Rising Star South: On to Sarasota

We took the Gulf route south from Clearwater to Tampa Bay and anchored behind Egmont Key on Thursday night with a few other cruising boats. The island is a bird sanctuary - I don't know how the birds know it but millions of them seem to. I thought they would quiet down after dark, but that was quite a wrong estimate on my part. Lucky for me I can sleep through anything and proved it once again.

We waited until 8:30 am to leave since we wanted to miss rush hour traffic. To explain: we needed two low bridges to open in order to use the Intercostal and felt we stood a better chance of a quick opening if we got to them after rush hour. At our very first bridge we turned on the VHF and hailed the bridge tender for the time of his next opening. He told us in a slightly irritated voice that he had been trying to hail us. He was holding another boat on the other side waiting for us "so hurry up!". We went through, but the other boat did not wave when I waved to them. I didn't think the VHF radio was the place to declare our bridge virginity and explain our low power because of the electric motor. I did, however; leave the VHF on the bridge channel (9 in Florida) and was ready to make a better account of ourselves on the next bridge 2 miles on.

Those were our only 2 low bridges for the day. As we passed Longboat Key the scenery was spectacular. I took the helm while De Anne marveled at how beautiful the setting was. When we got to Sarasota Bay we raised sail and De Anne helmed the boat at 5.5 to 6.1 knots straight up the Bay. When we got to the marker in front of the Ringling bridge (history note: This was the winter quarters for the circus) De Anne could not stand for the sailing, in such ideal conditions, to end so she tacked and we ran the bay again.

We anchored amid 50 other cruisers and liveaboards with Island Park and the city to the north, gazillion dollars home to the south and Lido Key across the bay to the west. Some of the boats in the anchorage are in such disrepair and/or so odd looking that I can almost have some sympathy for city wanting to get rid of them. A few don't have masts and others have shredded sails hanging off booms, and most are rusted or stained hulls with a foot of growth waving gently in the swells. The common denominator is the appearance of the folks - aging hippie chic.

We paid the $2 dingy parking fee for a safe place to lock up the dingy Saturday morning and walked into town. Past Marina Jack's on the other side of the park Main St. was blocks of coffee houses and exclusive little shops. We dressed up for the walk and it was a good thing. Very upscale. We toured the farmers market and spotted the bus station. After checking schedules and routes we plotted our own tour of Sarasota by bus for Monday. De Anne had a hankering for pizza, something missing from our diet for the past 4 months, so we had lunch in a little place on Main St. By this time it was getting hot in the city and we retreated back to the cooler bay.

We went ashore again in the evening and 2 hobos approched us while we were sitting on a park bench gazing out over the bay. They were talking weird and likely drunk so I told De Anne "let's move on". The hobos seemed offended and later De Anne said they were likely our "neighbors". She was probably right.

I had taken De Anne to a seafood/prime rib buffet in Clearwater with Gary and Lisa for Mother's Day, but as an extra treat I took her ashore Sunday morning and dropped her off for a few hours of solo time and window shopping while I did boat chores and ran the generator to charge up our various devices. It's amazing the number of cordless things we have. Drill, cell phone, spotlight, 2 handheld VHFs, and of course my laptop. Except when motoring the intercoastal waterway the 200 watt solar panel does a good job keeping the 2 banks of motor batteries topped off. I even have excess amps which I use on the refrigeration and freezing my main necessity - ice cubes. Yes, I am reckless and have the power make my own ice and I am not ashamed to admit it.

Sunday afternoon De Anne spotted a woman in a dingy floating by and alternating between pulling on the motor start cord on her outboard and some ineffective rowing. In the brisk breeze the dingy was floating by. De Anne called out to offer a tow but she refused. After she drifted another 1/4 mile she waved for help. I dingied out to her and towed her to the boat west of us. A three-year-old child was there to greet us. The little boy looked as if he had not bathed or changed clothes during the past month. Just after I got back to our boat De Anne spotted the same woman drifting back again. De Anne was astonished and I vowed no more rescues for that woman. She was now trying to row back to her boat when a man came on deck and shouted words of encouragement like "row faster" and "use your left oar more". She covered the 100 yards in about 1/2 hour.

We look forward to Monday and the absence of the weekend crowd.

In the Tampa Bay Shipping channel - as close as you would want to get to a big ship!