Bradenton Beach to Burnt Store (Days224-229)

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Our trip down the Gulf coast of Florida  continues as we move from Clearwater Beach to Bradenton Beach (where we anchored) then to Longboat Key (where we stayed at a resort) then to Cayo Costa State Park (where we anchored).
Our first travel day called for a bridge opening and viewing the worlds longest cable-stayed concrete bridge.  Even though it was a bit hazy,  the Sunshine Skyway Bridge was long and beautiful as we cross a relatively calm Tampa Bay.
The high point of our day was meeting up with my first high school Dutch Dance partner Cindy and her husband John.
We enjoyed dinner with them and then they showed us around Bradenton Beach, a cute beach town…even in the rain.
The next morning we discovered we had snagged an unmarked abandoned crab pot, which Mike removed with a boat hook.
It was a short travel day since we just had to get to the end of the next island.
 We decided to splurge for a few days at Longboat Keys Mooring.  We met up with Gold Looper friends from year one of our Loop, Doug and Judi on their new boat “Mobile Home.” We had a great time with them biking, playing pickle-ball and just having a lot of fun.
There were more bridges to lift and sights to see on our way south to Cayo Costa State Park.
We anchored in Pelican Bay. The park will not allow access to their docks since Hurricane Ian.
We dinghied over to Cabbage Key.  It gets it’s name the Cabbage Palms growing there. Because it was a cold day, we had our lunch next to a real fireplace.  What a treat!
Keeping with tradition, we wrote our names on dollar bills and taped them to the ceiling.  Bills that fall down over time are donated to charity once a year.  As you can see by the number of them, the restaurant gets a lot of visitors.  
After lunch we explored the island.  We climbed the water tower.
And hiked the nature trail. It’s nice to have a place to stretch the legs when anchoring.
 
Our next stop was the “Tunnel of Love,” a mangrove channel to an inland lagoon.  It was too shallow to motor up due to the low tide, so 
Mike really enjoyed pulling me up the creek…well at least I enjoyed Mike pulling me up the creek. It was so romantic. 🥰
Really Mike’s favorite activity there was kiteboarding on the slick behind the sandbar in Pelican Bay. We took the dinghy to shore so he could put on a show for all the cruisers anchored out.
We really enjoyed the two nights we anchored out here.  If the park had been open we would have stayed longer.

We continued on to Burnt Store, hoping to see my cousins, alas it didn’t happen.  We did have dinner with Gold Looper friends and Looper mentors, Ben and Chantal. So bummed we didn't get a photo.
Our Journey
”When daylight came, they did not recognize the land, but they saw a bay with a sandy beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could.“
‭‭Acts‬ ‭27‬:‭39‬ ‭NIV‬‬

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