M/V Nearly Perfect: January 21-24, 2015

We left Longboat Key around 7:30 am. Wednesday. Unfortunately, we were only about two hours into the day when we lost oil pressure in the port engine. We found a marina a few miles away and pulled into Fisherman’s Wharf in Venice for some repairs. The repairman was pretty quick in coming over and diagnosing the problem – a water pump leak that was spewing water over the engine room. Parts were ordered (and re-ordered). Four days later, we were fixed and ready to go. In the meantime, we made the most of our stay here. The weather was beautiful – sunny skies and calm water (at least for two days). The town is very busy - people, boats and bicycles everywhere. We took walks across the bridge to Publix and a hardware store (around 5.5 total miles). Thursday afternoon we went for a nice dinghy ride. Friday we walked back over the bridge to downtown Venice for breakfast and a little shopping. The downtown area is very quaint with sidewalk restaurants, boutiques and souvenir shops. Friday morning a front blew in with gusting winds. The shorts and flip flops went back into the drawer and the long pants and jackets came out again. About mid-afternoon we looked out and saw Linda and Larry (Lila Blue) coming down the channel to our marina (this is the third time we have met up with them). They were anxious to get out of the wind and we helped them with their lines. We had an enjoyable dinner with them on the back deck Friday night. I tried a recipe from Pioneer Woman and Jack is still raving about it. Saturday, after the repairs were completed, we took another walk, had happy hour aboard the Lila Blue, and then settled in for the night.