Spent a frantic 24 hours getting stuff ready to go. One last trip to Mazzaro's, Trader Joe's, Fresh Market, Sam's, WalMart & Publix; Cap'n Honey did the West Marine/Home Depot/Lowe's without me! Restocked on paper goods, staples, and meats for the freezer. Everything stowed, we may have trouble finding stuff in the overflow spots vs normal places. Said our goodbyes to Peter & the couple who are working on his teak; they are cat people & enjoyed meeting our 3. Had a sundowner Friday nite & good visit w/Kelly, Nancy & Winston, whose nose was working overtime on kitty smells...

Nancy shows up to help Ted wash the boat (have I mentioned how AWFUL the birds are in this marina?? Impossible to keep the boat clean unless you use the hose every 2-3 hours!), while I work below. Dockmaster Doug & Nancy do a super job of getting us off the dock; waaaaay too windy & takes 2 tries before we can get over to the fuel dock for 103 gallons & a 5 gallon jerry can. The other 2 5-gallon cans are full - neither of us can remember how that is! Kelly even came by the fuel dock to say 'bye...

It's blowing, but in a typical non-helpful, right on the nose direction, so a-motoring we go! Under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge one last time, past Egmont, & into the Manatee River. There are some beautiful homes in this area, but bridge heights keep us from going too far! We're anchored about 3:00 at Desoto Point; several boats here, both sail & power, including at least 1 cruising boat, 2 derelicts, & even a yacht club group Must be a Halloween weekend outing! Plenty of time to relax for me; Ted installs new stereo speakers on the stern & new bulb in the running light before our celebratory dinner of the last Skinner's steak! Kitties love having the run of the boat since there's nowhere to go except swimming. Both CK & Margo had become quite adept at making the jump from the boat to the dock in St. Pete; CK even walking as far as the next slip before being grounded from outside time!

Breeze is absolutely zero, so generator & a/c are on. Not what we planned, since it's time to forget those shore-power conveniences for the real cruising life, but kitties & humans are much more comfortable.

Early wake-up for tomorrow's trip to Venice. Watches reset for the end of DST - there are no clocks aboard to worry about...

PS. While Claire is filling you in on what we have been doing I will let you know that we are in Marathon. Weather is coming in for the next week so we decided to stop for a while in the mooring field in Boot Key Harbor. It's operated by the city and has mooring for over 200 boats. Very well protected since the winds are forecast to be 20 - 25 with seas 6 to 10 feet. All is well and Claire will keep posting our adventures.