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.