Boat Bummin' on the Gulf Coast

Tampa Bay was the first body of water we crossed after leaving Gulfport Marina the day after Christmas. The water was calm and the air was warm. This is the Sunshine Skyway Bridge (interstate 275), we are passing on the gulf side of it.

As soon as we got south of Tampa Bay it seemed like the Florida boating season had resumed. The ICW is quite narrow in spots and occasionally we see 40-50 foot cruisers coming at us or, worse, coming behind to pass us. One group of 5 passed us in a narrow section, the first two did not slow down at all and did we ever rock !! No damage, but it slid the couch out 2 feet from the wall. The last 3 must have seen us rock because they slowed down.

We anchored at the north end of Longboat Key. A dinghy ride through the pass took us to this deserted beach (called Beercan Beach), only accessible by boat. A "pass" is a deep water "pass through" between two barrier islands connecting the Gulf to the ICW. This beach has a desolate look about it, especially in the clouds. Good shelling, I found an intact sand dollar.
There was a nice city dock to tie the dinghy to, so we next went walking through the village where we came across a flock of peacocks roaming about in a vacant lot. They were quite tolerant of the photography, but did not spread their feathers for us.

A half mile walk brought us across the island to Whitney Beach. It's just beach after beach in this part of Florida. We stayed anchored at Longboat for 2 nights and went back to Beercan Beach again the next day.

We dinghy'd across the pass to a county dock and county park (and another beach), where I got this shot of a Brown Pelican. This is the Florida State Bird. They dive bomb the water for fish from as high as 50 feet making a big splash, it's fun to watch them in action.

We left early the next morning, here's a picture of the anchorage as we left.

We crossed Sarasota Bay, with the city of Sarasota on the mainland at the south end. Beautiful bridge and the city is alledged to have a great downtown, but we did not stop.

Our destination was Venice which turned out to be one of our favorites. This is the Venice Pass, leading out to the Gulf. The jetty on the left is one of their many city parks and gives a great view of the Gulf.

On the ICW side, Higel City Park has a free dock (one night limit). We arrived by noon, so we got a spot. We barely had the lines tied up before a very nice local man came by to talk and extole the virtues of Venice. Everyone likes the looks of the Shingebiss and wants to hear about our journey. We had a good workout on the 2.4 mile ride through a really neat downtown shopping area and to the Publix. This banyan tree is found on a wide boulevard/park on Venice Avenue. All of the vertical parts you see are air roots from the tree. Amazing.

We found a local produce stand and by the time we got done, the bike baskets were loaded to the max. After dinner, we walked to the Crow's Nest Marina Bar to watch the Vikings/Bears game, again meeting and talking with some locals.

The next morning we walked out to the jetty, had a bagel breakfast at Anita's Snack Shop, and watched the surfers. We pulled away from the City Dock at about noon. Here's the dock.

Another short cruise today, the prevailing winds this time of year are from the north and since we are heading south, we almost always have the wind at our backs, assuring us of a warm ride on the flybridge, even on the days where it stays in the 60's. We passed a very narrow barrier island today where the houses have the gulf beach in the front yard and their protected dock on the ICW in their backyard. What could be better? We are currently anchored at Englewood Beach. Took the dinghy for a ride and found NO city dock, so asked a local who had a small fishing marina if we could tie up for an hour. Walked over to, you guessed it, the beach. Tonight Steve captured this great sunset picture from the bow.


We're enjoying anchoring out, this part of Florida is made for it and the weather has been great.

Gulfport Municipal Marina

We enjoyed three beautiful warm sunny cruising days leading up to Christmas, but we are now experiencing the same storm system that is socking ya'll up there in Minnesota, although the Florida version is way gentler with some light rain and wind. Our first stop after leaving Caladesi State Park was Clearwater. Many loopers crossing the gulf opt to go another hour or two and land at the Clearwater Municipal Marina. Clearwater is upscale and well developed in contrast to the funky atmosphere of Tarpon Springs. The Marina has lots of busy charter fishing and tourboats along with restaurants, a hair salon, and an antique nautical shop. But it's also expensive at $2/foot/night. We pulled into Frenchie's dock instead, where you can tie up if you eat at Frenchie's Salt Water Cafe, which we did, but no one checks. Had an excellent Grouper Sandwich and walked through the Marina and down the wide clean beach which you can see in front of this huge hotel.

No overnight docking at Frenchie's however, so we pulled out and dropped the hook in Mandaley channel.

Leaving the next day, I tried this panoramic taken from the intercoastal looking at Bellaire Beach on the right, the Clearwater Pass Bridge in the Middle and Clearwater Beach on the right.

Clearwater Pass is where you would come in off the Gulf. As you can see, the coastline from here on south is at least 80% developed. Everyone wants waterfront and there's lots of it, with peninsulas, inlets, islands and canals in every direction. And lots and lots of boats, center console fishing boats from 15 feet to 30 feet are everywhere and many of the homes have elaborate docks and lifts with huge boats up on them. Here's a nice little neighborhood.

And here's something on a little bit larger scale, this one was still under construction.

The intercoastal flows through narrow parts and bays and sounds between the mainland and the barrier islands. Many of the bridges over the ICW have been replaced with tall spans so all the boats can get through, but the smaller communities still have lift bridges. They are mostly about 25' clearance, so the sailboats and bigger trawlers have to have them opened.

Our next anchorage is a unique one, McDonalds in Mediera Beach has a very nice floating dock with a Publix right next store. This is the view from where we anchored for 2 nights, enjoying McDonalds cuisine and taking advantage of the dock. Can you see the McDonalds flag flying at the end of the dock?

This was the first time we had gotten groceries by dinghy. There is a community of liveaboard sailors right around the corner from the McDonalds dock who dinghy over daily and lounge at the outdoor tables. There's even a small charter fishing boat that seems to be operating off the dock. One of the liveaboards told us where we could tie up the dinghy close to the town laundromat, so we did our laundry by dinghy as well. In the morning, this Great Egret was standing on our dinghy. Birds are everywhere and I purchased a laminated, accordion fold guide to Florida's Gulf Coast Birds so I can identify them. Most of them will let you get pretty close before they fly away.

We spent last night and tonight at the Gulfport Municipal Marina. We took the bikes into the downtown area yesterday (Christmas Eve) where there is a nice beach and lots of shops and restaurants. After dark, we biked the same route to look at the Christmas lights, followed by a dinner aboard of homemade pizza. Here's a Great Blue Heron that landed on our dock today. These guys are 4 feet tall !!

We went for a walk in a nearby nature preserve and this, I'm pretty sure, is a Yellow-Crowned Night Heron.

Steve is waxing the transom as he earlier scrubbed off the sooty black that results from cruising with a diesel. The sun has come out and it's warming back up. We're almost to the tip of the St. Petersburgh peninsula with plans to leave here tomorrow and finally get across the opening of Tampa Bay. I hope everyone reading had a very Merry Christmas. We miss our friends and family very much, but are grateful for and enjoying life's little pleasures: floating docks, warm weather, clean laundry and good food.

Caladesi Island State Park

Our last night at the Tarpon Springs City Marina was a wild one with 30+ mph winds that strained our dock lines and rocked our boat. The winds blew so much water in from the Gulf that the high tide was almost over the docks. Before we left in the morning, I made one last trip across the street to the Sponge Factory where these amazing huge decorative sponges were on display.

We cruised only 17 miles across St. Joseph Sound with a strong north wind first on our beam (that's the side of the boat) which rolled us from side to side and then on our stern which sent us surfing down the waves at about 2 knots faster than the boat was moving. It was a roller coaster ride, but it was daylight and it was only for an hour, so it was quite manageable. We didn't want to anchor in the strong winds, however, so we headed for Caladesi Island State Park. Caladesi Island is a barrier island, just a couple of miles off the ICW. There is a well sheltered 100 slip marina, but only 5 other boats were there. Just a short walk across the island is the beach where big waves were rolling in due to the strong winds. The island and beach are kept in the natural state, including the seaweed that washes in.

Today we went for a long walk along the nature trail. The dominant palm tree is the sable palm and there is a whole forest of them here.

The forest then transitions to a pine forest. The tall white pines have the same type of needles as the white pines in Minnesota, but are shaped differently.

Next, the foliage changed to a hardwood forest, with the live oaks being the predominant tree.

Here's an interesting pine tree with a split trunk that is over 100 years old. The trail guide said it was a favorite photo place on the island, so we took a photo.

Tonight we are the only boat in the marina and the Park Ranger has gone home so we have the island to ourselves. After another delicious boat dinner, we're listening to the Vikings on satellite radio and planning our next destinations. Life is good.

Tarpon Springs

We slept well after our big adventure crossing the Gulf. The next day started off with fog; we've since read that it's very rare for the Gulf to have 3 consecutive days of all day fog, but apparently that's what happened. In our Anclote Key anchorage the fog burned off by noon, so we launched the dinghy to go exploring. We went to the State Park at Anclote Key in search of the lighthouse we had seen coming in.

We followed the boardwalk to the lighthouse and saw plenty of birds and sand crabs. It was warm and the skies were blue. We next boated over to a sandbar, exposed only at low tide, where a tour boat from Tarpon Springs was loading up its passengers who had come to walk the beach and look for shells. Right after the tour boat left, the fog descended upon us. Can you see the dinghy on the middle of this picture?

No radar, no GPS, what's a dinghy boater to do in this situation? We poked our way back to the dock at the State Park, and then kept the sun and the shoreline (when we could see it) to our port side as we putted along. The fog lifted, then returned, and still no sighting of the Shingebiss. At last Steve said "Look behind you" (I ride facing backwards in the dinghy), and what a relief, there was our little ship, right where we left her.

We had already decided to spend another night at anchor. Two dolphins jumped and swam around the boat later that afternoon. We had another great meal and relaxed on the boat. Unfortunately, the wind kicked up after dark so we had a bouncy and noisy sleep. The next morning, again warm and clear, we had a short cruise up the Anclote River to the charming town of Tarpon Springs. This town is all about the Greeks, who settled the area in the early 1900's and all about the sponge diving business, which they perfected and still practice. The marina is right by the sponge boat docks and a plethera of Greek restaurants and gift shops. Harbor Master Ted, orginally from Poland, is very helpful and friendly. We had our worst docking experience to date, my fault...apparently when you come in and toss the stern lines around these darn pilings, you are supposed to tie the other end to the boat. Ours ended up dangling from the pilings, but Ted somehow got us tied up in spite of ourselves and had someone in a dinghy retrieve our lost dock lines for us while we were out strolling on Dodecanese Boulevard. The sponge boat docks are right across the street from the restaurants and shops.
This bronze statue honors the sponge divers.

We had a delicious Greek lunch at Hellas and browsed through some of the shops. We had social hour with "gold burgee" loopers Hank and Ann (Queen Anne's Revenge). The gold burgee they fly indicates they've already completed the Great Loop, and are now cruising the coastal waters. We also met up with Bill and Diane (Homebrew). Bill spent 10 years building their 36' steel sailboat in Missouri and they headed for St. Petersburgh to have their mast and rigging installed.

This morning, we hopped on the bikes to go to the grocery and hardware stores. We got sidetracked through the historic district and the beautiful homes along the bays and bayous that flow through and around the town. After a brief stop at Sunset Beach, we returned via a different route and completed our errands.

Found all our fruits and veggies at bargain prices at a produce stand. The bike baskets were filled to the max by the time we returned. We had planned to venture back out to an anchorage tomorrow, but rain and strong winds are predicted, so we added another night to our stay here. Now that we are "here" and without a scheduled destination for the next 10 weeks, we plan to slow it down and enjoy our time on the Gulf Coast of Florida.

It had to happen sooner or later, Lucy finally fell into the water today. She was out on the dock and we didn't see her fall, but heard a splash just as a flock of birds took off. She was hanging on for dear life to a piling with her front paws and mawoo'ing loudly. The water level was at least 5 feet below the dock level and we weren't immediately sure how the heck to get her back out. Steve finally dangled half his body over the dock while I held onto his legs and he managed to grab her. He set her on the dock and she took off like a bullet for the boat. We hosed the saltwater off her and she spent the next few hours grooming herself so she is now back to her beautiful fluffy self. It's good to know that she can survive a little swim, but we're thinking about picking up a fishing net in case it happens again.

A Foggy Gulf Crossing

I have a fondness for tee shirts with maps so I had to get this one from the Moorings at Carrabelle as part of "crossing preparation". All the indicators said that Sunday to Monday would be the weather window, but we woke up to a blanket of fog on Sunday. The weather window was short, however, and since most of the journey would be at night anyway, Shingebiss and 5 other boats left at noon. We all left together, slowly and with radar on. In this photo, Dog Island is ahead of us, to the left, and after that it's the wide open Gulf of Mexico. Once we cleared the last marker, we split off a little from the group to follow the route Buddy had recommended, but remained within VHF radio range with them.

The fog persisted and the seas were more rough than either Steve or I expected. As it began to get dark, the Captain made a decision: "We gotta go downstairs, it's too rough". Needless to say, the First Mate agreed fully. We managed to get all our stuff downstairs and the flybridge covered, but were crawling around on our knees to do it. About this time, I started to get mildly seasick and lying on our precious maroon leather loveseat seemed to be the only cure. Darkness came and it was pitch black with only the instruments to guide us. We figured out a more comfortable and secure way to sit on the captains chair by using one of the wicker chairs for a foot stool, and then holding on with at least one hand to prevent toppling over. Walking three feet from the love seat to the table required holding on to something. We took turns standing watch. Look at the laptop, look at the chart plotter, look at the autopilot setting, look out the windows for any lights. Check the radar frequently and the gauges periodically, while the other person slept on the loveseat. I slept every chance I got, but Steve couldn't relax enough to sleep, so he ended up with many more hours at the helm than me. Around midnight it seemed like the seas were calming a bit, by three am calming more so we broke out the Hershey Nuggets with almonds. We eagerly anticipated daybreak and the ability to again see our surroundings, but when it finally came, the fog was still there. The seas were remarkably calm by the time it got light. We still had several hours left to travel, and were much relieved at the difference it made.

The fog began to lift just in time to spot the numerous crab pots that are found in the area. They are painted a different color to identify who owns them. The yellow and red one's are easy to see, but the white and blue, not so much, at least for me. Steve sees everything way before I do, doesn't get seasick and has the patience of a saint for figuring this stuff out, so thank goodness he's the Captain, eh?

And thank goodness for the electronic charts and GPS which guided us right to this "green 1" marker which indicated time to turn left and head into the channel to Tarpon Springs.

As we entered the channel the sun broke out. We dropped the anchor behind the barrier island Dutchman Key at 10 am and spent the rest of the day napping and catching up on e-mail. We've been in shorts and tee shirts (at last) all day and Steve is sitting on the back deck at 9 pm enjoying the warm evening air. Lucy has recovered too and has been out on the front deck.

Not the best sunset ever, but a memorable and significant one for us, as we sat on the top deck and watched it while talking about the high (and low) points of our gulf crossing experience, one we won't soon forget. We've always heard that the boat can take alot more than the crew, and now we know it's true. Shingebiss performed like a seasoned veteran.

We had a celebratory dinner...Macaroni Grill boxed dinners, just add chicken...highly recommend...with salad.

We'll both sleep well tonight and plan a very short cruise into Tarpon Springs tomorrow to see the sights.

The Moorings at Carrabelle

Here's our cart sitting next to the boat after our Walmart run to Panama City with Jack and Nan, courtesy of Ray and Patsy loaning us their car. Courtesy cars, common on the rivers as the stores were not close to the marinas, are not common in Florida. Although the smaller grocery stores are usually within walking distance, every Looper appreciates a Walmart run. As you can see, we are now well provisioned in anticipation of our Gulf Crossing.

The ICW ends in Carabelle and picks back up again at Tarpon Springs (north of Tampa). There are three ways to make this 150 nautical mile passage. 1. straight across during the day, which requires a 20 mph boat...definitely NOT trawler speed. 2. 50-80 mile daytime jumps into small towns on the big bend...the going in and out each day adds many miles, this route takes 3-4 long cruising days. 3. leave at about 4 pm, cruise all night to make landfall at noon the next day. After days of hemming and hawing, we have finally decided to go ahead with option #3. All of these options require a "weather window" for being out in the Gulf. This time of year the Gulf experiences one "storm" system after the next, followed by a couple days of letting the water settle back down. When the waves are down to 1-2 feet, it is considered a "comfortable" sea for crossing. The weather window only lasts a day or two and then the cycle repeats. We let one of these weather windows pass us by (last weekend), but we've moved to Carrabelle now so that we don't miss the next one.

We left Port St. Joe early morning. It was cold and cloudy (sorry to complain, MN readers, but it barely made 50 degrees yesterday). Here's the crew on the dock, buddled up to bid us safe travels. You can see the main marina building in the background.

We soon came down from the flybridge to the lower helm, even turning on the generator and heat occasionally). On the canal back to the ICW, we saw this "Free Boat"... could make a nice looper boat with a bit of work.

Although we loved our 11 days at Port St. Joe, it felt good to be on the move again as we passed through a canal, a lake and a river with this "handyman special".

We went through Appalachicola where some of the boats cross from, but did not stop. Out into the bay and St. George Sound, we had some rough water. Were the waves 1-2 feet? We are not very good judges of wave height, but these were not uncomfortable and Shingebiss and her crew took it well. Late in the afternoon, we entered the Carrabelle River and the town of Carrabelle.

There are docks and condos lining both sides of the channel. The Moorings is the most well known marina, there is a "chart room" here and a "crossing guru" named Buddy that we hope to meet. Several of the Loopers we met in Port St. Joe are scheduled to arrive today, so we will have "buddy boats" to cross with. The next weather window is currently forecasted to be Sunday thru Tuesday. Tonight Carrabelle celebrates Christmas with festivities (food and music) topped off with a lighted boat parade and fireworks. We hope the rain doesn't put too much of a damper on the festivities. The weather in Tarpon Springs has been 10-15 degrees warmer than here, so we are definitely looking forward to moving on to that "other Florida". Advice to future loopers: bring your fleece.

Port St. Joe Update

Yes, we are still at Port St. Joe. There was a one day weather window yesterday for a safe gulf crossing and the next one is not predicted yet, so we will be here for a couple more days at least. Sunday night the marina treated the loopers to a Shrimp Boil featuring the local fresh shrimp and topped off by another beautiful PSJ sunset.

The loopers continue to come in to PSJ ... tonight 34 of us are going to Peppers, the Mexican restaurant in town. Looper boats come in all shapes and sizes. Here at the dock is Sundancer, a shrimp boat converted into a liveaboard. Next is Eschaton, a 36 foot Gibson that is doing the loop, followed by Shingebiss.

Over the weekend another type of visitor came to Port St. Joe. A mantee swam right into the harbor by our boat, seeking the fresh water coming out of the storm sewer in our corner of the marina. Attached to his tail was a tracking device, a bobber/antenna contraption that monitored his location and vital signs. On Saturday the Mantee Rescue folks called. They told the marina his name was Harold and that he was not doing well in the colder water and needed to be taken further south. They were coming to rescue him. We all ran to the docks with our cameras as the rescue boat pulled in on Monday morning. Note the outboard motor mounted at the front of the boat and the open transom, through which they will lift the 1000 lb. manatee.They strung a net with weights on one side and floats on the other between the shore and the rescue boat and began to close the circle with Harold in the middle. Harold didn't offer too much resistance, another sign that he needed to be rescued, but I captured one good shot of him flipping around as the net tightened. With a mighty heave ho, they tugged him into the boat, put a space blanket on him and off they went. The Florida Fish and Wildlife boat and two very knowledgeable folks (in a 15 foot Whaler) from the USGS were also on hand. The USGS guy said they would put Harold into a climate controlled truck (they are mammals and can be "dry" for a long time) for further assessment. If he is healthy enough they will bring him to the fresh water in Crystal River, a well known manatee hangout around the big bend from here. If not, he will have some zoo time to regain his health.

Later the same day, Ray and Patsy loaned us their SUV and we drove with Nan and Jack (Eschaton) to the St. Joseph Peninsula. This narrow peninsula, which serves as the barrier island for the town of Port St. Joe is full of lovely vacation homes and the far end is a Florida State Park. The beach has been voted "best in US" and you can see why. As you can see from this picture there were piles of shells, lots of intact ones. This panorama shows how narrow the peninsula is with the Gulf of Mexico to the left and the bay to the right. PSJ Marina is 5 miles to the right across the bay.

After a great beach walk, we drove further out the peninsula to the end of the road. We followed a trail with a boardwalk through this beautiful swamp section. The trail led to another section of high sand dunes, protected with snow fences so the vegetation can grow. The sand is so white and fine, that it looks like snow. On our way out of the park we saw this sign, which really made us giggle. "Swim with Caution"??? uh, okay !!!??

On the way home, we bought some of the delicious local shrimp and had our own shrimp boil with Jack and Nan on our boat. First time we've entertained on the boat since we left Newport. Another delightful day at PSJ.