February 9-16, 2014

RV Dreams Boondocking Rally

Arcadia, FL

DAY THREE

 

LOOOONG Boat ride to Cayo Costa State Park.

 

 

 

 

 

We met up with the group assembled in the center of the pasture at 7:45AM. 

 

 

 

 

 

Linda and Howard had already paid for the entire group to get a better rate so before departing she took care of the financials.  Cash, check or credit card-we do it all.

Some people, mostly those with diesel pushers who don’t tow a car, needed rides. 

 

Once those arrangements were handled we all lined up heading towards the exit.

After a short 15 mile ride to Punta Gorda, we arrived at Fishermen’s Village

 and made our way to the dock

where Howard distributed our tickets.

By the time we boarded there were very few seats available

 so Monte and I ended up on single seats opposite each other right outside the heads.

Linda teased me because I ended up being the bathroom monitor, letting people know if they were occupied or vacant.

A nice man sitting outside let me slide past him and I managed to get a few shots of our departure from Fisherman’s Wharf.

 

 

 

Monte goofing off.

After a short time, Monte said he was going to take a walk to the upper deck and would be back in a few minutes—I didn’t see him again until just prior to docking on the island.

The ride over to Cayo Costa was very looooong.  Two and a half hours.  For a while there, I thought we were going to be like the passengers on the S.S. Minnow out for a “three hour tour”  only to be shipwrecked. 

I abandoned my bathroom duty to walk to the front of the boat and was elated to see land in the distance.

I was very happy to be docked and departing the boat. 

But then I remembered we would have to repeat the trip back home—

After gathering up all the totes and chairs, we made our way to a waiting tram that would transport us one mile to the beach.

I was very relieved that we didn’t have to walk-not because I mind walking but because we were only going to have a couple of hours on the beach and wouldn’t have wanted to waste some of that time walking.

We all crammed into the tram

but by the time Howard had gotten all his gear off the boat and joined us there was no room.  He caught a ride with a guy on a golf cart.

Everyone off—don’t forget your stuff.

A short walk down to the beach.

AHHHH-what a beautiful spot. 

As soon as we set up we ate lunch.

Don’t’ get any ideas little birdie—I’m not sharing-ain’t gonna happen.

I had all good intentions of taking a long walk down the beach but I ended up sitting and talking with Monte, Linda and a new female solo RVer, Jean.

Before I knew it Howard had returned from his walk and said we should start packing up.  We were scheduled to be picked up by the tram at 2PM.

We ended up waiting for the tram-luckily we found a shady spot to protect us from the intensity of the sun.

Again as we rode the tram taking us back to the boat I was relieved we did not have to walk.

When we arrived back at the dock we thought the boat sitting there was our boat but it wasn’t so we all crammed onto the dock and waited

and waited and waited some more.

Someone thought it was a good idea to throw food in the water for the birds to fight over—

Yeah, here comes our boat.

Howard and Linda had arranged two different tours-the one we took to Cayo Costa and one that continued on to Cabbage Key where the passengers could have a casual lunch.  The boat stayed at Cabbage Key until the lunch-goers returned so they were already on the boat when it came for us at Cayo Costa.

Cayo Costa does not allow any business concerns on the island so we brought our lunch with us.  It is an eight mile long undeveloped barrier island beach.  The park service maintains a picnic area with restrooms and outdoor showers adjacent to the beach.  The island is only accessible by private boat, ferry or chartered boat. 

Lucky for us this time when we boarded we were able to get a seat with a table. 

We had a hoot taking turns telling stories about some of our adventures and misadventures.

The only thing marring the return experience on the boat (besides it being loooong) was we were sitting directly in the sun.  We did get to see several dolphins delightfully swimming along us at the same speed as the boat.

When we approached Fisherman’s Wharf I took some pictures of the pretty boats.

We arrived back at the campsite around 6PM, had a salad for dinner and opted to skip the campfire because we were kind of tired from the sea air, wind and intense sun.  IT had been a most excellent day!