With the weather pattern breaking (broken?) up, we left the dock at Burnt Store Marine at about 8:30 am and head north to Punta Gorda, Florida 12 miles away by boat.
When we originally packed clothing for the trip, there were many items that I "forgot", but somehow I did remember my 4th of July shirt. We arrived at Fisherman's Village at 10:30 just as the partys were starting to get going. Punta Gorda is on the south bank of the Peace River with Port Charlotte about 2 miles away on the north shore of the river.
The "village" looks like a wharehouse on a long pier, but it is a new indoor mall with shops and restaurants along a central mall on the ground floor with condos on the second level. Around the three sides of the pier there is free daytime docking for visitors. We were told not to dock on the end because that is where "the race ends" -more on that later.
We walked part of the mall and did some shopping, and then, just like magic, it was time for lunch.
Lunch came complete with a gorgeous view and live music outdoors. Being a "stick in the mud" after the boat trip, I insisted on lunch inside in air conditioned comfort.
After lunch, it was time for more shopping, and the Admiral turned out to be the big "winner" although the Grandchildren came in a close second. I fared better in the final round of onshore events, which consisted of a nap for me and grocery shopping for Admiral. When we got back to the boat, the afore mentioned race was starting to end with the first swimmers arriving.
It was a crazy scene with lots of spectator boats, people on the pier and a number of crazy people just swimming without life jackets (see picture) or by using beach type inflatables. The annual swimming race crosses the Peace River, which is about 2 miles wide at this point. We left the dock about 3 hours later when the last finishers arrived -some apparently "swam" using life preservers or life rings???
Along the way we even had time for some joke pictures. Here I am as a Pirate Captain with my lovely mermaid... It works for me!
There was some debate over who caught this huge shark, but as usual, the Admiral prevailed. Our three grandchildren follow the blog so I am sitting here typing this and wondering how their parents will explain this picture to them (Good luck Bob & Jill...).
In late afternoon, we left the dock and went out into the river to anchor for dinner and to watch the fireworks. We along with about 25 other boats anchored about a mile away while several hundred boats chose to fight the maddness and anchor very close to the actual site. Having experienced this madness back home at Clear Lake in Texas, we were very happy to have a less than perfect view and avoid the rush of inexperienced (often less than sober) boaters, especially when the show ends and everyone rushes for the "exits" at high speed. Anyway, Punta Gorda put on a great show, and we made it safely back to the Burnt Store Marina at 11:30 pm about two hours later. Thus, it was a long but
wonderful day!
Lunch came complete with a gorgeous view and live music outdoors. Being a "stick in the mud" after the boat trip, I insisted on lunch inside in air conditioned comfort. 
There was some debate over who caught this huge shark, but as usual, the Admiral prevailed. Our three grandchildren follow the blog so I am sitting here typing this and wondering how their parents will explain this picture to them (Good luck Bob & Jill...).
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