Back on the water again! Our friends from Glen Ellyn, IL, Jay and Kay Strayer have joined us for a few days over New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. We left Sarasota today and cruised down to Boca Grande, a veryu nice cruise on the ICW. In the open bays, the dolphins cooperated nicely by surfing in our wake and jumping for the Strayers.
We’re anchored in the little Boca Grande harbor. This is a playground for the rich and famous and the economy is in no way tied to the cruising boats and marinas. There is almost no place to get in, but boats can anchor along the side of the harbor channel and tie their sterns to the mangroves lining the harbor to keep the boats all lined up and out of the channel. We’re in there just to the right of the center of the picture with a number of smaller cruisers and sailboats, all lined up against the mangroves. The boats on the left are the expensive private boats of local residents.
Here’s the way you tie to the mangroves. We're really in close to shore! There’s 6 ft of water this close in at high tide and 4.5 ft. at low tide, which is the minimum we need. It works fine and we dinghy over to Boca Grande downtown at a dock for the Pink Elephant restaurant, which is very nice and, of course, expensive.
Boca Grande is one of the barrier islands that protect the mainland from Gulf waves and create the intercoastal waterway channel. The little downtown and beautiful golf course at the waterfront is cute and quaint and everybody seems to drive golf carts here instead of cars. Even the kids drive golf carts down the streets. We sat and had fancy drinks and appetizers at the Pink Elephant’s patio bar and then walked across the island to see the beach on the gulf side, the girls walked to the little downtown shops, but they were closed by 5 PM when they got there.
We’re just going out to run in the Gulf today and stop at some little uninhabited islands, if we can. We’ll probably have to anchor and run the dinghy in to an island.
We’re anchored in the little Boca Grande harbor. This is a playground for the rich and famous and the economy is in no way tied to the cruising boats and marinas. There is almost no place to get in, but boats can anchor along the side of the harbor channel and tie their sterns to the mangroves lining the harbor to keep the boats all lined up and out of the channel. We’re in there just to the right of the center of the picture with a number of smaller cruisers and sailboats, all lined up against the mangroves. The boats on the left are the expensive private boats of local residents.
Here’s the way you tie to the mangroves. We're really in close to shore! There’s 6 ft of water this close in at high tide and 4.5 ft. at low tide, which is the minimum we need. It works fine and we dinghy over to Boca Grande downtown at a dock for the Pink Elephant restaurant, which is very nice and, of course, expensive.
Boca Grande is one of the barrier islands that protect the mainland from Gulf waves and create the intercoastal waterway channel. The little downtown and beautiful golf course at the waterfront is cute and quaint and everybody seems to drive golf carts here instead of cars. Even the kids drive golf carts down the streets. We sat and had fancy drinks and appetizers at the Pink Elephant’s patio bar and then walked across the island to see the beach on the gulf side, the girls walked to the little downtown shops, but they were closed by 5 PM when they got there.
We’re just going out to run in the Gulf today and stop at some little uninhabited islands, if we can. We’ll probably have to anchor and run the dinghy in to an island.
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