Day 21 - Thursday, 1-31-08 - Bradenton Beach to Venice

Hated to leave Bradenton; truly a beautiful beach. The guys decided they'd had it with bascule bridges for a while and headed out the Longboat Pass passing under the single bascule bridge (the only bascule bridge that Jean didn't get a picture of!) for open water at 7:18 a.m. The seas ranged from about 2'-4' but with the short period irregular waves the boat motion was not particularly comfortable. We accused Gerry of hitting all the potholes, appropriate since he was in charge of LDOTD maintenance at one time. Basically, the girls took Bonine and went to sleep. Gerry and Roger bounced about for a couple of hours with the headsail boosting the speed to 5 - 5.3 knots. Then the headsail came down as did the speed. The bouncing continued, however. The girls got up to offer hot chocolate at one point and peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. We were hopeful that we could reach Boca Grande today but it soon became apparent that would not be possible, so we diverted to our alternative anchorage, Venice. We docked at the Crow's Nest Marina at 1:30 p.m in a beautiful setting at the confluence of the inlet, harbor and ICW. Started out on bikes to tour the city, but abandoned them after a while, walking the 1 ½ miles or so in to town (we needed the exercise!). Of course, Jean collected her sample of Venice Beach sand along the way. We thought we had entered the movie set of "Cocoon" as we sat on the ground in the Millennium Park and listened to "The Gentlemen's Jazz Band". They, along with most of the citizens, were "way old." Had a beer and spinach and artichoke dip at Carney's Pub and Grill (there's also one in Cape May, NJ which gives you some idea of where all the town denizens are from) and an ice cream cone and headed back to the boat. After a supper of baked potato and a "black and blue" salad (using the left over steak from Dave and Martha's) and then a nap, Sara tried to liven up the evening by taking a tumble off the boat. A strong current whipped the boat back as she stepped backwards onto the dock, a line grabbed her foot and sent her sprawling. Gerry came to her rescue as she was hanging on to that line with her foot to keep from going over into the water. She had hit her noggin on the yacht in the next slip, raising a goose egg and scrapping off enough scalp to cause a few anxious moments until the bleeding stopped. Roger and Jean were able EMT's, applying cold ice packs and warm blankets. We hope tomorrow will be a little more fun as we head for Captiva Island. By the way (since several have asked) we share the blog writing duties, signing our initials after each segment. GLR is Gerry, RKS is Roger, JGR is Jean and SBS is Sara. However, everyone's blog is subject to editing by the rest of the crew. We appreciate your comments. You are an integral part of our "journey." (SBS)