" When Pigs Fly"

Life in “Paradise” has lived up to its name for us since completing the crossing.  In Clearwater we were able to get our fuel leak fixed. Once again Dog River Marina deserves major kudos. Not only were we lucky enough to have one of their mechanics in Carrabelle but they also stood for my costs in Clearwater for the actual repair. We continue to receive a call about every two weeks just to see how the boat’s running, after 2 ½ months that’s exceptional customer follow up.

With the fuel leak behind us, we were able to enjoy some time with our friends Mark and Sherrie, who came to spend a couple of days with us in Clearwater. Not many people can say they still have friends from second grade. We were all in the same classroom back at old Ott School about 100 years ago. OK, that’s enough nostalgia for now.  We had terrific weather, walked the beach, took a boat ride in the sunshine and enjoyed dinner at Frenchy’s 

Salt Water Cafe. 

Pirate boat tours at Clearwater.  

Mark, Sherrie and the Captain

Clearwater Beach

Party boat at Clearwater

Some of the many lovely homes

As we departed Clearwater we stayed within the ICW. The only appropriate comment on the houses we have seen is “Wow”! Huge multi-million dollar homes with million dollar yachts. You have to wonder what these people do (or did) to secure such wealth.

When there aren't homes there are condos

Our next stop was Maximo Marina in St Petersburg. We passed by South Pasadena and St Pete’s Beach.  It was a great cruise and Anna saw more dolphins than she could possibly photograph. Then we entered Boca Ciega Bay which is known for its shallow spots. We really needed to keep a close watch to make sure we stayed in the channel. The channel is narrow and 7-8’ deep. Get out of the channel and you’re in 2’ water within your boat length. 

I love it when the dolphins play with the boat!

The marina inlet was a bit of a challenge. Right at the entrance the channel depth was just 4’ and we were at high tide. Luckily the depth quickly opened up to 8’ once we were in the canal leading to the marina. The canal was lined with nice older water front homes and of course each home had a boat. As we slid into the marina around 5:00 PM Dave, the dock master, helped us tie up as he gave us the skinny on all the local services. Maximo Marina was nothing special; our reason for stopping here was really about the proximity to the Publix, West Marine, and the rum store. Three stops we needed to make and just two blocks from the marina. Back at Clearwater these stops would have cost us a taxi ride and here we did it all on foot. Dinner was on the boat and mostly from our new bounty from the Publix.

We cleared most bridges but this one had to open.  

Had to watch the story boards on each bridge to check clearance.

"The Rules" at Venice

The next day we once again passed through the shallows of Boca Ciega Bay. We had planned to travel the ICW; our next destination was the Crow’s Nest Marina in Venice, FL. This was a Saturday with a lot of local boat traffic all going to a pirate celebration in Tampa Bay. In Tampa a huge boat parade was scheduled in the bay. After traveling about 20 miles of ICW with all the drunken pirates we elected to bypass this extravaganza and take the less traveled Pass-a-Grille Channel to the outside route.

Sunset in Paradise

The outside was a smooth ride with seas just a little over one foot. We arrived at the Venice inlet. All inlets have to be addressed a bit differently. This one was narrow, like 2 boat wide narrow, with a really strong current pushing out to sea and a tidal surge pushing in. All this and the banks were lined with jagged rocks the size of VW beetles. Once inside we found the Crow’s Nest on our starboard side. This was another nice area; condos lined the marina’s back side. We had dinner on the back deck and listened to the band on the screened porch bar at the restaurant. After dinner we went up to the restaurant for desert. It must have been good. Two coffees, Key Lime Pie, and Chocolate Cake $23.00 w/tip.

The next morning we were off once again; destination Burnt Store Marina, Punta Gorda, FL located on the far east coast of Charlotte Harbor. We have since learned the translation of Punta Gorda is “fat bitch”. You got to give it to those Spanish sailors for their colorful identifiers. The more tolerable translation for the inhabitants of Punta Gorda is “fat point”. I was a bit disappointed with the area. I had been here several years ago by car mind you, and it was beautiful but by boat it just wasn’t worth the extra 15 mile up and back to stay there, oh well!

This is the radar for the mooring ground shown just below

From Charlotte Harbor we made our way again down the ICW to Snook Bight Marina. Bob and Lynn Miller who own Millers Landing, the original home port of “The Pig”, keep their boat here so we stopped in to see them. This is where the story takes a turn for the expensive, although this time it was elective surgery.

Bob and Frank

After discussing the crossing with Bob and the amount of steering we needed to do he commented that we needed an auto-pilot. So a few more beers later, we ordered a new Garmin auto-pilot and Bob, with my help, installed it. Nothing like tying a guy up while he’s on vacation, but you gotta know Bob.  We haven’t had a sea trial yet but as with most Garmin equipment I don’t anticipate any issues, and if we find some I know I can count on their tech support.

So our two day stay has turned into a week; not a problem. It’s been great to see Bob, we’ve seen some terrific sunsets and eaten at some neat restaurants.  Lynne got back last night from a visit to Missouri so we’ll have a chance to hang out with her too for the weekend.  Now with the auto-pilot installed and the winds expected to calm down a little more each day we will depart this part of paradise for Marco Island on Monday and on to Marathon on Tuesday.  

Sand art

Gotta love those palm trees!

I just like these

One more sunset

See ya on the water