It was a long layover in Clearwater, with the holidays, some minor boat repairs/maintenance, and lots of kayaking and bike riding. Pinellas Trail is a great example of "rails to trails", making bike/walking paths out of unused railway areas. Pinellas goes from St. Petersburg to Tarpon Springs, about 40 miles of easy riding. The weather was warm enough for shorts and cold enough to dig out the parkas.
The birds played “whose boat is it”, with strong assertions that it was theirs. One in particular startled me as I went out on the aft deck - he was on the swim platform and stuck his head up to ask why I was disturbing him. Head down. Head up: are you still there? After several rounds he flew off in a huff, sqwaking as only Great Blue Herons can.
Sunsets and sunrises, Osprey building a nest on top of a channel marker,they weren't so sure about my kayak’s presence.
A Balkan restaurant - interesting food, who knew??
Best of all, a visit from daughter Rebecca. Parka clad beach time at Honeymoon Island State Park,
some fun shopping in Tampa.
And a great trip to the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg.
We finally loosed the lines after Rebecca's visit and headed south to the Manatee River. An unexpectedly easy departure in spite of the heavy current and somewhat more wind than planned on. Lots of rock-and-roll for the first couple of hours: yes, I do still get seasick. (no picture here!) As we got away from land and our heading became more southerly it settled down and we had an easy trip. We anchored off of Desoto Point where the Desoto National Monument Park comes to the water. No manatee sightings yet but keeping fingers crossed.
Monday MLK DAY - Quite the adventure getting the kayaks off the fly bridge and directly into the water - till now we’ve been doing it onto a dock. Lots of wind and small white caps plus the somewhat frequent wake from boaters speeding down the river made it extra interesting. Happily the boats went in the water and we did not. Then off to explore DeSoto National Monument/Park.
A gorgeous spot, some excellent shells on the beach and a nice walk through the mangroves. There are a number of informational plaques that not only give the Spanish point of view from the 1500s, but also the native one. As Jack said after reading a few, “WHY are we celebrating DeSoto and the Spanish conquest?” But - its history, good and bad. After checking it all out we returned to the kayaks the water was calmer and we paddled up around the point - some of it so shallow we had to raise rudders - maybe 2-3” under the boat. Some great seashells and sea urchins just below, but oddly no fish at all.
When we returned to our boat we saw the sad sight of a boat sharing our anchorage getting a tow. Engine problems of some sort - not the way to end the day!
And then it was - nearly - our turnto get towed! We left the lovely DeSoto Point and headed down Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key. Our first Bascule bridges were easy.
We headed to a tucked-away anchorage that had been recommended… but found ourselves in a very tiny channel with no water under us at high tide. Not good. Well and truly stuck. Two options - work the engines and try to get clear, cringing at what it does to the bottom paint and props, or wait for a tow, well past high tide, when paint and props might be worse off. Chose option one and got the heck out of there. Marina Jack’s in Sarasota kindly offered us a place to sort things out; next job was sipping Margaritas (okay, water for me) after conferring with the very nice staff about pulling out the propellers in the morning…
Our boat got moved to the slips by the park, under a Banyon tree (so pretty, but maybe not the best place, see below!) and the diver came and pulled the very damaged props, which are now off at General Props in Bradenton for repair.
RATS! Why tieing up under a tree in a park is maybe not the best idea.
The next morning I was awakened to “Rafferty We Have A Problem”. Stumbling out of bed I got the news: we have a rat on board. Aside from the eeek factor, and the icky factor of rat poop everywhere, they are dangerous onboard, chewing through wires, plumbing lines, etc. And Clumsy! This one managed to knock over a plant, redistribute some seashells… So the first part of the morning was spent finding and chasing him off the boat and then cleaning up his mess.
A fun note: the next slip over has a beautiful Ocean Alexander pilothouse. Turns out that it was brokered by the same boat broker we had, in Fort Lauderdale the same week we bought ours in Pensacola. Tim and Debbie aboard ‘Low Profile’. +++What are the chances we would ever cross paths, much less be next to each other in Sarasota?! Have enjoyed their company all week, trading boat-adventure stories. And now we are beholden to Tim, who came over yesterday to help diagnose our heater problem (no heat, 46 degrees out) AND was willing to take a look at our holding tank problem. He had the heater fixed in minutes (to his own apparent surprise!) but we’re on our own with the holding tank. Its a boat: “Broke Or About To”.
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