15 Dec Days 91-93 On the move again

Our parts finally came in and we could put Nautoncall’s heart back together.  She started right up and had oil pressure almost instantly, all good signs.  Unfortunately during the test run the transmission was still leaking.  Not as bad, but any leak is too big.  It was getting really close to the date of our flights home so we decided that we would carry on to Anna Maria Island to catch our original flight home on Monday.  It was about 14 hours run time to Anna Maria Island and we decided to leave on Friday to give us 3 days to cover the distance. The first night we decided to anchor at Shell Point just off the “Miserable Mile”.  The Miserable Mile is an area where boaters going to or coming from the Gulf must pass thru at idle speed so they don’t kill Manatees.  It was a nice spot to anchor for the evening with lots of traffic, but you got to watch them all go by slowly and quietly.  At sunset all the traffic stopped.

It was an awesome sunset.

I call this one the “Butterfly Sunset”

The next morning there was a line of squalls predicted.  I woke to look out to the west to see lightning off in the distance.  They say in cruising that the worst thing you can have is a schedule.  However, we had a schedule so we decided to head out into the approaching squalls.

It looked ominous for a bit, but when it hit, it rained hard for a few minutes and passed quickly.

It turned out to be a nice boating day after all.  The sun came out and although there was a big NW wind blowing, it didn’t bother us in the ICW.

We watched this Osprey catch a Sheepshead and carry it away like a pro.

I think he looked like a warplane carrying a bomb.

Speaking of warplanes,  you never know what you will see on the ICW.

That night we anchored out in Blackburn Bay, a nice quiet anchorage with barely enough water to float us at low tide.

We were up early the next morning to get moving before the tide dropped too far and trapped us there.

Janet made a nice breakfast, served on the Fly bridge.

It was nice to be moving again.

We arrived around noon to get Nautoncall into her Holiday mooring and then have a nice lunch at the Sand Bar with our gracious hosts.

In a little over 24 hours we will be able to have a drink in our own Sand Bar at home.  It probably won’t be Tee-Shirt weather.