Well we haven’t posted since we departed Gulfport.
Thought we would just do one final post to encompass the remaining portion
of the trip.
Our first night out of Gulfport found us anchored in Sarasota Bay near Bradenton. We sailed across Tampa Bay past the Sunshine Skyway bridge. It is quite a feat of engineering!
Encountered a lot of channel that was very thin and saw signs telling us exactly that. Motored the rest of the way and were anchored about 3PM, just before a sun shower which at least left us with a rainbow. Always neat when you can both ends!
The next day on to Lemon Bay near
Englewood. Both anchorages were just off
the ICW less than 1/4 mile so it made for quick and easy anchoring. We did have the option to sail the Gulf rather than take the inside passage, but we chose the ICW just to check it out.
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| Dry stack boats...you don't see this everywhere. |
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| This is what we would call "hard aground". |
There were many
sights to see including wildlife, spectacular waterside homes, marinas, parks
and much more.
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| We have yet to see a manatee. |
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| This shows to how shallow it is. He was close to our boat! |
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| Just another beautiful home...I'll take it! |
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| This swing bridge had to be opened by hand, that is the bridge tender you |
When we neared the last bridge we would have to go through we got a call from friends Jim and Cindy.
They had a boat on the same dock as we did in Menominee Marina and relocated down here several years ago. They came out with their daughter and 2 grandbabies to welcome us. How nice to see some familiar faces!!
We exited the ICW and with wind on the nose, motored into Charlotte Harbor.
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| At least we could watch other people sail. |
We arrived
at our new home port here at Fisherman’s Village Marina on Thursday about
2PM. Once we were in and tied up, we
could not believe that A) we made it AND B) t is over!! Well, it
isn’t really over – it has just begun!
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| View from our slip |
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| Free Bird's new home |
We are getting used to our new surroundings, meeting new folks and reconnecting with friends we have not seen for awhile. Our new marina has lots to offer and a big entertainment and shopping complex right next door. We weren't off the boat 5 minutes when we were invited to docktails at 5:00. I think we are going to like it here!
And we already know that we love Punta Gorda - great parks, bike trails, brick streets, just a cool vibe and great people. Everyone on the dock has been very welcoming. I am sure it will feel like "home" before too long.
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| Ponce De Leon |
We will miss our fellow Looper’s and it already seems
like it was so long ago that we were plodding down the river system. There is so much that we experienced that we
did not blog about, it was just so hard to get it all in.
Thank you to those of you who cared enough to
read our little blog and take this journey with us. Our adventure will
continue but we will not bore you with how warm and lovely it is here so for now we bid
you all adieu!
Wishing you all the merriest of Christmases and may 2015 bring us more
peace in the world. God bless us every one!!
We are so glad you made it safe and sound to your winter home. We got our box of goodies today. Very cool. Thank you for entertaining us for the last few months with stories and pictures. We have learned so much from your travels. Your travels have totally taken us to places that we have been learning about. Please feel free to put any more on the blog that will teach us more and entertain us more. See you soon. Oh yeah and more pictures of Molly from time to time would be fine with the kids!
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