We left the dock at San Giorgio Maggiore early Sunday morning in bright sunshine and toured the waterfronts of Giudecca and Dorsoduro before motoring past San Marco, Castello, Arsenale and around St. Elena. After yesterday's thunderstorms and a week of morning haze, the clear skies and vistas called for even more photos of this magical city ... we'll get a gallery going soon - stay tuned!

With a bit of a lull in the non-stop vaporetto and ferry traffic, we meandered around the St. Elena and la Certosa marinas, thinking the latter may be a good stopover for a visit next season. Our destination was Burano, a tiny island in the lagoons about one and half miles north of Murano and five north of Venice. Lining the sides of the channels every couple hundred yards were "dolphins", three wooden piles strapped together to mark the shallows. A few areas looked good for anchoring. Our first stop was just outside the channel on the north side of Burano and then, having explored by dinghy to check depths, we found a creek with 13-20 feet of water for the next few days.

We have amazing views from our creek-side anchorage with colorful Burano on one side and snowcapped Dolomites on the other. In between the golden marshland, local birds and small fishing boats complete the scene.

We spent a lazy Sunday at anchor and then went for a short walk ashore to check out the dramatically tilted tower (yes, a full 5% - equal to Pisa!) and browse the small streets lined with brightly painted houses. Monday and Tuesday we spent all day aboard in as thunderstorms dampened the touring and boat chores called - in particular fixing the bilge pump and cabin heater - it's getting chilly at night! And, for the mechanic's assistant, hours of blogging ~ a worthy Venice retrospective! Note: anchored in creek off Burano for 9 days! (10/10 - 10/19)

Cruiser's notes: Free! anchorage in the creeks north of Burano - this Lat-Lon - or on the edge of the canals with fore and aft anchors. Click and zoom on GoogleEarth to see a great view of the anchorage.