Friday 3/15/19, Crow’s Nest Marina, Venice, Florida

Ok folks….. I said this might get a little boring – well guess what? We had no agenda today……nothing to do. Just watched all the activity on the water and in the marina, which happened to be busy today.

Another Looper boat came into the marina today. Actually, they are not currently looping but have looped in the past and plan to again soon. They are Betsy and Dave from Maryland aboard Fryedaze. They winter in Long Boat Key and when they have friends visit, they take them for a cruise around the area and just happened to end up here for the night. They were delightful and were a wealth of local knowledge. A little later in the day an Italian looking go-fast boat about 65 feet long and probably worth at least 2 million bucks pulled in. Later a fishing boat, about 46 feet long, came in so we had a pretty full dock. Later we took the doggies to the tiny island for another run-about. It was totally fun!

Saturday, 3/16/19, Crow’s Nest Marina, Venice, Florida

Woke up to an overcast morning and a little rain today. Sorry, we had another pretty boring day with no agenda. I watched a few You-Tubes learning about my new-to-me camera and, we then actually took afternoon naps. OMG – What’s happening to us?

All the boats on our dock left today, so that just leaves Sea Change and us. A quiet day at the marina. Maybe because of the big black clouds and the little bit of rain. Temperature was perfect though. We are enjoying life in this wonderful environment.

The same small private charter fishing boat we saw yesterday with a boat-load of fish came back today with another great catch. These guys really know how to catch fish! Later in the day we saw the local police pull over two boats right in our basin.  The first offender headed to our marina fuel dock after their stop, so of course, we had to find out what the infraction was. They were going over 25 mph on the ICW in a “Manatee protected zone”. That’s a BIG NO-NO. $160 bucks if you get caught. Not sure why the other one was pulled over. Interesting to watch all the activity, when we’re not napping.

Had dinner on the aft deck and watched the parade of boats heading out the Gulf inlet to see the sunset and the pelicans diving for fish, bait jumping out of the water right off our transom and an osprey feeding her babies. Also across from us, about a quarter mile away, we can hear a band playing and see people fire dancing to the drums. It’s so nice to have the opportunity to slow down and enjoy the environment around you. Life is good here in paradise.

We plan to be here another day then leave on Monday. Will keep you posted.