It rained most of the night but fortunately we kept completely dry and about 5 o'clock the rain did stop. The forecast for this morning was for a high likelihood of rain but we were lucky to get some drying weather as we started. The wind was from the west so we got in some good sailing until about the same time as a thunderstorm grazed us the wind shifted to the northwest and started to really blow. The rest of the day we had steady winds of 20 to 30 knots right on our nose. I complain about lack of good sailing breeze but today we were thankful for the engine. We reached Venice at quitting time but as in the past it was hard to find a place to dock or anchor there. The only place these days with dockage is it right alongside the wharf at the Crows Nest restaurant which would be completely exposed to a north wind banging us against the dock all night. No thanks. There is also no anchorage spot to be found around Venice, so we pressed on. We were looking for any place off the Intracoastal Waterway channel which would give us some protection from the north. We checked out several spots but as soon as we left the channel we were in very shallow water. We continued as far as Little Sarasota Bay and found a spot in the lee of a mangrove island with about 4 feet of water at low tide. We have anchors out fore and aft which keep us riding steadily. As I am writing, the wind is howling in the rigging, though we are not bouncing much.
A long day, longer than we had intended. 36 miles today, our longest day of the cruise.
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