Long Boat Key to Venice to Palm Island Marina to Coya Costa

Day # 93; Loop Miles = 1,344

OK...we have some catching up to do on the blog, as we have been on the move in the past few days. We left Longboat Key Club on Thursday and traveled to Venice to stay at Fisherman's Wharf Marina. This was a really nice marina stop, although some of the amenities were a bit spartan. The docks were great, the protection from wake and wind superb, and the people we met were super freindly. And this was where we also caught up with our friend Steve, who moved to Venice after retiring from Dow Corning a handful of years ago. It was not only great to see him and catch up, but he was a terrific host! We went out to a fantastic seafood dinner (his treat!) and he also loaned us a car for the few days that we were there. On top of this, he served as our local post office and UPS location as we shipped quite a few things to his house ahead of time. Thanks Steve for making our life much easier!




 

Typical view on the Intercoastal...thousands and thousands of houses like this one with the ubiquitous pool cage.

We have enjoyed seeing more of these flocks of White Pelicans. They seem so unusual, and still catch us off guard occasionally.

We stayed in Venice for 2 nights, and enjoyed our time there, but the marina rates were a bit steep, so we moved on. On Saturday, we moseyed down the Intercoastal to Palm Island Marina (another great spot) near Englewood, and enjoyed meeting Gold Loopers, Doug and Betty on Sea Biscuit. They offered some insightful local advice, and we ended up following them to our anchorage at Coya Costa where we are tonight. They also will be a perfect resource for information on the Fort Myers area as they spend a considerable amount of time there when in Florida.

And now for a brief tour of a swing bridge...

This swing bridge is the only path to continue down the Intercoastal, and has a height clearance of about 9 feet...even we need to call to have a bridge like this opened for us.

The bridge tender walks to the center of the span, and swings the bridge open from there. If you look closely, you can see him just to the right of our burgee in his bright green safety vest.

And now it's open far enough for us to pass through.

And there he is!

So tonight, we are anchored out at Coya Costa, a beautiful anchorage near an island state park. There is a dinghy dock about 1/2 mile from where we are anchored for puppy duty, and the beaches on the island are gorgeous. Our friends from InSpeyered 2 stayed here for 3 days last month, so we knew it was a spot that we wanted to also check out. And, along the way, everyone we spoke with about anchorages mentioned this location specifically...and now we see why. It is quite windy out there tonight, and will remain so for a couple of days, but we are in a protected cove and very secure. There are about 10 other boats spread throughout this large anchoring area, and we expect many to come and go over the next few days...more info and pictures to follow in future installments.

Our first sunset at Coya Cost...a bit cloudy today, but still quite pretty.