Venice to Charlotte Harbor

We’d planned to leave Sarasota on Wed. the 13th but when Paul discovered a leak in the hose going to the impeller in the engine compartment, our plans changed. He took the dinghy back to shore, hopped on a city bus and found a replacement hose at a West Marine. He almost made it back before the skies opened! We were glad we stayed put since the weather turned nasty. The irony was I just overheard Paul on the phone telling his brother how the engine has “performed flawlessly” during the whole trip! It really is the first part we’d had to replace (so far).

Before leaving on Thursday, we had both anchors to pull up so it took awhile (actually 1½ hours). I was at the helm and Paul did the grunt work. We had one night of pouring rain there and one night with very high winds so we felt we needed to have both anchors out. Here are a couple of our neighbors in the anchorages. I thought the potted palm trees on top of the houseboat were a nice touch!

The water changed to that beautiful aquamarine color partway through Little Sarasota Bay. Lots more mansions along the way. It seems strange to us to realize the owners probably only live in them a few months of the year. There must be more millionaires in Florida than almost anywhere in the U.S.


The Blackburn Bridge was the only swing bridge of the four bridges we encountered. All the others were the Bascule type bridges.


We got a slip at the Crow’s Nest Marina in Venice. We were tied on an outside wall fairly close to the jetty out to the Gulf opening and thought it might be a little rough but it wasn’t too bad. What WAS bad was the extra fee they charged us for having the dinghy on the davits off the stern. So, we were charged $2/ft for a 45-ft boat instead of the 40 feet that we are – kind of annoying since they had plenty of space on their transient dock and the facilities weren’t anything special.

We enjoyed getting together with a former associate of Paul's from his Milwaukee days who winters in Venice. Henry and his wife, Lois, treated us to dinner at The British Open and a tour around the area. We didn’t think we’d be doing anything special for Valentine’s Day so that was a nice surprise. Thank you again – it was great seeing you both!

Since we were so close to the Gulf, Em got to spend some “strolling on the beach looking for shells time" in the morning before we left Venice.


We left Venice around noon, still on the ICW. We have five bridges to open, all on request so there should be no long waits. It’s very shallow in Lemon Bay so you have to be very careful to stay in the channel. We saw these pelicans flying in formation along the way. They look so graceful in flight and so awkward plopping along with their big webbed feet on land.


We anchored near Englewood Beach in about 8 ft. of water. There was a man standing about hip-high in the anchorage fishing. We’re getting accustomed to these shallow anchorages. The access to shore wasn’t very good but we finally found a little spot where you could dinghy to shore.

We have former Green Bay neighbors who retired in Englewood and live on a canal but it didn’t work out for us to use their dock – too narrow and too shallow. Paul and I took a LONG dinghy ride over to see Linda (Jerry is still in northern Wis. working on their cottage – poor him!) Linda took us grocery shopping and fixed us dinner. Then Paul took the dinghy back and Linda gave me and the groceries a lift back to where Paul picked me up. It was fun catching up, we haven’t seen them for four years. Thanks again, Linda and Happy Birthday on the 23rd! This is Paul heading out of their canal back to the anchorage.


We left Englewood mid-morning on Sunday. We had both anchors out again but it was much less hassle pulling them up this time. There was a nice breeze but it was directly out of the south so we motored on the ICW: Lemon Bay to Gasparilla Sound and into Charlotte Harbor. Since it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, it was like a highway with all the boat traffic. The sailboat ahead of us in this picture called us on the radio to chat – they’re from Oconto, WI! They leave the boat down here year-round and come down in winter to live aboard in the mooring field in Fort Myers. We didn't catch their name but the name of their boat is “Memories” in case any Wisconsinites know them.


The only bridge we encountered was the Boca Grande Swing Bridge on our way to Pelican Bay and the anchorage off Cayo Costa State Park. It’s a huge anchorage; I counted 26 boats and there was room for lots more. The depths coming in went below 6 ft. for a bit so the captain was a bit nervous but we didn’t hit the bottom (this time). There’s a nice dock to dinghy to and restrooms nearby. The island of Cayo Costa is 10 miles long with 30 tent sites and 12 cabins for the campers who come to the island by ferry boat; similar to camping on Rock Island in Door County, Wis. We took the tractor-driven tram the .9 mile to the beach on Monday. The sign at the dock says "This is the “Real Florida”. It is neat to see a part of the state that isn’t developed for a change!

We’re almost feeling guilty enjoying this beautiful weather when our “kids” are having the opposite. Eric in Milwaukee is enduring another snowstorm with some rain; Alison got stranded in Green Bay and couldn’t drive back to Wausau until Monday AM because of the snow and Kyle is in Fairbanks, Alaska for a week where it’s probably about 100 degrees colder than where we are today!

We spent three nights anchored at Cayo Costa Island. Here’s a picture at our anchorage (again not us).

I'm actually writing this in Fort Myers Beach at an internet cafe. We ran out of luck picking up an internet connection for quite awhile so I got behind. The adventure continues.....