Going Ashore in Venice

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Yesterday was an active day on the waters around this marina. As the outlet to the sea and the intersection of the ICW, boats were everywhere. The little island is known as Snake Island but we doubt that snakes live there. Being only about a quarter acre, it is the focal point for many boaters to swim and camp. Bear and I took the dink up and down the ICW just amazed at the development along the waterway. It is the opposite of the GIWW in Texas.

It was fun to see the different types of boats. Boaters are, for the most part, considerate of others but every once in a while there is some knucklehead that has to demonstrate disdain for the rules. We guessed that is why the Sheriff patrols the area all day long. The jetties are occupied with hundreds of fishing fans and because they are only about a hundred and fifty yards apart it resembles a city street during a parade.

We took a taxi to the local grocery store yesterday and did some tourism stuff afoot. Venice was designed from scratch by architects who envisioned a master plan around a long green way from the sea to the inland water some two miles away. The downtown is preserved as it was in the turn of the century, the last century. It is an assemblage of stucco stores that would have been inspiration for some Norman Rockwell scene. One old hotel has a barber shop no longer in operation but it has manikins in the barber chairs with the wraps used to keep the hair out of one’s shirt. They are posed so as to wave to the passerby. We definitely get the feeling here that we are youngsters in this community.

Evenings in a marina are always different. Just after dark last evening, Bear was already in the rack when I saw a woman on the jetty just beyond the fence of the marina. We had the sun screen zipped on the back of the bimini so she did not see me sitting in the cockpit. She took individual flowers from a bouquet she held and one by one tossed them into the outgoing tide. She paused between each toss and sobbed a bit. When done she sit back down for a few minutes. After a few minutes, she saw me and we spoke. She was saying bye to a nephew who was killed recently. It was a touching moment.

We have enjoyed this marina but we will leave it tomorrow. We are planning to do a short hop down the ICW, if for no other reason just to see the communities along the ditch. There are only a few bridges along the way and we need some bridge work in preparation for the east coast of Florida. We think we will make Key West by the end of next week and we are looking forward to a few days there and to visiting with Salty Sailors.

This is Pep-E who lives in front of the Crow's Nest Marina office.  He is an Amazon Blue Front Parrot that was born in 1986.  He can live over 100 years according to the sign on his cage.  He questioned me for several minutes before dismissing me by saying "Good Bye"

Today, we plan to do more exploration by dink. Rumba Line came through the jetties late yesterday. He ran aground just as we established radio communications. “Gotta go.” He said. “Am aground”. He has a small dog that won’t use facilities on the boat so his schedule is somewhat determined by the pooch urges. So it goes in the shallows of Florida.