Wrapping it up - Part I of the Adventure Concludes!

Getting closer to home...we left Venice heading for Bradenton on Sunday, December 8. Chilly but sunny most of the day. This is a picture of the Van Wezel Performing Arts Center in Sarasota - fortunately it appears to be undamaged. We witnessed a lot of hurricane damage along the way, so many people with their lives up-ended. Arriving at Twin Dolphin Marina in Bradenton we passed a couple of sailboat victims in the marina... We had a very nice dinner at Pier 22 next to the marina then off to bed to enable an early start the next day. We made a last minute decision coming out of the Manatee River to go outside into the Gulf rather than staying in the intracoastal. The forecast was for winds 5 kts from SE and seas 'mild chop'. We also had heard lots of horror stories about what's possibly floating in the ICW after the hurricanes...so outside we went. It was as mild as advertised and we had a delightful journey. ...