It's time

I think I'm just going to get on with this today and backtrack when I have time and good wifi.

After a week or so of goodbye visits with all of our new friends we finally left the marina just before 8am on Saturday.  It was a fairly uneventful departure except for our docklines which were buried under our neighbour's.  Oh, and I dropped the dinghy bowline into the water on the way out of the slip.  Not a catastrophy, we towed it backwards. 

This isn't something I would recommend because it filled with water.  We got just past the first bridge, dropped the anchor, pumped it out and tied it up properly. 

With the sun setting so early these days we decided to make it an easy day and just head for the Manatee River.  It was only a 14 mile day but it's all about the journey not the destination, right?
We had afternoon snacks & cocktails while watching the pelicans fishing.  How they don't break their necks when they hit the water, I don't know but they always seem to catch something.

Sunday morning we plotted our course to Sarasota.  We have Homeport which is really convenient because we can plot our course on the laptop then transfer everything to the chartplotter.  Just for good measure we also have the INAVX app on the IPad.   

We arrived in Sarasota about 4 and snagged our first mooring ball.  It was much easier that I expected and I didn't even fall in.  At Marina Jack's for $20 you can stay on the mooring ball, free showers (used them this morning), wifi, water, laundry and a great view.

So here we are a day later.  We have a little issue with the generator which I'm hoping won't turn into a big issue.  On the upside, the solar panels and wind generator are doing a great job.

there's the Blue Moose at anchor
 

Marina Jack