Mar Vista to Palmetto

Monday, April 21, 2014 We got up to cloudy skies and cool temps. Bob took Auggie to shore while I stayed behind to start packing up. Once he got back we readied the boat to leave. We had a little trouble pulling up the anchor. It seemed that it was stuck on something. With a couple of tugs, we were able to get it loose and we were on our way at 9:15. Our neighbors, Bill and Linda Coleman came into the anchorage later last night and left before we did this morning. We passed them on the ICW at Cortez Bridge and headed for home.

It was a gloomy day and we were anxious to get home to begin the off-loading process and decommission the boat. It was a little rough crossing lower Tampa Bay, but I could see the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and that meant we were almost home.

Motoring past DeSoto Point, we could see 8 cruising boats anchored there.

We headed down the Manatee River and through “the cut” to the entrance of Tropic Isles.

We arrived at our dock to tie up at 10:15. Quoting a line from one of my favorite movies, “There’s no place like home!” Other than a couple of glitches with the lift and minor issues with the computer cord and the boat awning, the new motors ran flawlessly and we had a great time!! Thanks for following along. See you on our next trip in June to Glacier National Park with the travel trailer.

Our final trip statistics for this trip include:

Duration of trip: 30 days

Engine hours: 60

Average miles per gallon: 0.9 mpg

Average cost of fuel: $4.99/gal. (4 fuel-ups)

Total miles: 682

Cost of the trip: PRICELESS!!!!!