A long tiring day -- but worth it... On the road again...

 Today we began moving again....

And left the 3rd world living conditions in Cortez and joined the elite first world again.   

Now..  I know I call it the third world but this is where we've been staying the last six weeks.  See the yellow oval at the top?  That's where our boat has been.   It's not horrible.   Then again the 3rd world countries are some of the most beautiful natural places.  I suppose the same can be said about Anna Maria Island, even when the pump out isn't working...



Three weeks without a working pump out system at our marina meant we couldn't use our toilets on the boat and had to go down the dock and use the marina facilities.  We realize some people do that as a matter of habit but we prefer to use our own toilets.  


Today we cruised south first to Sarasota where we fueled up at Marina Jacks and pumped out both of our toilet tanks!  We can use our toilets again!    $900 later we also had diesel in all four of our tanks.  (That is only 187 gallons, less than half a tank!)

It is what we burned in December crossing from Carrabelle to Clearwater and then cruising back and forth from there to various places in the Tampa area for the last couple of months... But most of the time we sat still..  it also includes generator fuel, which we used for a full 10-20 days in Dunedin and Clearwater.  
We then cruised the rest of our 82 mile journey for the day to Punta Gorda.   This bay (Gasparilla Sound, Charlotte Bay) is way bigger than we thought it would be.  There are parts you can't see across.     It was hairy enough we didn't take pictures in the sound.  Perhaps tomorrow on the way out of the bay. 
It's interesting in Florida that they abandon old bridges but leave most of them there so they can be used as fishing piers. 
It was wavy and windy and pushed us around a bit.  

But we traveled through some beautiful areas with amazing homes - some of which are showing the results of the hurricane.  

Here's our marina in Punta Gorda.  Note the roof (a year after a hurricane).  

We had some low bridges today that required opening for our boat.   

And even saw a double-barge ferry service with two tug boats each pushing a barge full of cars switching sides and then unload/load.  It was like a ballet with them
 dancing back and forth.  
We finished the day in Punta Gorda doing a little shopping and going out to eat with friends that live here from my days at Grace Bible Church in High School.  
All in all a good day with only minor issues.  

There is something going on with my bow thruster making me nervous.  Hopefully I just sucked in some weeds...

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