you going do about that situation? I just smile and shake my head, the person I came to see doesn’t remember or recognize me and I realize that the phone calls I made to her she had no idea who I was. I told Leola I would stop back tomorrow. (Hopefully it goes better.)
Miss Leola Brooks originally from California came to Puerto Rico to work for 3-months. Ann Wigmore the legend and the founder of The Living Foods Lifestyle had pestered her to come and work in the kitchen and eventually Leola gave in and left Optimum Health in California and headed to Puerto Rico for her 3-month job at AWNHI. Truthfully, I don’t know how many years ago that was, but definitely it was over 25, and Leola, well she is still coming back every season. I remember a long conversation with Leola in July of 2006. I had told her and Lalita that I was committed to staying for 1 year. And I also remember her telling me this story and giving me a sly little smile. (My 1 year lasted 3 years, I guess things really do move slower on Island Time.)
Here is a Leola a few days later when we (the girls) were going out for lunch. Remember, this chick just celebrated her 88th birthday! Isn’t she adorable?
Leola did remember me, I think I just frazzled her because she thought I was the colon therapist named Michelle when she spoke with me on the phone and really after 9 years, I just took her off guard. (She was wondering how Michelle the colon therapist) knew she loved apples. It was and is really great to spend time with Leola, she has the most loving forgiving heart can always see the best in every person she meets.
I wasn’t sure what I would find at the Ann Wigmore Natural Health Institute (AWNHI) I hadn’t been there for years. I left Puerto Rico the end of May in 2009. Over the years I kept in touch on and off with a few people. Much more the first few years with email and a few phone calls, but little by little that started to become less and less. Then the last few years, I reconnected with some old friends and coworkers through Facebook. Facebook is great for keeping in touch with people, but it’s just not the same as actual face time.
What kept me away for so long? Who knows, life just gets busy and suddenly you realize it’s been 9-years! Holy crap! How did that happen and what made me think seriously about going back for a visit?
On December 4, 2017 the following was posted on Leola’s timeline: “Late yesterday my beautiful, sweet, loving daughter Anita (Bunny) Brooks went on to be with God. She is my heart and soul, and I will love her and miss her so much. Thank you everyone for the outpouring of love and support that you have shown me and my family. Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and your prayers. Love you all.”
My God it was such a shock. I know Leola must be devastated and I wanted to offer her my love and support. Mostly I just wanted to put my arms around her and tell her how very sorry I was to hear about Anita. I couldn’t get through with the phone number I had and from the post on Facebook, I knew she was in California and not at the Institute. Time went by and on I’m ashamed to say, but, I guess I sort of just gave up trying to find Leola, life got in the way and I was distracted right up until June 12, 2018. It was Leola’s 88th birthday. I always remember her birthday because it’s the same day as my sister Linda’s, and I remember the year because it’s in my google calendar.
In June, I was so relieved to see a post by Manuel Acevedo Santiago. It was a selfie of him and Leola Brooks. I instantly sent an IM to Manuel asking, ¿Dónde está Leola? I needed to find out if it was an old photo or just taken. Manuel responded that she was at the Institute in Puerto Rico! Woohoo! I found her. I knew I had to go to Puerto Rico. OK, part of it was selfish. I wanted / needed to do a healthy holistic cleanse and for me personally I don’t think there is any place on earth better to accomplish this.
This is going to be great! I’ll get to see Leola and Lalita, see some other old friends, do a cleanse and see what’s left after Maria’s devastation. This trip is long overdue.
See that little green dot on the north western end of the map? That’s where I’m heading, Aguada, PR.
The (wild) Atlantic Ocean surrounds the north side of the Island and the (somewhat calmer) Caribbean Sea the south.
Friday, August 26, 2016: Today we took a ride, destination, Salty Sam’s Marina at Fort Myers Beach. This trip was under the guise of a visit to see a sailboat that offered bareboat sailboat charters. For those of you that are not familiar with what a bareboat charter is I will explain: For a bareboat charter, you hire or rent the boat only. No crew or provisions. So the person chartering the boat is responsible to crew and supply (food, drinks, etc.) the boat. You need to prove you are capable in handling the boat, for example you will likely need to go out with the person / company renting the boat out for a quick lesson on the boat and to give them a chance to see if you can in fact handle the boat in the harbor, docking and at sea.
Well we found the Marina without too much trouble, however, once there I found out that Tod did not have the name of the Captain or the name of the ship we were there to see! We did walk around the marina and talk to some of the dock hands and the marina store, but, no luck with tracking down the Captain or boat we came to see….
I think it was just an acceptable excuse to get me to take the ride to Fort Myers Beach so that Tod could see what we apparently really came to see, Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grill! There are 3 “Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille” locations. One on Sanibel Island, one on Captiva Island and the one we were at, Fort Myers Beach. As with most of the waterfront dining locations in Florida, you can arrive by land or sea. There is plenty of parking for cars, boats or sea planes.
The main thing about the Doc Ford restaurants is that they are owned by Randy Wayne White and Doc Ford is the main character of White’s more recent novels. So that part was cool, they had books there for sale, some of the really older ones and the newer ones. Tod has several of his fiction books and was in the middle of one. I had just finished “Key West Connection” which is the first of the Dusky MacMorgan books, (published in 81) written well before the Doc Ford series began. At the Rum Bar, we had a late lunch, bought two of his newest Doc Ford books and headed back to Port Charlotte.
I started reading Cuba Straits on the plane ride back to Dallas
I am looking forward to starting a new book! If you are wondering I guess I would compare his fiction writing to Clive Cussler or maybe James Patterson. (Interesting, easy to read action books.)
When we got back we made a stop in Punta Gorda to look at a 32’ sailboat. Arrgggg! We are still working on the Columbia! It is just too premature to buy a boat in Florida for many reasons that I will not even bother going into, but still, we went to look at it and Tod strongly considered buying it (because it was such a good deal). The name of the boat was Wind Dependent, very appropriate for a sailboat. It needed work, as most boats do, but it wasn’t too bad considering it had sat unused for over a year.
Wind Dependent
Saturday, I think mostly we went shopping searching for shelving or a dresser for the master bedroom and the guest bedroom. So nothing that interesting to write about and even less interesting to read about. Next post, I will tell you all about Gasparilla Island and show you some photos of the amazingly awesome beaches.
Thursday, August 25, 2016 – Believe it or not, we paid for passes to get into Universal Studios just to see the new Diagon Alley (from the Harry Potter movies) exhibit.
OMG it was worth it. They had all the streets, shops (at least the store fronts and real shops for some things) as they did in the movie. It was so very worth it. We couldn’t find the entrance at first and had to ask someone who worked there. He said, “Do you see that building that everyone seems to just disappear into the brick wall? I think you will find what you are looking for there.” You walk in and immediately see the Weasleys’ Wizard shop. It’s the Weasley twins magic shop from the movie. Here is a shot of the outside and one of the inside. On the inside you can purchase all sorts of goofy “wizard” tricks and toys. Wizard-born and Muggle-born Wizards are welcome.
Like I said, the shop was fun and filled with trick trinkets to play pranks on the unsuspecting.
In other shops that are not simply storefronts you can purchase snacks, drinks, toys, trinkets and the famous Butter Beer or Pumpkin Juice. We drank the Butter Beer (it sort of tasted like Cream Soda) and brought home the Pumpkin Juice.
The Gringotts Bank (remember from the movie where all the trolls were and Harry took that ride to get to his parent’s volt to get some money to pay for his school supplies?) was really a trip into Harry Potter world. Walking through the bank to the ride was exactly like the movie scene. When Harry asked, “Haggard, what are those things?” You totally feel like you are there.
This guy spoke to us to let us know we had to go through security to get to the volts.
It was really fun. The ride was a 3D – hologram – experience. Leading up to the ride is a blast, all the hallways, (fake) elevator rides, security checkpoints to get to the actual ride is an adventure in itself. I won’t go into too much detail, but it is definitely worth waiting in line to get to and really there is entertainment all the way so even if it is an hour wait, it goes by really fast. In the photo below of an outside view of Diagon Alley, the building directly in front with the Dragon on the roof is Gringotts Bank.
All wayfaring wizards are welcome in Diagon Alley
The Wand Store had a waiting line, but like the Gingotts Bank it had some fun little rooms with scenes and performances to keep you entertained while you wait. I will not give you all the details of the wait, but it did involve some reenactment of scenes from the movie with tourist participation included. The guy below was awesome – he never spoke – sort of unnerving, but fun in a strange sort of way.
OK, yes I am a sap and I did purchase a (plastic) wand in the gift shop that I will never do anything with. Today I’m a tourist OK?!?
Remember the Knight Bus scene in the movie when Harry escaped from his muggle home and the Knight Bus, “emergency transport for stranded Witches and Wizards” picked him up? The driver was Ernie, Stan was the bell hop and I don’t know the name of the shrunken head with a Jamaican accent that did a lot of talking. Anyway I had my picture taken with Stan in front of the bus. This is outside of Diagon Alley (appropriately so).
We ended our Universal tour with a trip to the Toothsome Chocolate Emporium. It is sort of a take-off of the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory. Universal created a character, Professor Doctor Penelope Tibeaux-Tinker Toothsome of London, and her methods of infusing chocolate into extraordinary chocolate recipes. The Emporium is a chocolate shop, deli and restaurant and definitely a fun and literally “tasty” place to stop on your way out of the park. I didn’t buy any of them, but they did have Bacon and Beer flavored chocolate. (YUCK! I’ll stick with the chocolate flavor or maybe the coffee flavored chocolate.) Photo take from their website.
Professor Doctor Penelope Tibeaux-Tinker Toothsome must have lived in the industrial evolution era. The shop had merchandise for sale such as the normal t-shirts and all that, but also monocle eye pieces, top hats to match the era and chocolates in the shape of locks and keys. I did take a few photos of Tod modeling some of the merchandise.
This was the last stop at Universal. On to Port Charlotte, The Harbor House – Our Florida Home!
Not sure when or what the next post will be but until then, thanks for tagging along!
5117 Melbourne St., Unit 4103 