Day 68-69. May 29-30 On to Sarasota and on to our home. Miles.46.6/29.4 Total Miles1312.1/1341.5

Day 68

We left at sunrise to head north crossing Boca Grande Pass and Gasparilla Sound to where the Gulf Intracoastal narrows as we head for Sarasota.

Along the way, the dolphins continue to play and jump in our wake, providing us with entertainment.

As we continue north, we pass through Lemon Bay and Englewood, Venice with its "ditch" and colorful inlet, and then we enter Sarasota with its numerous bays - Little Sarasota and Roberts Bays.

As we exited Roberts Bay we cruised past Sarasota Pass and turned into the mooring field at Marina Jack's. We settled in and took a deep breath. Glad to have a bit of a break from super long days- just had a long travel day today.

Tis very warm so we decided late afternoon that we would walk downtown and "cool off" in an air conditioned restaurant.

Not a very exciting day as we make tracks for home.

Day 69 May 30 Going home

Woke to a cloudy and breezy morning, heading across Big Sarasota Bay. Not much boat traffic with us on the water today as we past by the downtown Sarasota. Leaving the bay we continue behind Longboat Key and Anna Maria Island, passing the towns of Cortez and Bradenton Beach. At the end of the route we zig zag north, leaving Manatee County by passing through the Bulkheads, a narrow channel that leads you into Tampa Bay.

Crossing Tampa Bay we avoided a rainstorm. We watched it pass in front of us as we headed north and east in the Bay. Also luckily avoided and freighters on the Bay this morning.

We then entered the narrow channel that parallels the Skyway Bridge approach and turned west towards the Pinellas Bridge. Just before the bridge we turned off entered the canal that runs behind our house.We felt part relief to be home and part sadness to have our trip end.

Pulling into our slip, we tied up our boat, Crustacean, and give her a much deserved rest. She served us well.

Now we get to unload the boat and resettle into our home. Crustacean deserves a good bath and scrubbing but that will have to wait for another day.

June 4-5. Day 63-64. On to Cape May New Jersey. 53.4nm. Total 1534 miles.

Left Delaware City at 5:35am to be able to take advantage of the strong currents going with us while traversing Delaware River and Delaware Bay. The Delaware River goes south about 15 miles and flows into the Delaware Bay. As we travel south, New Jersey is to the east and Delaware is to our west. We are traveling just outside the shipping channel and are really moving at 10.9 knots. That is three knots faster than we normally travel, as the outgoing tides are pushing us along. Nice to have Mother Nature helps us save on fuel. The Delaware River is about 8 miles wide so there is plenty of room for the freighters and the pleasure boats. So far, we have not encountered any commercial traffic, but there is a large freighter behind us that will eventually pass us as they travel at 14 knots. The Delaware Bay proper varies from 23-29 miles wide and 26 miles long. There are five lighthouses on the Delaware marking the shipping channel. We went by Ship J...

Reflections on the Bahamas

Reflections on the Bahamas Over the past 10 weeks, we have traveled through Abaco, Eleuthera and Exuma Islands and enjoyed the hospitality of the Bahamian people. We have learned all about the islands, its unique geography - limestone, caves, blue holes and chalk cliffs; and colorful history-pirates and rum running, salt ponds and cotton plantations, boat building and wrecking/salvage. Traveling over 1300 miles through narrow cuts and wide bays to vast depths of ocean, we negotiated the islands and found safe harbors, calm coves for anchoring, bays filled with moorings and marinas large and small. This trip required us to pay close attention to the weather, the tides and currents as we traveled between and through the islands. The Bahamian people are warm and friendly, willing to give us rides, advice and directions, as well as some secret recipes!! We enjoyed hiking trails, walking the beaches, snorkeling the coral rocks and reefs, discovering ruins and ol...

Day 64-65. May 25-26. On to Peck Lake, Jupiter, FL and then on to Indiantown/ Okeechobee Waterway. Miles 63.5/ 29.1 Total Miles 1122.1/1142.0

Day 64 We started early to get ahead of the holiday boat traffic. Weighing anchor at Lake Sylvia in Fort Lauderdale, we traveled on the Intracoastal Waterway past the iconic Pier 66 Tower and Bahia Mar Marina. We then turned north and passed the older sections of the city - Las Olas( older homes), Galt Ocean Mile (one mile of condominiums on the beach), and the famous miles of beaches on the Atlantic. I used to live here in the early 70's and the biggest change I see is the older smaller homes on the water are being replaced with larger versions and a few more condo towers have been built. As we go further north towards Commercial Blvd, North Fort Lauderdale, and Pompano Beach and its Lighthouse at the cut, there is less reconstruction. The next town we traveled through was Boca Raton with its Spanish architecture, Camino Real and its landmark tower. The sand bar at the cut was just beginning to fill up with Memorial Day revelers as we went by. Next were t...

Crustacean Travels

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