OK, we are in the process of buying a condo but are NOT ready to be C.L.O.D.s (Crusiers Living On Dirt) yet!! We still plan to live on the boat until age or health problems force us to move ashore. But we know that day will eventually come, hopefully at least 10 or 15 years from now. We have seen too many of our cruising friends have health issues that eventually forces them to move ashore. So we are
making alternative plans for our "old age". After 5,500 miles of sailing and over 120 anchorages we finally decided that our favorite anchorage was Bimini Basin in Cape Coral (across the river from Fort Myers). So we are buying a condo overlooking the anchorage with a view from the balcony of Enchantress anchored in the cove.
The condo unit is on the top floor (7th floor) of a high-rise building, on the water with docks. It is two bedrooms, two baths, living room, dining room and kitchen and a balcony on two sides. There is a covered carport. Here is a view of the condo buildings from Enchantress anchored in the cove.
And here is a view of Enchantress taken from the balcony.
We plan to continue to live on Enchantress and just use the condo as our own private marina when we are anchored here and not off crusing. We will have our own dinghy dock, our own clean showers and laundry facilities, a heated swimming pool, a place to store things, and a place to leave Enchantress when we travel instead of putting her in a marina. If the we have a really cold winter with some especially cold spells we could just stay in the condo for a few of the coldest days. And if a hurricane or tropical storm is coming we would prepare Enchantress at anchor in this very protected cove and hide out in the condo behind the hurricane shutters!!
The condo will be available for Amy, Mark and the granddaughters to visit and we will now have guest accommodations when other people visit us. And when they are a bit older, Olivia and Laura can come down for awhile in the summer and stay with us! :-) Although Enchantress is the perfect size for us the one thing she is too small for is entertaining. Now we can entertain other cruisers we meet here in the harbor by having them to the condo. So lots of reasons why we are doing this, not the least of which is that real estate prices haven't been this low in 15 years and so now was the time to buy our "old age home"..
When I am a crusty grumpy old man (I figure 80+ years old) I will row my dinghy out to the new cruisers who come into the anchorage and bend their ear telling them "how we did it in the old days and how they aren't doing it right!!". And I will also get one of those electric scooter chairs and terrorize the sidewalks and supermarket aisles of Cape Coral! There are supermarkets, drug stores, convenience stores, restaurants, doctors, etc. all within a mile of the condo and a great bus system.
Since we will be pretty much starting from scratch to furnish the condo, Linda is WAY TOO EXCITED about shopping for furniture and decorating the condo but has to only look and not buy until the closing because it is not a done deal until you close! Closing is in less than two weeks. I will do an update with interior photos in a couple of months when we have the condo furnished and decorated.
No comments:
Post a Comment