{"id":401,"date":"2012-11-02T22:40:45","date_gmt":"2012-11-03T02:40:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tusentakk2.com\/wordpress\/?p=401"},"modified":"2012-11-18T10:52:55","modified_gmt":"2012-11-18T14:52:55","slug":"punta-gorda-florida-oct-25-28-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/tusentakk2.com\/wordpress\/2012\/11\/punta-gorda-florida-oct-25-28-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"Punta Gorda, Florida: Oct. 25-28, 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Oct. 25 we rented another car and drove down to Punta Gorda, Florida, stopping along the way in Green Cove Springs to pick up our packages, voting ballots and correspondence at our mailing service.\u00a0 Cruising friends Ann and John Taylor now live in Punta Gorda in a lovely home on a canal; their sailboat Livin\u2019 the Dream<\/em> is docked in their back yard.\u00a0 We visited an art gallery that featured large format black-and-white nature photographs.\u00a0 We visited a bird sanctuary\/hospital, and we attended a concert by Jim Morris and his Big Bamboo Band during our stay in Punta Gorda.\u00a0\u00a0 Morris\u2019 band and songs are similar to those of Jimmy Buffet.\u00a0\u00a0 He even has a fan club reminiscent of Buffett\u2019s \u201cParrot Heads\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 There are a number of YouTube videos of his songs, including this one<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the last day of our visit we were joined by another cruising friend, the owner of the DeFever trawler Sojourn<\/em>, John Hromadka, who drove down from Jacksonville.\u00a0 \u00a0John\u2019s wry comments are always enjoyable.\u00a0 Barb felt guilty about our taking the bed that by rights \u201cbelonged\u201d to John, since his visit was planned before ours.<\/p>\n

On Oct. 28 we drove our rental car from Punta Gorda to Miami, where we booked a motel room for the night.\u00a0\u00a0 Next day we caught an American Airlines flight directly to Trinidad, where we rejoined our favorite vessel Tusen Takk II<\/em>, which had earlier in the day been moved out of the secure yard and into the yard where it could be worked upon.\u00a0 But the account of our activities in Trinidad will have to wait until the next exciting edition of \u201cChuck and Barb Go Cruising\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\t\t