We pulled anchor 8:00 to go overnight to Apalachacola. Beautiful sail all day with good winds 12-16 knot winds until that evening. It was a beautiful night and I was on watch til 4:30 AM and I was wide awake so I really enjoyed being the captain! Full moon and the sound of the waves hitting the side of the boat, sitting outside watching the midnight sky full of stars so beautiful.

Needed diesel today so into Tarpon Springs to marina to get it. Decided to ride around town and check it out eat some lunch and explore.

Ok so today we pull up that anchor, me groggy sleepy and still in my sleep clothes drag myself up on deck for the pulling of the anchor ceremony. haha Sometimes i jump out of bed others i fall out of bed dragging my Admiral self up the stairs to the cockpit. But no matter how i get up, i am always in paradise! Today was a short trip up to Venice to anchor out for the night then continue on to Anclote Key / Tarpon Springs. Beautiful houses and scenery on the side of the ICW dolphins following us alittle. They have to be careful of the idiot motorboaters that run over them every year and have killed more manatee in the past two years than ever before!! Cant stand them. Not speaking of boaters who take care and move slow in these areas just the narcissistic WOL that need to go away for good. Finally at Venice (not my favorite place to anchor out due to shallow anchorages) and we find an anchorage that will suffice for the night. The greatest thing about this area was the young sailors that were out racing their little sailboats followed by instructors to ensure their safety. One of them accidentally jibed and tipped over and was ok water was only waist deep. He flipped his boat back over bailed out the water with a little bucket on board (loved it) and got back in after a few tries and continued to bail until he could take off again! Check out the pictures these little guys are not afraid to tack jibe and catch all the wind they can. I am out of here and off to sleep. Stay tuned friends.

Loaded up our bikes and scooters and took off to the park to bike into Punta Gorda. We took our bikes to a place called the Burg R Bar restaurant that had a great breakfast. The neart thing was that you can ride your bikes all the way down the riverwalk around a hotel and under the highway with a beautiful mural underneath. After going under the overpass we headed down the street following directions to the restaurant. After eating we took a ride along more of the Peace River with some cool art structures and pretty scenery. We then decided to head over the river bridge to go to the Mariners Trading shop that i love to hit when we are anywhere near. It has all kinds of used marine boat gear including sail bags, pulleys, clamps and just anything marine! Luckily they had a bike lane but i rode over on the sidewalk side that had a wall between me and the traffic. Dont trust Punta Gorda Traffic. We did arrive safely although i hear Andrea behind me “say we are gonna die”. Following Steve Hudlow i have heard this phrase a lot if you havent followed him before, but all i can say is I am still alive and well after all of our crazy adventures over the years! The Mariners consignment shop has shirts, books, wall art, and all kinds of goodies. Then you go to the other side of the store with all the amazing used boat hardware! SO awesome they have stuff i can use on my backpacks bags and boat bags. Plus i found a sail bag with an emblem on it that will go on my backpack made from a sail. It looked like a lot of stuff outside was gone from my previous visit and that the store was for sale! I hope it is there when i come back to this way. We took our bicycles back to west marine and JOANNS on the opposite side of the road back toward Punta Gorda. Once we passed over the bridge ( oh saw a stingray gliding around in the shallow water by the bridge when we rode through, stopped and got a pic) we found some of the coolest trails through the town and outskirts. Beware of alligator signs along some stretches of the trail, beautiful historic areas and gardens. There was so much to see and we made sure we tried to ride and see all we could.Back to the boat and sunsets again NICE! Check out the pics below.

Up and on our way today to Punta Gorda which is an hour or two out of our way but it is a place we have driven to and loved and want to sail to it and see what that approach is like. We had to follow a trail of deep water to get over to bridge and under to head to our destination! So many shallow areas near the ICW or GIWW you have to stay in the cutout dredged area or experience the feel of the sand and or rocks beneath your keel. As we approached the anchorage area we did not see any boats but upon a closer look there were many boats already there..we came in toward the outside of the area and anchored close to the Fishermans Village(a restaurant and shopping mall area). A white Ibis landed on my anchor chain and just hung out for a little while.The first thing you notice is the dark brown water, it is a river outlet from the peace river where many Megalodon teeth have been found along with many other shark teeth and fossils. We lowered the dinghy along with Caretta and headed in to find some food. We found a restaurant on the water that had this incredible bbq grilled macaroni and cheese sandwich that makes two meals! It was delicious! Strolling the stores we found some cute dresses and jewelry as well as the sail bag store where the sell printed boat sails that have been cleaned and bags have been made of them. Barrys friend Jason and Keisha gave me 4 boat sails that i will construct my own bags from. I cant express my gratitiude enough for those sails. After we searched the shops we headed out to the park by the river. It really stinks by the dinghy dock but it was a nice place to tie your dinghy up at. We walked the pretty and clean side walks down next to a cool kids park, tennis courts, and an area under construction that has just laid new tiles and was surrounded by a sitting ledge with pretty ceramic or something images every few feet of shells turtles etc. Nice place very nice. We headed back to the boat to enjoy a beautiful sunset. Goonight friends.

Captains Log: Great holding right outside fishermans village, great dinghy dock with great access to parks and to ride bicycles or scooters through into and around town.

We got up early and headed to Sanibel Island across the bay at Ft Myers We passed a coast guard boat named Crocodile or Alligator cant remember but it is the first one i have seen named like that.Nice little trek across the bay and anchored out outside some very pretty houses and close to the inlet we are going to dinghy into. We waited to make sure the anchor held good then dropped the dinghy and headed into the inlet. Surprisingly the marina and restaurant were very close on our left/port side and a wonderful man came out and helped us tie up and directed us over to Grandma Dots restaurant. It being mothers day there was a waiting line for about 30 min or so. We were seated inside right by the door(i mean the door was right by my back) lol. It was such a cool little place and our waitress advised us it was under new ownership. The food was good and we enjoyed the atmosphere. The outside patio with tables looked like a garden area. There were some bronze dolphins and the bathrooms were outside with very nice tile and shower inside. We read we could leave our dinghys there and ride our bikes into town. So we took our bikes with Andrea and Barry on their scooters and headed to the end of the island. We came to a lighthouse near the beach entrance with hundreds of people on the beach cooking out swimming eating and having a great time. We walked a little ways on the beach and then rode our bikes back to the pier area where a small boy was throwing a fish net, practicing catching fish while the white ibis were waiting to be thrown a fish or two. A big dog was there and stood by Steve and Barry as they looked over the rail as if saying, “whatcha lookin at?”. We rode on around the island toward the other end taking the back road with great bike riding trails, sidewalk and road provided for bikes and scooters. Sanibel is very bike friendly. And it is soooo pretty! Passing a purple tennis court and tennis courts of bahama blue dark blue outlined with light blue teal and many other colors and styles as we rode. SO many tennis courts! Many cute bridges and beach entrances neat and clean with no trash here. We rode the whole island coming out close to a restaurant that is called, “The Island Cow” and ate there. It was good food but the ice cream place next door was YUK I asked for a Hot fudge Sundae with wet nuts(walnuts in syrup) she said she had them, and I received a bland bunch of vanilla ice cream with a little bit of fudge and chopped up dry peanuts YUK. It is no longer a family owned but big corp owned so YUK. Wait and go to the Dairy Queen on the island or JOEYS custard. The yukky place was called Pinocchios ice cream. Riding on we stopped at a little shop that had its stuff outside and some of the coolest shells, loved the place bought a couple of neat stone bracelets there. Over the cool bridges past lots of cute houses and back to the marina. I cannot describe all the beautiful natural places we went, trees leaning over the sidewalk, shady tree and plant covered areas with all kinds of little trails running through them(animal trails), pretty waterways as we went over the small bridges, just so pretty and quiet and peaceful. I will be back to this island again.Such friendly people willing to help you and a place to dock your dinghy!

Captains Log: Anchoring near the inlet at Sanibel has great holding.