Florida! Unbelievable rain and oh so cold! 

Our fluid plans were fluid once more. With storms and winds gusting to 30 knots, we prudently decided to stay in the safe marina at Sarasota. And as you may have previously read, I am on the manatee hunt. As Sarasota has the Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium, complete with manatees, we decided to visit. 

Out of rain ✅.  Engaging activity ✅.  Saw manatees ✅. 

Actually, it was a really cool place with all kinds of sea creatures, plus crocodiles and alligators, really well displayed with lots of hands-on stuff. There were also guides/docents who spoke about each creature. Really interesting place, complete with labs and research.

In the afternoon we vegged out on board Bushranger, Mark undertaking his writing studies and I watched Netflix. We managed an afternoon siesta in there, as well.

Today we awoke to semi clear skies and sunshine. We set sail at 8.30am in 9 degrees. We started out on the flybridge, but changed our minds shortly afterwards. 🥶

But the day was glorious for sailing. It went from this… to this

Stormy weather

To glorious weather

Along the way I baked bread…

Whilst Mark helmed…

Now we are Mediterranean moored in Boca Grande Bayou on Gasparilla Island. A beautiful part of the world. Mark used the dinghy to tie the stern lines to the foliage. We then went for a little exploration, before trekking into the charming old world town of Boca Grande. Six streets over and we were lapping our toes in the Gulf of Mexico.

Oh, and we still have sentinels watching over us.

Such is Life!