We left Lido Key and headed south in the Intracoastal Waterway through the towns of Sarasota, Venice and Englewood. The bays-Little Sarasota, Blackburn and Lemon that separate the mainland from the barrier islands are our favorite cruising grounds. In each bay, we were accompanied by dolphin running with us in our bow. Never get tired of watching the dolphin’s antics!
We continued into Gasparilla Sound behind Little Gasparilla and Gasparilla Island- lots of fancy vacation homes and an old fishing lodge which is a must see on the island.
Crossing Boca Grande channel in the afternoon we headed into Pelican Bay by Cayo Costa Island to anchor for the night. Cayo Costa is a state park accessible only by boat which has great beaches, hiking trails, some primitive camping sites and great shelling.
As we entered the bay we found an anchoring spot among the other 20 or so boats already anchored. Two of the boats were Grand Banks. Was quite a coincidence to have three Grand Banks all lined up together in the anchorage!
PS Bill is still stowing his stuff away! And he is still learning all the ins and outs of the new navigation systems.
Day 3 April 4
Just when you thought Bill had everything stowed! Oh well, maybe tomorrow.
We headed out of Pelican Bay and Cayo Costa island to continue our trip south in Pine Island Sound, past the islands of Captiva, Cabbage Key, Useppa, and Sanibel Islands. This area of West Florida has lots of resorts and vacation homes and great restaurants.
As we turned east, the FL west coast Intracoastal waterway ends and boaters must go into the Gulf of Mexico to go south or, if going east, enter the Caloosahatchee River which leads to the Okeechobee Waterway that cuts through Florida to the east coast.
We took the Caloosahatchee River route and found a protected anchorage in Glover Bight -near Cape Coral on the north side of the river across from Ft Myers, ending our day having traveled 24.3 nm.
