I can't begin to say how wonderful life was today. We pulled out of Ragatta Point Marina around 8am under beautiful sunshine and blue skies. We topped off the port tank and headed out to sea. Coffee on the bridge at 7kts in a light breeze was just priceless. We headed out of Manatee River into Tampa Bay with a slight chop on our starboard beam but pleasant. As we eased south the tail winds were gentle and calming. We intered the ICW and all went flat and calm. We hooked up with a fellow looper and tagged along for a nice leisurely stroll south towards Venice Florida. We passed several bridges and only waited for a couple to open to continue our stroll down the channel. We had Toscana and Givit A Go ahead of us and chatting on the vhf about anything and everything that passed us by. It was an beautiful day on the water. We finished the day at the Crows nest marina in Venice, with Scott and Joan on Give it a Go and Wes and Amy on Toscana pulling into the marina all on queue. We were quite the show trying to dock in the current and wind on an inside tie up. Starboard tie did not work for us so we had to back out and spin the boat for a port side tie and that is where the fun began. Coming close to hitting boats fore and aft, we finally got the boat secured port side behind Toscana and Give it a Go. We met up with Mark and Lisa for dinner and had an outstanding time chatting and catching up since they moved from Grapevine to Florida. We had a great dinner, then docktails, good times for sure. Nothing like getting old American Airline folks together for a seaside chat. Afterwards, we caught up with fellow loopers Toscana and Give it a Go for evening docktails. Life is good, life is short, every day is a good day, and today was a super Gooder day.
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| Alan, Yoli, Lisa, Mark |
