The Final Day

The northeast wind was blowing hard across Pine Island Sound as we departed Capitva today and created quite a chop on the water. Knowing that it would take us about 5 hours to reach Longboat Key, we left early hoping to get past much of the open water. Once we were past Charlotte Harbor and the Boca Grande Pass, things calmed down and made for a peaceful run.

That is, until we got just north of Venice, where we discovered one of the few bridges that we need to have opened damaged and under repair.  As a result, it was only opening every four hours -- which meant we would have a 2+ hour wait based on its schedule.

We made the decision to turn around and go back to the Venice Inlet and run "outside" to Sarasota. Even though the wind continued to be a factor, the sea conditions were relatively mild compared to what we had become accustomed to over the past year. The only question was where we would come back in.

Sarasota Pass is known for its shifting shoals and is often different each time you go through it. One of the local yacht clubs regularly updates those changes on their web site, but since I wasn't "planning" on that, I hadn't had the opportunity to review it. Not good. The I remembered reading that New Pass, just to the north of that had recently been dredged and was now open. A quick call on the VHF radio to BoatUS confirmed it was indeed open, but that aids to navigation were all different and not accurate on the charts or GPS plotters. So with a little old fashioned compass navigation and binoculars, we found our way in the inlet without issue -- and plenty of water!

We reached Longboat Key in the early afternoon and docked Endless Summer in her winter berth. After 1500+ miles and two weeks on the water it felt good to be "home".