'Home' is the sailor, home from the sea...

I hope you know the rest of that poem!! (just in case you don't......and the Hunter home from the Hills!)

Leaving our lovely anchorage at Cape Haze was tough. It was to be an especially early morning, as we had to have a high tide to go into the residential canal to tie up. Without that tide, we are stuck in the sand! High tide was 8.47am, but we wouldn't get there till almost an hour later.

I obviously have some salt spots on the camera lens...I took this pic looking back to the keyhole we were anchored in...6.15am-ish.

 Looking to the left (port) as we came back out into the ICW to continue south towards Charlotte Harbor. The sun is just coming up, as you can see. There is a little, light wind, as evidenced by the ripples on the water.

There was another Looper boat that parked with us last night...that is the AIS target in the keyhole. They left about 20 mins after us. Our goal was to make the Boca Grande bridge before 7am, when they would start opening on a schedule. Before 7am, they open on demand.
What we didn't know, was that the bridge is undergoing repair...hmmm.

We hailed the bridge and requested the opening. It was a little slow, so we marked time for five minutes. Then the bridge stopped here....We asked if that was as far as she was going to open...Yep! came the reply. Hmmm.....Back up the boat and take a sideways stab at this narrow opening. There was more wind going against us, at this point (see the water!), and we were being blown towards the sharp end of that open span. This is a no wake zone, so we were down to idle speed...Waz decided we would be blown into the bridge if we didn't give our baby some porridge so he upped the revs a few knotches. Of course we got through the narrow opening, and it wasn't until we were on the other side that we realized the extent of the opening problem..aieee! We hope no boats larger than us, would be going through there!

The span couldn't be opened further because of the scaffold on the center prop...it was kind of in the way!

Out the other side and between the narrow span of this defunct rail bridge, and out into the continuing ICW, southbound.

 Rising sun

We finally turned off the ICW into Charlotte Harbor. You can see it still isn't very deep:)
Boca Grand is to our stern (the Island) and we now have 2 1/2 hours of motoring up Charlotte Harbor to our turn off to the residential canals.

 It wasn't cold...much! Had to take a selfie on our last journey for about 6 months. We look a bit like penguins!lol.

Two hours later we are about to enter the VERY shallow canal into the residential canals.  We have figured out how to do this efficiently...get to where we need to be, that is. The canal straight ahead isn't the one we want to be in...that's the next one to the right.
Getting there involves us going straight ahead into the first canal to the middle of the channel, doing a 180 degree turn (didn't I tell you this before??) then a 90 degree turn to port to get around the sea wall...all the time hugging the sea wall (made the mistake of NOT doing that coming out, last time) and then another 90 degree turn to port to get into the HOME canal. Phew. Waz had me reading out the depths while he concentrated on the turns and where we should be in the channels. Then it was time to put the ropes down (I had previously, in Cape Haze, tied the ropes back on the starb'd railings ) for our berthing.

 Coming in off Charlotte Harbor...

I wasn't able to take photos coming along the sea wall coz I was too busy watching the lack of water under us, lol....However, we made it around the last corner, and down the home straight.

The neighbors down the canal came out to see us, and waved:) Nice to be back!!!:)

We already had three ropes on by the time Stefie came out to greet us. Fresh out of the shower, she hadn't expected us so soon:) so she was a little embarrassed that I was taking her photo while in a state of disrepair:) (only she was bothered by it!).

WOW! We are home!! wooohoooo!!!!

 

I had been a little weepy, on the way up the harbor. It hadn't really sunken (no puns intended here!) in that we had finished. I guess I hadn't considered crossing our wake 'finishing', but more that when we finally docked at Len and Stefie's that we would finally be complete...or have completed our Loop.

 

We have talked about getting out on some weekends and going to anchor out somewhere with friends off the loop who don't live so far away. We will have to consider this, just to keep our hand in and give us time out. We have a busy schedule ahead of us, for boat maintenance etc, and will need to observe weekends, we think. Otherwise, we tend to just work all the time and then wipe out.

 

Just going back a day...

We had woken on our first morning (second day) in Cape Haze to the sound of snorts. This usually alerts us to Dolphin surfacing, but this was different. These snorts were different, which immediately had us searching the water close by for Manatee:) We usually see them from a distance, but these snorts and the large wallowing bodies on the surface, were very up close and personal. Of course each time I went to take a photo, the bodies disappeared under water, so alas, no photos!:(

 

Then the Dolphin came in for their normal fishing expedition. They had been in to do the rounds, the night before. I wonder if they were the same ones? There had been much tail splashing near the sea wall, so we figgered they were catching something there, and then the whirlpools started. If you have ever seen Dolphin catching fish, you know how a few of them create a whirlpool to corral the fish, and then they swoop from below. Fascinating to watch first hand.:)

Took the dinghy off the boat for an outing. It was cold with the wind against us, but we wanted to get off the boat and get some idea of the neighborhood, which we like...the neighborhood, that is...oh, and getting off the boat... for a Tiki-tour!:)

 

We decided to go across to Don Pedro State Park, one of the parks on the Barrier Island opposite us. Getting there involved us tiki-touring through a residential canal, under a bridge (that takes you onto the island we are parked next to) and then around the island, into the ICW, across that into a Manatee Zone, where we went between the mangroves, watching Osprey fishing (delightful!) and on to the dock at Don Pedro State Park.

 

That's one of the Dolphin doing the rounds of the keyhole anchorage.

I like to take photos of 'Untide' when we leave her somewhere. This is for a couple of reasons...1. We know where we left her, in case of trouble...well, all kinds of trouble, actually! I am sure you can figger out most of that! and I like to show where we have been, as it were:) This is the Keyhole at Cape Haze.

...and this is the residential canal that leads off the Keyhole and down a rabbit hole...just joking! Those folks coming towards us in a dinghy, were off one of the boats that anchored overnight. They were gone when we returned to the boat after our Don Pedro assignation.

Some idiot planted a large Ficus next to the sea wall! duh!

 Coming out the other end of the canal. As you can see, an overcast day. What you cant feel is the cold wind!

 There is a demi lune on the other side of the island, where lots of nice but ordinary homes  cost six arms and five legs.

We crossed the ICW and entered the Manatee Zone. You can almost see the signpost! Waz knew it was there, but I had obviously missed it, as we came past the first time in Untide.

 I love Mangroves...sounds weird, but they are home to the most amazing eco-systems.

 The birthday boy almost cracked a smile:) He hates being the subject of all my photos:) But he doesn't take any of me, so you are stuck with his mug, I'm afraid.

An Osprey on the wing. We counted 5, actively fishing, at 3.30pm.

It was snail pace motoring through the little lagoon to the dock at Don Pedro Island.

The challenge for us was...no dinghy dock...so we had to put our bums on the dock first and hoist ourselves up. For me this was a bit creaky...my misspent youth has caught up with me, physically!

 It was cold by the water, so we kept our gear on. Waz is contemplating the clear brown (tanins) water under the dock.

The sign said "Welcome to the REAL Florida". We are a little perplexed! We thought the REAL Florida was populated by folks wheeling their oxygen tanks....I jest, of course, but this vegetation, if in fast is what most of Florida USED to look like...well, it still does, really. Scrubby!

The State Park has a pavilion for shelter from the hot summer sun, and rain when it does (if it does) and on the other side is the Gulf Beach.

The ubiquitous Grills and picnic tables were there. Also the trash cans. I guess people cant be trusted to leave with what they brought?

 The sign says...Nature Trail.

We are at #2., but this shows the whole area including how close we are to Charlotte Harbor.

 

 

As usual, dunes are protected, so we walked on the boardwalk to the beach on the Gulf side of the island. We were very glad not to be out on the water this day, even though we would be going with the swell and tide.

A sand piper was actively fishing

and these two Pelicans looked like two old men having a slow walk and conversation:)

A group of people were fishing from their pontoon boat. I rather like the social aspect of having a pontoon boat...they fit many people...this of course is cause for the Captain to snort in his teacup!:) In my dreams, right! lol

 Going back the same way...the color is much better because you might have noticed that the sun has come out and the sky is now BLUE!!! the wind was cool still, though.

 On the way back to Untide, we passed this home with lots of toys. We thought they should have had a few more...what do you think??..enough engines on that fishing boat?? why not add another!!:)
Ok, just being silly!

 

 This will do it for us...especially the hammock under the palm tree!

 Can you see us??? This was taken from the middle of the ICW...but we weren't going back to the boat just yet...Other residential canals beckoned and we just HAD to go look and see if there were any houses for sale...or vacant lots that looked like we might own it! Just joking! We can dream, cant we? Not quite ready to be earth bound, me thinx.

 ..and then we decided it must be Tea Time somewhere, being 4.30pm, and we had our tongues hanging out for such things.

We heard an Osprey going crazy, vocally, and looked up to discover why...here is why! A Bald Eagle is sitting in the Osprey's tree!...well, that's what it looked like! Osprey settled for a branch nearby and continued to chirrup and squark.

 

And so we had our cup of tea, Waz took a short nap, and I set about making him a yummy dinner for his 61st Birthday.

We had some apples that had passed their best, so I made an Apple cobbler (crumble, to the kiwis) with them, and for dinner I made a Taragon Chicken Fettucine with lots of parmesan on top. It was very yummy, and there was enough left over for lunch for Waz the next day.

The crumble was served with lashings of sloppy whipped cream, of course:) By now, dear reader, you should know that almost everything comes with lashings of whipped cream. We did find, at our last supermarket visit, that cream is a bit more expensive, in Florida than some places we have been:(

 

 

So, dinner was consumed, the dishes washed and put away, and we settled in for our final night at anchor for a long while.

I had to include at least one sunset photo in this blog post. I took this our last night in Cape Haze. 

 

Well, first  I have to show you the cobbler...THEN the sunset!:) 

 

 

Here it is...our last sunset at anchor for 2014

 

...and that dear friends, is THAT. We are home and tied up (not Untide, anymore:( ) but happy to be here and enjoying sleeping in a little...emphasis on the little...it will get later than our normal 5am wake-up, I promise:)

Ciao...I will update periodically.