Gulfport to Fort Myers

December 11, 2010

We began our morning leaving Gulfport, heading for Sarasota. Florida boast this five and a half mile highway bridge that spans Tampa Bay called The Sunshine Skyway Bridge which is breathtaking to drive on and also to motor under.  It seems to go on forever.  It's used in many auto commercials because of its continuous length and beauty.  I'm going to pay closer attention to those car commercials to see who uses it,,,

Well, Ray and Mary, we finally saw Anna Maria Island and from the water it looks beautiful.  Maybe we can see it up close and personal on land soon.

Anna Maria Island

We made good time and arrived at Sarasota by noon.  Since it was so early and the winds and water were so calm making for great traveling, we decided to blow off Sarasota.  There's a Ringling Brothers Circus Museum we'll have to go back for by car someday-it's supposed to be worth the effort!
Instead we stopped in Crow's Nest Marina in Venice, FL.   I had a "Duh!" moment when we saw all the canals in Venice and I got the connection with the name... Anyway, this marina had a nice clean building with the necessary facilities but the docks were pathetic.  The finger pier was VERY short and VERY narrow (15")- I felt like I was tight rope walking. 

Crow's Nest Marina

We woke up Saturday to a thick blanket of fog all around us, postponing our early departure.  So instead we decided to give Buddy his shower.  We used the handicap bathroom to shower him; he lets us lather and rinse him without any struggle...what a dog role model for the dog kingdom!  Now there won't be any doggy odors when Geri and Walter stay with us next week.
We finally departed by 9:30 AM which put us behind on our time schedule to reach Ft. Myers but we thought we could do it. We had some interesting sights along the way: a jet? kept landing and taking off and pods of dolphins kept swimming up under the bow to swim in the bow's wake!  What entertainment!

Boca Grande Swing Bridge - home to many cormorants      

Leaving at 9:30AM instead of 8:AM caused us to arrive at Ft. Myers in the dark, something we have never done.  The idea of trying to find the marina after the sun sets in a place we have never been before raises our anxiety level beyond our comfort level. About four miles from the Ft. Myers' marina on the Caloosahatchee River, another channel meets it.  We were motoring as fast as we could to use as much of the twilight as we could, when another trawler, Miss Laura, came zooming out of the channel toward us.  We slowed down and Pete told him to go ahead of us since they were faster than we are.  The captain responded that his GPS wasn't working and could he follow us.  Not a problem except we weren't sure where we were going.  As we approached the marina, we got these very complicated directions from the marina dockmaster.  Not to worry- Miss Laura's captain knows the marina, slips in front of us and shows us the way.  We arrived safe and sound, swearing not to arrive anywhere again in the dark.  There's got to be a guardian angel following us somewhere!

Hope all your Christmas shopping is done and you're beginning to enjoy those cookies!