Gasparilla

Wednesday, May 4

Gasparilla Island, Uncle Henry’s Marina

We left Sanibel and spent the day motoring north up the ICW.  It was pretty, and we saw lots of interesting boats and houses.

When we were near the marina, we called for instructions on how to get in.  It turned out to be a very long, windy, narrow, shallow passage deep into an inlet in the island.  Our shallow alarm went off a couple of times, but luckily we didn’t get stuck. 

The marina was a little strange.  It was tucked way, way back into an inlet.  It had over fifty slips, but there were only about five boats docked there.  There were no people around; just the dockmaster.  There were signs all over saying “don’t do this, don’t do that, don’t do the other”.  NOT a welcoming feeling.

We got tied up and walked to a tiny grocery store.  As we approached the boat on the way back, we noticed that we had a visitor.  A large white egret was perched on our bimini.  He was so beautiful!  He stayed there almost until we started climbing on the boat.  Then he took off, and, thankfully, didn’t leave us any presents.

Uncle Henry's Marina

View from the office - pretty empty!

Our distingtuished visitor