Caspersen Beach

It's been a sultry summer and when our Floridian friends Marilyn & John wanted to go to the beach, we jumped at the chance to experience one of their favorite spots - Caspersen Beach in south Venice.  They eagerly prepared for our maiden trip by purchasing a "wheelie" beach cart and a special beach tent to shade us from those August Florida rays.  The cart has balloon-type tires perfect for negotiating the sand loaded with tons of necessary "stuff" like coolers, chairs, kites, water frizbees, etc .  The tent was perfect with its 70-proof sunscreen fabric and screens to let the cooling breezes flow through! 

We frolicked in the water like kids and seached for ancient sharks' teeth to add to Marilyn's collection.  After a few hours, we packed up and headed over to Sharkey's for a great lunch.  Wow, retirement never looked so good and we agreed to do it again soon!

Click for more photos.

Caspersen Beach 
Sharky's
Venice Beaches

Peace River Cruise

Sunday, August 15 - Chuck & Trudy invited Joanne & I along with Sue and Rob to accompany them for a powerboat trip up the scenic Peace river to the Nav-A-Gator.  Jim Morris played; we had a great time. See the photos at Nav-A-Gator Cruise Photos.  Link to PG Islander's cruise report and photos coming someday.

Our Boat Name - Eagle's Wings

Windward Passage, Wind Dancer, Morning Light and Dream Catcher evoke feelings of romance, beauty and adventure. That's the kind of name we wanted for our boat - a meaningful name that transmits succinctly and clearly over the VHF. What Don't You Understand, What Don't You Understand, What Don't You Understand, this is Dazed & Confused – I don't think so. Fish N Chicks, Fish N Chicks, Fish N Chicks, this is Full Blown Insanity – not for us. One can find thousands of clever and not so clever boat names on the Internet. We didn't. We borrowed our boat's name from one of our favorite songs, On Eagle's Wings:

                          And He will raise you up on eagle's wings,
                          Bear you on the breath of dawn,
                          Make you to shine like the sun,
                          And hold you in the palm of His Hand.
 

On Eagle's Wings Lyrics,  On Eagle's Wings History , Name That Boat
 
Listen to On Eagle's Wings on YouTube:  francislimsj's ,  AmayaLinura

August Update

Last weekend we cruised to Palm Island Marina on the ICW.  We waited out a thunderstorm that passed south of Punta Gorda but we couldn't wait out the heat.  Check out the cruise report and pictures on the PG Islanders website by clicking their link on the left.  

While we were on the water, grass was added to our backyard along with the sprinkler system.  Also, the ground anchors were screwed in.  

This week saw installation of the pool liner, all the plumbing (I think), and some of the lights and switches and painting of the foyer.   Tentative completion date is August 20!!!