Boca Grande

Our 47 mile cruise to Boca Grande on Saturday was so cool!  It was a busy waterway and we really enjoyed seeing all the activities happening on the water.  We had ten bridges with two that needed to swing or raise.  Blackburn Point Bridge, the swing bridge was super narrow and the bridge keeper was a hoot.  She stopped traffic from either direction, literally walked out on to the bridge and swung it for us and then proceeded to visit with us as we floated by.  

Blackburn Point Bridge

Albee Road Bridge

Communities along the way were getting ready for holiday boat parades.  It reminded us of 4th of July in Hooterville with everyone staging their chairs along the parade route.

As we made our way further down the ICW, we met single rowing teams, a girls crew team and groups of jet skiers all enjoying the beautiful day.

You go girls!!!

Car Pontoon Ferry near Lemon Bay

This house sits right out on a point next to the ICW. You can see the markers to the left. 
​ What a view, huh? 

We pulled into the Boca Grande Marina early afternoon.  It was super WINDY and rough and it continued throughout the rest of the day and night.  I didn't realize that the docks there are fixed and the tide had a 3 ft. differential.  The waves just kept rolling in off the bay and our swim platform slapped the water about every 15 seconds the entire time we were there.  Even though we tied BELLA up for the tide, we set our phones to remind us to check our lines at both high and low tide.....Tom did the 2 am check :). 

BELLA tied up at Boca

We loved the island of Boca Grande!  We set our bikes up and headed out for the afternoon and checked out the island.  The beach was beautiful.  There were three weddings there on Saturday.  One was on Banyan street, which of course is lined with big, old Banyan trees.  

We checked out the beach and the island light house before heading back to the bouncing boat!

More later~