We had a wonderful day with the Portmans, went to visit their place, a really beautiful campsite where I saw my first alligator in a pond on the site, and I had been on the look out for so many hours, but they are very hard to spot. We took advantage of being in a car and went for a big shopping spree to the Wall mart, RadioShack and of course the West Marine. Great day.
Next day we motored to Bokeelia Island and had again a nice anchorage. We took a dinghy ride into town, but as soon as we wanted to tie the boat, people came immediately to tell us we were on private property. We had to go to a wall and hoped it was okay. After lunch we dingied home and decided to leave Bokeelia to the Bokeelians. But we had a very nice dinghy ride into a mangrove little river.
We moved back to Useppa Island for two days. Went to a private harbor and did as if we belonged there, made a walk over the island, a wonderful place so lush with plants and birds and very expensive houses!
Tuesday we sailed to Sanibel Island and anchored in a bay north of S.I. We made some long dinghy trips because the only thing we could get in the neighborhood was bait!! So Jacques went to Pine Island which was a long and wet ride.
Thursday we went to Estero Island by way of the” miserable mile”, it is really called that way, because it is a very small channel and when you would go a little outside you would be stranded, we were a little nervous and were fixated on the buoys, but made it without a problem and stopped at Moss Marina, where we had reserved a place for 4 days. Nice Marina, nice people and it was the cheapest we had until now.
We took a bus ride to Publix, a big food store and filled up with everything we needed and walked around the beach area and tomorrow Tom is coming!!!!!
Ria
We had a nice sail to Charlotte Harbor, the first night we anchored east of Gasparilla Island, but it was very choppy during the night, so we left for Useppa Island, very nice anchorage off the ICW, saw two groundings (made us feel much better), visited Cabbage Key for lunch and took a walk over the island. We had peaceful time with some nice dinghy rides and are leaving tomorrow for Burnt Store Marina, where we will meet with the Portman’s. Until now there has not been a day without dolphins!!!
Ria
Today we had a wonderful sail to Venice, our Piet Wireman had given us two anchorages, so we thought that would be an easy landing, but the two places were full and they really did not like having us in between them. After searching up and down for half an hour we decided to go to Crows Nest Marina. After tying up, where Jacques really had to show he can handle the boat (very strange corner for catamarans), we had lunch and decided downtown Venice was really too far to walk, we had a peaceful afternoon with reading and playing my Nintendo!
Ria
Yesterday we had a nice breakfast, it is an easy walk to downtown and after that we took separate walks, Jacques was still very upset about the grounding, so we took some alone time, I of course made my walk back from the whole food store twice as long, because typically for me, I forgot again the name of the street where I had to turn, exercise is good for you!!!!
Today we met with Ira and Cheryl Berman, friends of Karin’s parents. They took us for a nice sightseeing of Longboat Key, had a nice lunch at the local Salty Dog, it is still very much below the normal temperature, so we put the heaters on when we came home, was a nice day.
Ria
Yesterday was a peaceful rainy day at anchor, but today was quite the opposite. We left this morning for Sarasota and because the wind would be 20 to 25 knots from the NW we took the ICW (Intra Coastal Waterway). With big waves from the back a sand bar decided to place itself underneath our port hull, and yes we were stranded!!!! After several tries we decided to call the towing company.
After a few minutes we were free but 450 dollars had to be paid by us, the Boat US would pay another $150!!!!!!! We were a little shocked. Within the next half hour the starboard motor alarm went of, so we shut that one down, not our day, luckily we found a nice spot in Marina Jack in Sarasota and after calling Mark, our Pensacola motor guy, Jacques could easily fix the problem.
Now to bed and forgetting this day, Ria
Yesterday it was an uneventful ride to the manatee river where we anchored just across from De Soto Park. In the late afternoon we went for a dinghy ride and decided to find a restaurant for dinner. There are of course not much neon signs on the river to show where there is a restaurant, so we had to dinghy a few miles to find a marina with a restaurant.
It was completely dark when we drove back, luckily two other boats had there lights on, it would have been difficult to find our home. Today we went over to the De Soto national park, named after the man who discovered it, it would have been better named after all the Indians they killed there, just of course my opinion.
Ria
