A Neighborhood Reunion

Day 248  |  Sarasota to Venice  |  3.3 Hours  |  15 Miles  

I was up before the sun and moved to the pilothouse to watch it rise above the Sarasota skyline. Our target departure time was 10:00 as low tide once again occurred later in the morning. After the sun rose, I laid back down for a while and caught a few more winks. I awoke after only a few minutes when the sun flooded through the port window, reflected off the mirror, and shone in my face like an alien interrogation. Time to get up and get moving. We slipped the bridle off of the mooring ball at 9:40 and were on our way south.

The scenery was beautiful as we cruised down the intracoastal waterway. At low tide, many sandbars stood high and proud just a few feet outside the channel. It was quite windy and blew consistently around 25 knots, on our nose. Houses are built right along the water's edge and its always fun to look at different properties and observe the yard decorations ... whether that is metal seahorse sculptures or elaborate infinity pools. We passed through four bridges that had to open for us -- two operated on scheduled openings, and two opened upon request. We passed through three without delay, but had to wait out a 30-minute cycle on the fourth.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a "road sign" announcing our entrance into the Neville Marine Preserve. Today's featured bird was the osprey and it seamed there was a well-established nest on every day marker, very reminiscent of the Chesapeake Bay. Also resembling home was the presence of watermen working their crabpots.

The crab pots here in Florida, however, look nothing like those in the Chesapeake. In my first admission to blatant plagiarism, I agree that they look more like classic Spy vs. Spy bombs. [Thank you Doug and Dana (Misty Pearl) for this classic reference, that has made me laugh ever since reading it in one of your December blog posts. Royalties will be forthcoming.]

We arrived at Fisherman's Wharf Marina right at 1:00 and started giving Crossroads a much-needed cleaning -- inside and out. We had special friends coming over in the afternoon and wanted her looking good. Mr. and Mrs. Moody have lived beside my parents for over 40 years and my sister and I grew up with their three daughters. They agree with us that the winters in Richmond are way too cold and now take their motorcoach to the Venice area during the coldest months of the year. We were super-excited to show them around Crossroads. They drove us around town a bit and then took us to dinner at Left Coast Seafood Co. We had a great evening sharing travel stories and family updates.

Today was a great day. The next cold front moves through tonight, but we're told tomorrow afternoon will be nice, albeit significantly cooler than today's high of 80. We will meet up with the Moodys again and go visit their Florida home and a few other local spots.