11/17/11 Thursday There's a cold front coming and it's bringing thunderstorms! A look at the weather radar and it looked like we could get out of Dodge before it hit so off we went. Back into Tampa Bay for a short trip to the ICW and a turn toward Sarasota. We ran at trawler speed for the first 10 miles or so until we hit the open water north of Sarasota. By now it looked like the storm was going to catch us. Using the resources available to us (twin 660hp diesels) we got up on plane and tried to out run it. Normally that doesn't work but this time it did. We slowed down at Sarasota with only a sprinkle catching us. Had we stayed at Desoto Point we would have gotten clobbered. The Coast Guard issued a 0 visibility warning for Tampa Bay as we were travelling.
We worked our way through the various bridges that cross the ICW only needing 3 of them to be opened.
Swing Bridge with the operator on the bridge!
One of the amusing things we spotted was a guy in waders standing in the water right beside the channel. Fortunately I was going slow so he didn't get knocked over by our wake.
Looking for Manatee?
Almost from the time we left Desoto Point we had been trying to call Fisherman's Wharf Marina in Venice each time getting a busy signal. We wanted to arrange for dockage for the night so we could visit my uncle Leo and his wife Jean who live in the area. As we neared I tried the vhf radio only to be informed that they didn't answer it either. What to do? What to do?
We drove in and put Tourist in a slip and walked up to the restaurant which doubles as the marina office. Then we found out that the marina is supposedly closed to transients. Apparently there is a group who live next door that have been blocking the permitting because they don't want to look at the boats. Why then are they living next to the water? Knuckleheads!
Marina neighbors.
Empty marina.
We were allowed to stay because we had come in to escape the "storm". Ironically the boat in the slip next to us was a 55' Hampton that Pam & I had looked at to buy a couple years back. It looked much better now than it did when we looked at it.
After we got the travel grunge off Uncle Leo came over to pick us up. He and Jean showed us around the Venice area before taking us to their club for dinner.
Family Visit.
Dinner was great and the company even better. It's always fun to listen to the stories about the Hillard boys early years! Following dinner we talked them into making a quick stop at Publix before returning to Tourist. Thanks Leo & Jean!
Tina, We found bananas foster in Venice, Fl.!
11/18/11 Friday Windy! East winds 20 to 25 mph with stronger gusts. Fortunately we are on the ICW and most of our route today is sheltered from any big waves. All went well except that we had to wait for the Boca Grande bridge to open. Always fun in the wind. Once through the ICW we enter Charlotte Harbor which is a large expanse of open water. Remember the wind? Now we had 2 to 3' waves on our port beam. Rock and roll! The good news is that we were only going about 5 miles to Cayo Costa State Park anchorage. We made it without incident and dropped the hook in the shelter of Pelican Bay.
Cayo Costa anchorage.
11/19/11 Saturday The wind is still blowing but not quite as strong so we decided to drop the dinghy in the water and check out a little cove that normally has manatees in it. We weren't disappointed. We entered the cove and shut off the motor and just drifted. All around us the manatees would drift to the surface, gulp some air and submerge again to forage for food. We gave it our best shot at getting a picture but most of them were camera shy!
Cayo Costa Manatee.
Back at the boat I changed the oil on the generator and some other minor maintenance before collapsing from the exhausting day.
11/20/11 Sunday Wanting to get on the water before the week-end warriors start moving we pulled out around 7:30am. Our plan worked pretty good until we hit Captiva Island. Shortly after passing south Seas Plantation four boats at different times roared past us without so much as a wave. Now I'm not one of those whiners that cries every time we get rocked but I would like a little room to be able to turn into their wake. These clowns felt that they had to be close enough to shake hands!
The remainder of the day went well and we pulled into Ft. Myers Beach and grabbed a mooring ball. After paying our fee we took the dinghy over to Parrot Key Bar and watched the Packer game while eating lunch.
Packers Score!
Of course I had to have a brat for lunch. Good, but not the same as pulling one off the grill in the parking lot at Lambeau Field!
Fine Dining @ Parrot Key Grill.
The Pack went on to beat Tampa Bay and stay undefeated.
Unlike most times we've stayed at the mooring field it was almost empty. Maybe because it's still off season and maybe because they've pulled up 20 moorings and not replaced them. I think a combination of the two.
Empty Mooring Field @ Ft. Myers Beach
Tourist at the mooring field.
11/21/11 Monday Not needing to be in hurry we didn't unhook from the mooring ball until a bit after 9am. Our immediate destination was Ballard's Fuel Dock to top off the diesel tanks. Ballard's isn't fancy but they consistently have the lowest prices around and they move a lot of fuel which means it hasn't been sitting in their tanks getting stale and collecting moisture in this humid environment.
Ballard's Fuel Dock.
We completed fueling and pulled out at 10am. Just a short ride to the Caloosahatchie River and the final leg of this journey. We took advantage of the incoming tide and headed towards Legacy Harbour where we started from on April 1st.
You know you're getting close when you can spot the condos next to the marina.
Legacy Harbour. Our home away from home!
We pulled in to what Pam now considers "our slip", under the careful supervision of a small gathering of friends. We barely got the lines tied before the hugs and handshakes began! (Sorry the camera was still on the dash). After everything settled down we hooked up the power cable and trotted over to Joe's Crab Shack for what has become our traditional first day back lunch. While we were sitting there fellow Galenian's Marc & Michelle McCoy walked in. They are also doing the loop and are keeping their boat, Marc's Ark at Legacy. Guess I have to behave now!
Always the slave driver Pam made me get right to work washing the salt and grime off of Tourist as soon as we got back to the dock. No nap today!
If my math is correct since we left on April 1st we have been out 235 days of which we have spent 180 on Tourist and we're still talking to one another. I think we can do this cruising "thing"!
