VENICE March 9, 2009

In the morning our overnight home at Cayo Costa Island is Peaceful, Sunny and Windless. We are not sure how far we will venture today as we start up the Gulf Coast. Our neighbor leaves before we do. She looks a little like a PDQ but we are not sure.

We pass a second sailboat as we head to Cabo Grande.

Cabo Grande is at the opening to Charlotte Bay where we dropped anchor on the way down.

We pass the Cabo Grande Lighthouse. The beaches are covered with people.

If you look carefully at the pillings, you can see an Osprey nest with two occupants with many pelicans nearby.


Just past the point as we go out into the Gulf is a beautiful and very large house.

For most of the morning Debbie keeps watch over the autopilot. It gets very warm with no wind and even the GPS and Fish Finder need hats.

About noon we stop at Stump Pass, an entryway into the ICW. Tom starts down the channel when he is hailed by a professional fish guide and told to stop or go aground. Since we were following the marked channel, we are surprised. The captain tells us the markers are out of date to just follow him and we do.


At Stump Pass Marina, we get gas and ice. Last night we used up all our propane which is used to run the stove, hot water and refrigerator. We have the refrigerator on 12 volt but it is not very cold. We decide to switch our food to a cooler for the night.

All afternoon we sail slowly up the coast. At least we have some wind. We reach the Venice breakwater about 4:30.

From the breakwater we look back at the high rises along the gulf coast.

Venice is a historical town with a mixture of new and old. Lovely boulevards are lined with well kept homes and lots of parks and beaches. We pass a small island which we nickname picnic isle.


The river system is like an octopus with many branches including the ICW. Houses front on the water. There are lots of boats. Birds are everywhere.

We continue up one branch looking for the City Dock. Our book says we can park there free for 18 hours. Here are some interesting wood boats.

Catamarans keep popping up .

As we pick out an area, we hear “Catrina“ and look around to see Cynthia Faye. We had hoped to cross paths with Jack and Linda but somehow our schedules did not seem to blend. They left Bradenton a day early and reached Venice 40 minutes before us! We hadn’t even planned to stop in Venice but did.

They caught our lines and as we pulled into City Dock right in front of them. They were just leaving to go bike riding and dinner. If we had been 15 minutes later, they would have been gone. We got our bikes down and joined them for a ride around town. We ride right down the sidewalk in the historic business section. We do draw some comments but everyone let’s us thorough. Jack finds a good Italian restaurant. What else would you expect in Venice?

After dinner we walk on the Gulf Beaches and look for shark teeth. Tom tells us this is the spot that has the most anywhere. We find one! Actually Tom found it. Linda and Debbie go to the breakwater to watch the sunset along with lots of other people. The town looks full and there are many different license plates.

Tom helps Linda and Jack with internet charts on their MAC. It has been great to meet up with a couple we first encountered in Benton Harbor MI as we started our trip in Catrina last September!