We sailed!  We left Boca and sailed the gulf down to Venice.  The winds were behind us so we sailed downwind with our jib out.  It was a beautiful and comfortable sail. It was a bit like playing frogger as there were hundreds of crab pots to avoid.  Crab fisherman sink cages down to the bottom and tether them to a little buoy on top.  They can snag around your prop if you hit them and cause much swearing, expense and eventually will turn you into a crab.  You see?  Another creation story.  And why do they paint them blue so they are extra hard to see?

We docked in Venice at the Crow’s Nest.  It has a great restaurant with a long reaching reputation.  It also has free beach bikes for marina guests.  We biked for an iced coffee in downtown Venice and then to get groceries.  We were loaded up like a circus act.  My grandparents lived here years ago and I visited as a child.  I biked through great memories.

I was missing my sons and my pet parrot.  Although it would be creepy of me to follow around handsome young men and take their picture, the birds didn’t seem to mind.  The Crow’s Nest even has their own parrot, PePe, who whistles Jingle Bells and sings bad opera.

Check out this pelican’s yawn!

White pelicans are “snow birds.”  They winter in Florida.  They are huge, four to six feet, not including wing span.  They hunt together as a small group herding fish to the shallows and then scoop them up with their bills.  And they smell, even from the distance of this picture.  Or maybe that was John.

From Venice we left for Sarasota where are still moored as of February 13th.