Sarasota to Cayo Costa State Park

With the engines running well.......

We left Sarasota about 930 am heading out to our first anchorage since all the generator and engine trouble.

Saying goodbye to Sarasota it is a beautiful and energetic city.

There are a lot of white birds in that tree!

We passed a lot of birds on the way along the banks and in the water

  this one of the trees were full of pelicans.

Someone had the right idea naming this place Pelican ally.

We passed through 10 bridges on our travels today.

This one is a swing bridge at Blackburn point, the bridge master operates it from the middle of the bridge.

The Albee road bridge lifted. Making that 2 swing bridges and 1 lift bridge the rest of then were tall enough for Proud lady to travel trough without having to open. Proud Lady stands 15.5 feet above the water, her draft is 4 foot thats the part that is under the water, it could be more cause we have her loaded down with STUFF.

Wednesday

After a good nights rest our plan today is to visit Cayo Costa State Park." A gulf coast island paradise"

After morning chores are done we dropped the dingy into the water.

This is the entrance into the park. Cayo Costa is one of Florida's unspoiled barrier islands consisting of 2420 acres, that can only be reached by boat. There are a few private homes here that were established in the early 1900's but there is no electric power on the island.

We tied our dingy to the dock with lots of other dingys and  small boats. Ferry transportation brings people from Ft. Meyers and other communities near Charlotte harbor

The sign says Welcome to the real Florida

My goal today was to do some shelling on the beach.

The water is very cold but I can't help myself cause we are at a beach, AWESOME!

We shared a picnic under the palms.

A strange looking fish.

Conch in the water, we did not disturb her but we took a lot of pictures. See her pink foot?

Millions of shells.

Sandpipers would run to the water and then when the surf came in they would run away. 

This flower is at the edge of the path near the forest of palms long needle pines and native shrubs.

We spent about 4 hours walking and shelling.

Bill rested while I continued looking at all the beach sights.

Still looking for shells Taylor will be proud of her Ma Joy.

A bigger view of the beach

This is a great place to visit. There are bikes to rent, kayak rentals, fishing, swimming, hiking, primitive camping. We also seen friends from Sea n Red enjoying the park.

After such a long and busy day at the beach we returned to the boat and made pasta, Bill programmed the way points in the chart plotter for the next part of our trip.

I could talk all night about our travels but I will write more later, Love Ya Joy