Venice to Captiva

Leaving Venice in 22 knot winds proved to be a non event.  It helps to have crew help untie lines quickly.  Once we were safely in the waterway, the trees protected us from the wind.  Our destination today--Captiva Island.

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Venice the morning of departure

Nice ride on the foredeck

Swing Bridge

Several months ago I wrote about Gasparilla and Jose Gaspar for whom Gasparilla is celebrated.  Captiva is supposedly the island on which pirate Jose Gaspar held women captive until a ransom was paid.   It is also reported that the Calusa Indians once inhabited the island until the late 1700's.   Captiva and Sanibel Islands were at one time just one island.  In 1926, the two were separated by a hurricane forming a new channel, now called Blind Pass. 

Our destination for the day is South Seas Island Resort.  The resort was begun as a fishing resort known as South Seas Plantation 1946 by Clarence Chadwick who invented Checkprinter.  Hurricane Charley came through in 2004 inflicting serious damage to the resort, closing it for 18 months for renovation and repairs.  It is owned and operated today by Luxury Resorts. 

Luxury is an appropriate word to describe the resort--three pools and a waterslide, a short walk to the beach,  biking paths, restaurants, shops are all great options when staying at South Seas.   Another great plus to our slip was the local wildlife.  Four or five manatees live in the slip we were assigned.  It is the calmest slip so they like it here.  On occasion we saw a dolphin come in to aggravate the manatee. 

 A fun walk around the pools and then we headed to the beach for cool breezes and sunshine.  We couldn't pass up the photo opportunity that presented itself at the pools...Enjoy!