Wednesday - off the dock at 7 and headed further south on the Gulf Coast ICW. It's a beautiful sunny day. We are traveling by mangroves and gorgeous waterfront properties often at a very slow pace to avoid hitting Manatees. We actually had one pop right up in front of us in the channel. We were able to throttle down and avoid it. Below are photos of a few of the magnificent homes we passed.
On our way, we also got separated from Golden by the Palm Island Ferry. Alice was at the helm doing just fine while Tim was attending to some personal hygiene. Tim, feeling that perhaps Alice might collide with the ferries, hurtled himself up the stairs into the pilot house to take the wheel...just in case. Again, he were able to throttle down and avoid it.
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| The Palm Island car ferries passing each other in front of us |
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| Tim, at the wheel with shaving cream on his face |
There were many bridges to get under and a few that needed to open for us to continue on. Paige took this picture of Observer going through the Blackburn swing bridge, one of two that had to open for us.
Paige also took this fabulous photo of a Coast Guard C-130 out of Venice Airport flying low over Observer.
Our destination today is the home of parents of our Looper buddy, Paige. We have been graciously invited to spend a couple days and break bread 'most notably Thanksgiving' off the water at a real home. This will no doubt beat the Thanksgiving pot luck at many marinas. We arrived about 12:30 on a protected canal just off the ICW, secured our lines, plugged in to shore power - all set to hang out for a couple days. We borrowed the car did some provisioning and enjoyed a great meal on shore at Penny and Shell's - our hosts are also Gold Loopers!
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| Penny and Shell's beautiful canal side home |
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| Observer on Penny and Shell's dock with Golden on the neighbor's dock. Photo curtesey of Paige |
Thursday - awoke to rain and windy conditions. It's a great day not to be traveling by water, but it is also Thanksgiving. As usual we found plenty to do: run around the neighborhood, took Millie on a nice walk, learned how to play a dominos game and prepared our offering to the Thanksgiving dinner. The 6 of us were hosted by neighbors Percy & Marvin from Chicago. We shared a great meal with lots of stories and we are very grateful that we're were able to spend it in a beautiful home with a delicious home cooked meal.
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| Our Thanksgiving Spread |
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| Paige, Mike and our host, Marv, at the table |
Friday - got in a bike ride around the greater neighborhood with Mike & Shell. Alice did a little shopping with Paige and Penny. They went to this funky little artist community that use to house the old fishery. Brightly colored cottages turned into cool little shops now line the property.
We took Penny and Shell's runabout to the beach in the afternoon; we walked the beach and did some shelling and then did a little cruise around the neighborhood in the boat. Alice collected enough shells to make many different projects when she returns home. Now it is just a matter of storing them for 6 months without breaking them!
We capped off the day with a great meal at the Charlotte Harbor Yacht Club hosted by members Penny and Shell- yum.
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| View of Charlotte Harbor from the Yacht Club |
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| Paige, Mike and Alice with the view behind them |
We want to thank both Paige and Mike and especially Paige's parents, Penny and Shell, for so graciously inviting us to join them over the Thanksgiving holiday. Penny and Shell could not have been more generous, between offering their dock for us to stay on, to the use of their car, their washer and dryer, the afternoon boat ride, a full tank of fresh water and the two delicious meals, one home cooked and the other at their yacht club. Thank you so much for everything!
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