Greetings from Sanibel Island, FL! Last Monday was as beautiful as Sunday was blustery! No rain, very little wind, and a fine run for us across the FL panhandle to our jumping off spot for the Gulf Crossing.
Our arrival time at the East Pass by Dog Island was perfect to set out, but the afternoon would have been bumpy before the nice calm night crossing, so we opted instead to motor up to Carabelle.
As usual, we were happy with the decision. Went to the Salty Dog for dinner. We unknowingly seated ourselves in the ‘cold section’ of the restaurant, and the crew of ANNIE LEE generously shared their table by the stove with us! A delicious bonus as it was a chilly night!
Tuesday a parade of five boats headed out to cross the Gulf of Mexico. ANNIE LEE and FLOATING STONE were heading for Tarpon Springs (sponge country). STEVADORE and OSPREY were enroute to Clearwater, and YOUNG AMERICA’s destination was St. Petersburg. This overnight trip was much more relaxed than our white knuckle crossing of Cape May and the Delaware Bay! As night fell, the moon lighted our way for a few hours. There was no boat traffic and every hour we checked in with OSPREY to coordinate our locations. Fred and I took turns napping--actually, both of us admitted later that we’d read our books while on our ‘off watch’ time.
I’d forgotten how beautiful the morning is when you see it from the very beginning. The eastern sky slowly fades from black to grey although the boat was still surrounded by darkness the promise of light quickly gave way to full blown daylight. A large cloud hung low to the horizen, preventing the sun from blinding us as we motored eastward. About ten miles from shore, OSPREY radioed us the theri engine hsf failed. Although Bob was able to re-start it within a few minutes, we changed our route and followed them into the Clearwater channel, then turned south and headed down the ICW to St. Petersburg. We cleared the Clearwater bridge at 8:42 am--20-1/2 hours after we’d departed East Pass.
The ICW ride proved to be delightful We were surprised to see how much of Florida’s west coast is undeveloped. The first bascule bridge we encountered (and there were many along the 5 hour run) had only 19 feet of water under it, so we had to once again lower our antennas--and then listen hopefully as we slowly passed under the bridge. Happily there was no meeting of us and them, we cleared by about 6 inches, and we continued merrily on our way.
St. Petersburg municipal marina was easy to find, and docking was an easy slide up to the wall--a bonus for our sleep deprived selves. We rinsed the salt water off of YA and then walked down the municipal Pier for a quick dinner before we turned in for the night.
Thursday morning the generator repairman from Mastry Inc. arrived and spent the day doing his magic to the failed sea water pump. I explored the city bus--a very easy to navigate system--and found a health food store. On Friday the Mastry man was back to finish up in the morning, and in the afternoon Mike from Pompanette arrived to once again repair the air conditioner in the dinette. We also spent a couple of hours visiting with our AGLCA Harbor Hosts, Angela and Nick Metro. They’d seen our Looper’s flag across the marina, and called to see if we needed anything in St. Pete. Nice family--they’ve lived on LAD’Y ENNA for 11 years, and Nicky and Eileen, their two children have known no other home.
St. Pete has, as I mentioned a great bus system. Fred and I walked out of the marina and caught the Downtown Looper--a 20 minute ride around the center of the city that during the day has a narrated tour of 12 points of interest. Our bus driver was apologetic that his ride was just a ride, no talk, but he accepted our fare--10 cents each (we’re senior citizens. The real fare for everyone else is a quarter!).
It was a lovely evening and we departed the bus half way around the loop and had dinner at one of the many sidewalk cafes. Nice.
We planned to set out on Sat. am, but as we another Looper came by--Maurice has a 25’ Ranger Tug named QUOTIDIAN and we’d met him twice before--in Clayton, NY, on Lake Ontario, and again at the Loopers get together in Penatanguishine, ON. He and his friend Julie gave us a tour of the magnificent 100 year old St. Petersburg Yacht Club, and then we all had breakfast at Ceviche, a popular spot nearby.
So it was nearly noon when we tossed off the lines, and we motored through the Old Boat Regatta in the harbor, and then headed south. We passed through Sarasota, home to the Ringlings of Circus fame, and put it on our list of places to re-visit. The ICW passes through a channel in the Bay, and outside the channel the water quickly goes to only one to three feet deep. Keeps you on your toes!
Our stop for the night was the Cedar Key Fish Camp at Blackburn Point. Live music in the tiki bar and a great dinner in the restaurant. Early to bed and early to rise and Sunday we ran from 7:15 to 4:30, arriving at Sanibel Island--our half way to Marathon stopping point.
Today was a great day to NOT go out on the Gulf. Strong winds and heavy rain made it very easy to enjoy the blueberry muffins and newspaper (USA Today--our favorite puzzle paper) that Tom, the Marina Man delivered to the boat at 7:30 a.m. Later this morning we were picked up by Bill and Gen from POTLUCK and treated to a delicious lunch on their boat. They’ve been here for a month--could be very easy to do, but Banana Bay in Marathon is calling, and we’ll see what the weather says about traveling there tomorrow.
See you next week! Fred and Lina
