Goodland on A Rainy Day

Days on cruise:  279

If the temperature here were to drop another 20 degrees, it would feel just like Seattle: gray, dark, rainy and cold in February! But it still managed to break 70 degrees, barely, so we’ll refrain from whining, barely.  But it really did rain all day. We sat around on the boat in our jogging attire until noon, then gave up and showered and dressed.

Finally at 4pm the rain stopped long enough to walk into town and see what Goodland is all about. It’s small, and nothing fancy, but incredibly friendly and welcoming. “Little Bar” in the background (below) is one of five places to go here: restaurants and/or bars with live music most nights, food (mostly fried) and drink. 

There’s a seafood processing plant which sells fresh seafood daily.

So it’s still a fishing village.

These crab pot floats are the things with which we have a love-hate relationship!  We love the fact fresh crab is so readily available here, but when we’re driving the boat, we hate seeing long lines of crab floats blocking the way, around which we have to steer. If we fail, we get a crab pot and its’ line wrapped tightly around our prop and shaft, causing an engine to overheat and quit, and then Bob (!!!) would have to dive the prop to unwind the crab pot line. We hope we’re not tempting fate by writing about the fact we’ve been lucky and not yet had this happen!

The main road through “downtown” Goodland is lined with mobile homes, many fronting a waterfront canal.

A few blocks away is the more upscale development of townhouses, all on canals, and all with their own fishing or recreational boat parked on a boat lift out front.

The Calusa Island Marina where we’re moored is a big place, and it’s a bit of a walk to the marina office and restrooms on a boardwalk through the mangroves: very pretty!

We stopped at “Mile Marker 8”, a restaurant and bar, for a beer and to see where the locals hang out, then wandered back to the boat for dinner.

Sunset was Pretty In Pink and cast light on the water, in addition to the sky. We remain happy and well.