Vacation from the vacation!

Longboat Key Resort! Very nice marina! Excellent parking spot!

We had so much fun were still gathering the pic and stories. We pushed off from gulf port in the AM and traveled across Tampa Bay.  It was a nice sunny day and the wind was not strong.  Waves were 1.5 feet or so on the ICW and 3-5 feet in the gulf. No brainer ICW route! Paraiso maneuvered around a commercial ship and a tow barge in the big Tampa Bay then straight on into the ICW.  We had a nice ride with several more bridge openings and arrived at Longboat Key Marina at about 3:10 PM.  We found that our slip was up front 20 steps from the pool and 40 steps from the bath house! Hey, Turtle Cove was a ¼ mile walk. Celebrate the small wins! The place was the best kept marina I ever seen. We went for a walk to check out the marina and found that India Jayne was also here. Kit and Pam came over and greeted us. Also, the lock director from Kentucky River Authority (Jerry) was also a LBKR member on C dock! We met for breakfast and got reconnected.  The next day the wind was blowing very hard. We ventured over to the gulf to see very large waves as far as the eye could see. Lucky for us Longboat Resort was a much protected cove. The locals called this “tall cotton area”. Meaning break out your wallet and steer clear of snooty types. We found a little of both.

During our stay we visited the Ringling Circus Museum, a seafood and music festival, St. Armand’s Circle, friends stopped by and of course several trips to the beach. Kit and Chris went into every ice cream shop on long boat key! We left no sand dollar unturned. We all agreed that the north end of the island (Ana Maria) was the friendliest and homey feeling. On the third day the winds were very calm the gulf was like glass. It was the most peaceful water to date. Reluctantly, we will need to leave paradise tomorrow and say goodbye to Kit and Pam.

The group photo is Dennis and Lillian, Chris and Janis and Pam. Kit was taking the photo. In the statue photo, Chris and Janis looking up the nurse’s dress. Well Chris was anyway. The Ringling bros museum was fabulous! Above was a period circus wagon and a 00 scale circus event that was 150 feet long and 50 feet wide. A man worked on the model as a labor of love for over 50 years. The detail was unbelievable. The meridian 411 above was entering long boat key resort as we were leaving.