Lots of people enjoying the water, fishing off the shore, collecting shells and sunbaking. It is not a good place to swim because of the turbulent waters.
One of the picnic areas further down the beach
Sugar white sand but rough waters
The Lighthouse at the end of Gasparilla Island
You can see how turbulent the waters are here.
The Lighthouse is all decked out for Christmas:)
This fella was sitting and sunning:)
Before we went across to the Island we did a tiki-tour around the streets at the end of the main road we are on (well, just off, actually). When we looked at Edgewater on google-earth, we found that it ended not far from here....well, it is far, actually and there are a truck load of homes down the far end (west of here). There are also a truck load and a half of vacant lots down there, mostly covered in scrub...albeit tall scrub! And you know what comes with scrub? Critters! the slithery kind, among others. We were told bobcat, armadillo and sometimes bears can be found in these areas, so it isn't just alligators we have to be wary of!!! Snakes, also!
We did stop to let this fellow make his way down the road...
He is a Gopher Tortoise. He stopped the minute we drew near, and didn't move again until the car was well clear. He knows his enemies!!
We are fascinated by all the critters, and marvel at how close to humans they all live.
Something that makes us giggle is the deflated Santas and other blow ups that 'die' during the day, but come to life at night, along with the Xmas lights. The blowers are turned off during the day. We love driving and walking around at night to see the lights...some displays are totally random and others are very well thought out. Waz has threatened that if ever we get a house...look out! Lights for China, music, the whole nine yards! Remind me never to get a house!!!!:)
The Toll gates before the bridge going to Gasparilla Island. It cost us $6!!! sheesh! to get onto the Island. I have to say that the place is beautifully kept, the roads are good etc....and the beach parks are a credit, though you are still supposed to pay (honor system) to park there...$3 per day, but it allows you to park at any of the Beach Parks on the Island.
It was exciting to go OVER the bridge that we had to wait to open when going through the ICW on the boat..
Here we are at the mid-point on the bridge. This is a pivot or Swing Bridge. It pivots sideways from the center point. You may remember me remarking in a previous post about going through the very skinny channel on the other side where all the fishermen were parked and that they kept zooming across in front of us? This is it, looking to the left, as we went over the bridge.
I drive, Waz is instructed on what photos to take and when, lol...he thinks it would easier if he drove and I took the pics...nah! not half as much fun...we laugh a lot over this!
We were fascinated by this shell of a house out on the point. If you look at it on google earth, the only access to these homes is by water. The road ends quite a way from the houses. This shell doesn't show up on google earth, so it is either a victim of the weather or the economic climate. The latter, we are thinking. Stunning site though! To find it, look for the bridge over the ICW going to Gasparilla Island, on the seaward side on the finger . You will see the blue/green roof there, but not the shell.
We came through these two poles/markers on the boat, to get under the bridge. We always get a buzz finding these things that we did in the boat, when we are on land and in the car.
One of the few very contemporary homes we have found in the area. Obviously under construction, and on the ICW
Yep...you know you are in Florida when most of the parking spots are filled with Golf Carts. This parking lot is at the Beach Club.
The local Catholic Church....that is a wreath around the circular window. It is a lovely Spanish style church. I love the Queen Palms everywhere.
Oh! Do you think it would be good to stop at the end?? Beach on the other side!
and next door...the beach. This part of the Island was quite windy, and more than a few people were chasing their umbrellas down the beach. Having a breeze was lovely from our point of view...cooler, on an otherwise hot day.
One Lighthouse....
This sign refers to the one below
Two lighthouse
Bridge over the delicate dunes from the parking lot to the beach
The picnic spot where we ate our lunch
We had chicken and salami with romaine lettuce as a 'roll' with grape tomatoes, grapes and a banana muffin. All kind of thrown into the cooler at the last minute. There were mandarin oranges left for when we got hungry in the afternoon. 
The seed head for this grass is rather lovely. I had to take a close-up!
The sea was such a gorgeous turquoise!
These Horse Mussels were huge, as you can see. Yes, that is Waz's delicate foot! He takes a size 10.
I got a bit carried away taking pics of the lovely shells on the beach. Being a confluence of two waters, the tide washes shells up onto parts of the beach and not others. Tidal action is fascinating...I am becoming a great respecter of all the elements involved in boating.
Most of the people were on the side of the beach overlooking the harbor entrance. There are strong advisories posted in the parking lot that this is not a swimming beach. We did come across a group of fishermen/women who were catching/tagging/releasing sharks for NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Advisory) at this point. They said yesterday was a good day with them catching at least half a dozen 6-8ft sand sharks.
Don't you love these little scallop shells?
We went back to the Historic part of town and walked for a bit, but it was hot, so we didn't go far.
Lots of lovely old Banyon trees covering the roads, providing much needed shade. Nowhere is very far from a beach here as you will see from the map further down.
This shell is everywhere on driveways, walkways etc. Well bleached!
Of course we looked in the Realtor windows and this rather tickled us...what are 'wetlips'? I think they mean WETSLIPS!
So...can you follow where we were? and where we went? We came from Port Charlotte, middle right, near the top of the harbor. We followed route 776 to 771 down to Placida and across the causeway to Gasparilla Island. We returned across the causeway, of course, north on 775, back to Hwy 41 at Venice, and home.
This gives you a good idea of where we are in Florida.
After leaving the Island, we went north to Venice, and back home along Hwy41 Not far, in the scheme of things...about 25 miles.
It was a lovely day out. We left the boat at around 10am, and got home around 6pm. Len called us when we were looking at Model homes in a planned community just off 41, and invited us to join them for a bar-b-q with friends, at the house. We met Mark and Sharon, like us, former clients who purchased a 53ft Navigator from Len. That was 10 yrs ago! Len and Stephie (a former Realtor) collect former clients as friends:) Well, why wouldn't you?
We enjoyed a lovely evening in excellent company and came back to the boat full, tired and happy. We love tiki-touring, especially to beautiful places.
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