Heading Home

Our long week of R&R in Sarasota has come to an end. I am grateful that I was able to watch the Inauguration with Mel and Bonni, and to talk with them about the problems and the possibilities that lie ahead. They are smart and well-informed, and I enjoyed our conversations.

It’s also very nice to be with old friends. They know all your shortcomings, and they tolerate you anyway.

Sarasota is the apogee of our trip: from this point on, every move we make will be along a homeward path. True, we will be returning to Key West, so that is farther south, but it is nevertheless our homeward route.

At one point, we were planning to cut across the middle of the state via the Okeechobee Canal, but someone asked me why I was planning to return to the north around March 1…when the weather can still be nasty? I thought about it and realized that – because we cancelled the Bahamas over health concerns for both me and Guinness – we could spend another month in Florida. So, we’re simply going back to Key West instead.

Today we’re heading 20 miles south to Venice via the ICW, to spend the day with Sue and Jim DiCarlo, friends from Heshey’s Mill. We are in the Hershey’s Mill Singers together. I’ll stay in Venice tonight. At this moment – 8 AM – we are waiting for a dense fog to burn off. I am told that this is very unusual for Sarasota.

It may work out very well, however…Guinness made a new friend last night (Natalie) while we were waiting for our take-out order at the marina restaurant. Natalie (she’s Russian, so really Natalia) is going to come along on the Venice leg. Just for fun. And Natalie likes to sleep late, so we can let her sleep while the fog burns off. We expect to see her about 11, unless she changes her mind. It will be nice to have human company for a change.

Tomorrow – Sunday – we’ll take an outside route leaving Venice, swing back inside at Boca Grande, and return for a couple more days at South Seas Resort on Captiva. I met someone there on my last visit that I’d like to get to know better, and it’s a great spot for Guinness: lots of grass and beaches.

I guess that’s it for now. Time to get the boat ready for departure.