Miles and Mechanics

We awoke to cooler 84-degree temps, winds out of the SW at 12 mph, isolated thunderstorms forecasted for the afternoon, high tide at 10:23 am and low tide to be at 7 pm.  Let's get going!

By 9 am, our anchors were pulled and we headed north towards Sarasota and Tampa Bays.  If the Coast Guard issued warnings against cruising in the bays again today, we would adjust our plans.  Otherwise, we were prepared for rough wave action across the bays with expectations that once across, the protected inland waterway would bring us calmer waters.

Cruising through Sarasota and Siesta Key and Anna Marie Island brought back good memories of our time spent with Mike and Erica Ellis in 2017.  At Siesta Key Beach, we were amazed by its sand; it is white and silky and clings to your skin like talcum powder.  Our last evening together was at a restaurant at the very end of Anna Maria Island.  We had a table on the beach and Erica and I thought it was neat to eat while we had our toes in the sand!

The large Tampa Bay boasted 15 mph SW winds and after more than an hour of rocking and rolling in the waves, we were glad to be on the other side of it by 1:10 pm.  After Tampa Bay, we returned to the GIWW and took in the city-scape of St. Petersburg.  I looked for what might be St. Petersburg Beach, but with no luck.  This was a beach that we had visited with the Puraths when our two families vacationed in Florida to experience Disney World.  We picked up lunch at McDonald's to eat on the beach.  I remember it was a windy miserable day for a picnic on the beach, but we all wanted to see the Gulf of Mexico.  We arrived at the beach with our four girls (Allison, Robin, Jordan and Jodi--they were probably between the ages of 9 and 12?) and gave them their Happy Meals with strict instructions:  Whatever you do, DO NOT feed the seagulls!  The girls ran ahead and we adults followed, ready to sit down and enjoy our lunch.  Just as we were getting settled, an umbrella of sea gulls swooped down upon us.  WHO FED THE SEA GULLS?  Eight innocent eyes stared back at us.  With the birds relentlessly on us for food, we quickly packed up to retreat to our vehicle to eat our burgers and fries. To this day, we adults wonder:  WHO FED THE BIRDS?

The rest of the day's cruising hours remained in the GICW, mostly through impressive urban and residential areas.  We passed under several bridges and were grateful "Velsignet" could easily pass under them.  Dolphins and seagulls and herons and terns entertained us.  We also met a couple of Pirate Ships loaded with tourists.  What really caught our attention was a guy who seemed to be flying in the air on streams of water.  I've included a couple of photos of him; he was amazing to watch!

Florida's Gulf Coast is lined with keys and islands in fairly shallow waters.  Much of our cruising today required special attention to staying on the GICW, which is maintained with signage and dredged to depths that allow for boats to move through safely.  "Velsignet" has several instruments we rely on to stay on the GICW and cruise safely.  We have radar, instruments that measure depth of water beneath the boat, the water temperature, and other readings we have yet to learn their importance.  A key instrument, however, is our Ipad and "Aquamaps" program.  This is a program of digital maps that allows us to program our course for the day, understand the water depths in the area, locate marinas, gas stations, good places to anchor out, and more.  Per my daughter Jordan's suggestion, I've included a photo of a screen taken from Aquamaps.

Tonight we are anchored near Clearwater.  Mike has replaced the Genset's fuel filter and cleaned out its water strainer so the generator won't fail on us (as it did this afternoon).  I am on call to lend a helping hand and will clean up the dinner dishes when he's out of the engine area (located beneath the salon) and I have a kitchen floor back.  Tomorrow will be a day for us to plan our next steps and catch up on work-related responsibilities.  I hope it will be a day to catch up with family and friends as well.


Aquamaps on our Ipad helps us plan and stay the course!  If you can read the screen,you'll notice depths from 3' - 8'.
Mike's office away from home.


The waters can be dangerously shallow; Signage such as this is very helpful.

We take turns at the helm.

We weren't sure what we were looking at when we saw this!  This guy was able to turn around and do all kinds of tricks.

He pulled a power unit on a sled-like device that followed him.  It was amazing to watch him!!


We just went under a bridge in a beautiful commercial and residential area.
The Pirate Ship loaded with tourists.

A limited view of Saint Petersburg, Florida

Comments

Post a Comment

We would love to hear your comments!

Popular posts from this blog

Pandemic and Protests: A Postlude

There has been no return to "normal" since getting off Velsignet and back into our Long Lake home near Bemidji MN.  On the contrary.  Life as we once knew it hasn't happened yet.  And who could imagine that as our  9-year-old granddaughter conducted her school studies from home would get to a state where she "is so DONE with Zoom?!" Since Velsignet (March 1), the pandemic of the Corona-19 virus began spreading across the country hitting cities like New York City and Seattle hardest.  The federal government and other countries issued international travel bans.  Stay-at-home orders and "social distancing measures" were issued by state Governors as well as mandatory closures of businesses and services that were deemed "unessential."  Other businesses were encouraged to allow employees to work from home.  Schools and universities and churches conducted online services and classes.  Zoom rose to become a popular meeting app for keeping groups and ...
Read more

Good Stuff!

Image
Kati-Jane and Mike were in heavy discussion when I approached them.  We were in the art studio of Paul Murray, Kati-Jane's husband. Paul's drawings and paintings are captivating as they portray the spirit of folks who live deep in the Appalachians.  And so it was with surprise when I found Kati-Jane holding a quart canning jar filled with liquid (explaining how she gets it from hill folks they know and that she expected a "delivery" in just an hour's time), inviting Mike to "go ahead and drink from the jar; it'll kill any germs you leave on it."  While Brenda is pondering on what piece of art would fit into the Northwoods of Minnesota, Mike has already secured his own "delivery" of a quart of homemade distilled moonshine, "the good stuff" from the hills near the Great Smoky Mountains! The Great Smoky Mountain National Park--even after the peak of the fall colors--is breathtakingly beautiful.  It boasts all kinds of scenic views...
Read more

Florida Fauna, Flora and Friends

Image
Mike and Brenda are perplexed.  Cruising from Venice towards Fort Myers on the Gulf of Mexico on a clear calm day, a round "something" was floating atop the water.  Was it a piece of carpet?  What could it be?  As we slowly crept near the object, we discovered with pleasant surprise that it was a turtle.  A large turtle. Just there.  Floating.  Then, as if waking from a slumber, the turtle startled and looked up out of the water and took a gracefully descending dive (like turtles do).  But what kind of turtle was it? (Erica E...HELP!) Brenda remembers how its shapely domed shell was flared out almost like the brim of a hat (OR...was this an illusion created from the water?).  Mike saw the front flippers typical of sea turtles.  Its color was brownish.  Its size was BIG (Mike thinks at least 3 feet).  Was it a loggerhead?  A green sea turtle?  Kemps Ridley? Boating is a wonderful transportation mode for site-seeing...
Read more