As Dorothy says, "There's no place like home.  There's no place like home."  And we agree.

Ralph weighed anchor this morning at 7:00 AM -- and let me sleep, bless him!  I awoke two hours later and we were crossing Lemon Bay.  We had passed Venice and some other towns along the west coast.  We crossed Gasparilla Bay and Charlotte Harbor, leaving Punta Gorda to our port as we continued to Pine Island Sound.  The Captain thought we might make it Pine Island Sound late afternoon and anchor there, but we were in the Sound in the early afternoon and kept on going. 

It was a perfect traveling day.  The skies were blue, it was warm and sunny and the dolphin were plentiful and so enjoyable.  We thought we saw one manatee nose -- we never quite get to see a whole manatee face -- just a little nose that pokes up through the water and goes right back under.

When we got to Ft. Myers and the bridge to Sanibel, it was cloudy and gray, but we were psyched and wanted to go as far as we could -- and thought about anchoring in Bimini Basin since the wind was up.  It had rained a bit and we saw a beautiful rainbow and by the time we got to "The Miserable Mile" the water was much calmer and the sky was clearing.  Ralph phoned Dave, our next door neighbor, who said he'd be ready to grab a line when we came in.

We arrived home at 4:30 PM this afternoon.  Striper was so excited she ran around and around the yard and once inside the house, she ran from room to room.  I prepared dinner on the boat and we enjoyed our last meal aboard Say Good-Bye as Loopers until next spring.   We plan to leave Cape Coral in May and finish the Loop where we started -- in Atlantic City.  There's been some talk about continuing on to Waterford and cruising the Erie Canal next summer.  

Here are a few of today's photos:

Homes along the ICW

Homes along the ICW in Charlotte County

The Captain in deep thought -- we might be able to actually make it home today!

Rainbow over Ft. Myers

Tarpon Pointe near our house

The Tom Adams Bridge

Palm Island Ferry

Palm Island Ferry from the other direction

Royal palms leading into a housing development

This dolphin swam in the starboard side wake and kept rolling to look at us -- we talk to them

The dolphin are magnificent

These power lines run from Pine Island to Sanibel

Ralph likes to throw his casting net and fish in the mangroves near this little shack

Turning into Penguin Canal -- that's us!

Our neighbor Dave came over to grab our lines

Home, Sweet Home!

A view of Penguin Canal from the stern of Say Good-Bye now at home!