So, when last we met, we had just arrived in Longboat Key and having completed the Great Loop (3 different boats and a few years from start to finish) we happily replaced the white (in process) looper flag with the gold (we did it!) flag. Happy day indeed!
We hung around the marina for a week cleaning Blue Moon and removing the "Mississippi Mustache"; although with a navy blue hull you couldn't really see it but Dave knew it was there! and having a few little repairs made. We then flew home for the holidays for a month and single digit temps had turned Pt. Breeze into a winter wonder land.
We enjoyed the holidays and some sleepovers with Carmen. She and Grandpa decorated a big gingerbread man and Brownie the puppy got all dressed up for Christmas. Aja was his usual grumpy self and just watched us from afar.
After we got some things done at the office we headed south again.
Florida, at least where we were, wasn't all that warm in mid January and we took a road trip over to the East coast to spend some time with Lili and Cooper. Grandpa and Lili worked on a little birdhouse project together.
Cooper is just on the verge of walking and his blue eyes are going to be real chic magnets someday.
We returned to Longboat Key and decided that a visit to the Ringling Circus Museum on a rainy day might be fun. I had a preconceived notion that it might be boring. Wrong! It was magical and the most amazing part to us, besides the incredible circus history in this country, was a miniature display of a full circus that a fella had started back in the 1960's. It took him decades to complete.
He happened to be there that day and he is well into his 80's.
The Ringling mansion was spectacular although I took no pictures. The grounds were tropical and the humongous Banyan trees were giants.
We also had a nice visit with old buddies Jim and Lin (Trent Severn crew!) who live nearby in North Port and Monica and Warren, our Kiwi Gulf Crossing buddies on the Loop. Dave and I both hope that they all can stop by Pt. Breeze this summer with their boats and spend some time at our dock!
On Monday John and Karen joined us for our journey to Key West and on up to Jupiter on the East Coast. Our first night out we traveled all of 1/2 hour and anchored Blue Moon in the center of the City of Sarasota. We dinghied into the city and stopped by the the WW2 statue of the returning GI and the Nurse that graced the cover of Life Magazine for the V-J day celebration when our boys (and nurses!) came home for good in 1945.
We went into town for a beer and some Mexican food and then had the fun of trying to find our boat out in the very dark bay.
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We found it!
Next day we headed south to our favorite anchorage on the west coast, Pelican Bay. The dolphins were really playful as usual.
We picked a nice spot to drop anchor and then headed over to the Cayo Costa State Park on the Gulf so see the sunset. It's about a mile walk through the heavy tropical vegetation to get to the Gulf beach .
On the dark walk back to the dinghy to get out to the boat we were a little freaked out when we all heard some wild hogs rustling in the brush next to the path. Geeze!
After a beautiful night in Pelican Bay we awoke to another perfect Florida morning and decided to take the 2 mile dinghy ride over to the legendary Cabbage Key Inn for breakfast. The same place where Jimmy Buffett supposedly penned the song Cheeseburgers in Paradise. Well of course we arrived a few minutes after they stopped serving breakfast but we begged them to feed us so they did! They close down between breakfast and lunch to set up. The waitress told us they normally turn over 700 or so lunches a day at the Inn during this time of year. There are thousands of dollar bills plastered to the walls from customers.
Leaving Cabbage Key behind we hoisted the anchor and set off for Ft. Meyers. Supposedly there is some fog rolling in and we would prefer to be tied to a dock until all that passes us by. Six hours of dense fog on Lake Michigan scarred me for life last summer!
So, we're back at it and very happy that John and Karen are here to enjoy the voyage with us.
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