Month: January 2020

Our departure was easy and we made it to Sarasota Bay without any issues. The winds were still blowing, but not too bad, and the temperature was almost 80. Nice! Our reservation for the next few day was at the Hyatt Regency Sarasota, which has a marina tucked in the back of the hotel. Christmas is in a couple of days, so we had made reservations for four days so we could have power and be able to cook a good Christmas dinner. The rates here were not cheap at $2.50 per foot, but that seems to be about the going rate now that we are in south Florida and it is ‘in season’.

We came into the marina and were directed to a slip. The docks were the half docks, which makes it a bit tricky getting in and tied up, but we did it on the first attempt. The wind was not quite as bad back here, but it was still blowing pretty good through the surrounding buildings. The nice thing about being here too was they have a pool which we could use, which was nice, except the weather was not conducive to sitting by a pool today. I did the check-in and received our keys and information about the city. We hung out for a bit until Uncle Jeff and Melinda came by and picked us up. They took us shopping and showed us some areas around town. After awhile we picked up some lunch at a cool little taco joint Screaming Goat and took it back to their house. We hung out there for a bit, then got dropped off back to the boat. Lauren then got to work on making Christmas cookies and we put on some Christmas movies. The cookies turned out great! The oven worked perfectly and it was really starting to feel like Christmas!

Day 2- Christmas Eve- We had made plans to have dinner with Jeff and Melinda later, so we had the afternoon to explore on our bikes. We rode to Saint Armands Key, which has a circle with shops, restaurants and all high end places you could think of. The wind was still blowing pretty good when we left and we had to bike over the Ringling Causeway. We made it, but it was not easy, between the uphill and wind. Once we were to the circle, we walked around and stopped for a small treat- I’m not sure what they were called, but similar to a macaron, and delicious! Now it was time to bike back and get cleaned up for dinner. We made the trek back and was able to be ready in time for the 5pm pick up. Once in the car, we were told it was going to be a party! Melinda had invited some other guests and Jeff had stayed up finalizing the menu and getting the prep started. When we arrived I was given the job of preparing the fire pit for later. They picked the right person! Soon the other guests started arriving and dinner was served! The food was amazing and the company was even better. This will be a Christmas Eve we’ll remember! Eventually the evening had to come to an end, so Jeff and Melinda graciously offered to drop us off, even though we were ready to call a taxi. We accepted the offer and was dropped off to our home on the water. We went to bed with full bellies and happy thoughts of the day(s) we’ve had.

Day 3- Christmas Day- I woke up with a cold. In Florida, on Christmas. The wind had finally died down and it was warm, so we thought we would hang out at the pool today, then have a nice Christmas dinner on the boat later. Lauren had purchased all of our items needed when we were out with Jeff and Melinda, so we were able to relax and enjoy the day. We went to the pool and I tried to power through the cold symptoms, but it kept getting worse for me. Being ‘that guy’, it was knocking me out. I eventually had to go back to the boat and try to rest a bit between the blowing of the nose and the stuffy head. I took some medicine and vitamin C, but nothing was working too well. Evening came and i was out cold by the time it got dark. Lauren made do with some dinner, but saved the good stuff for another day- maybe New Years? I felt terrible both physically and mentally for not being able to partake in a nice Christmas dinner, but what could I do? Hopefully this will pass quickly… Before I fell asleep, we had decided we would leave the expensive marina and go to another marina around the corner called Marina Jacks. They have mooring balls available for $28 a day, which is a lot cheaper than the hotel marina we were in. This means we have no power or water except what we carry, but the price was much better, and we will fill our water tanks before leaving.

Day 4- The weather was warm and the winds had returned. We didn’t have too far to go
and we made it there with no issues. We had plans to meet more family- Uncle David and Beth, for dinner at Hyde Park Sarasota. I was so excited to get there! I had been looking forward to this almost since we left! We were tied up to the mooring ball and took the bikes in to shore when we checked in. Once checked in we called Jeff and he came and picked us up for more shopping and exploring. He took us to see alligators, some shopping and more of the town. We got dropped off to the boat with just enough time to clean up and return to be picked up by Beth and David. We met them in the parking lot and made our way to Hyde Park. Our plan was for happy hour there (we’re on a budget!) so we got a table in the bar area. I made my rounds in the restaurant saying hello to all the people I know from when I spent some time there and we had an amazing dinner. We enjoyed some happy hour items and some dinner. David had insisted on picking up the bill, but when the time came, my amazingly wonderful boss- Kelly Fenske had picked up the tab. What!?!? What a surprise! I am so truly thankful for the generosity! We departed Hyde Park and were dropped off at the marina. After our good-bye’s, we hopped in the dinghy to head back- but wait! there is a cabana bar around the corner that David Culi and I went to on one of our Florida trips- I had to go there now in our own boat! I remember looking at all of the boats here and thinking “one day I’ll make it here on MY boat…” and here we are! Sarasota has been full of wonderful memories and accomplishments. Lauren and I had a cocktail looking over the water wile I explained how this was a highlight for me. We enjoyed the evening breeze and eventually made it back to Klondike to call it a night, bu not before taking Frank ashore one more time.

Day 5- We were planning on leaving in the morning, and had a surprise visit from more family- Aunt Janet and Uncle Mark Lambert. They were in town visiting some other family and had contacted us the night before. We made plans on meeting for breakfast in the morning, so we left the bikes on shore overnight. I had also arranged for a pump out boat to come to us some time mid afternoon. We biked over and met for breakfast and had a wonderful time catching up! What a way to spend some time here in Florida! After breakfast, I called Jeff and Melinda to let them know we were going to be departing; they came by to say good-bye and we headed back to the boat to wait for the pump out. We waited and waited…They never showed up. I called and inquired about it, but was told they were not working today. What!? Apparently whoever made the arrangement with me had the wrong day. At this point it was too late to travel, so we had to make do with another night in Sarasota. We ended up taking the bikes back and riding around town for a bit, then calling it a night so we could get an early start tomorrow.

We plan on going to Cabbage Key. There are two ways to get there- using the intracoastal waterway or going out to the Gulf of Mexico and heading south to the inlet and coming in. The weather is supposed to be beautiful, so we plan on doing the ‘outside’ Gulf route. This will be a decision we should have thought more through…

In our research, we had thought an anchorage just inside the Manatee River would be a good place to stay the night. When we woke up and saw the winds not decreasing at all, we were a little leary of whether we should leave or not. The Manatee River was only about twenty five miles away, so we felt we could make it. We should have remembered the day before…

We left the marina early and followed our path that we brought in, out. The tide was rising, so we had a little more water leaving than we did coming in. The winds however had not settled down one bit. We made our way to the main channel through Tampa Bay and followed it southwest. The waves were choppy, but we were heading right into them. This decreased our speed, and made for a bumpy ride. As we were approaching the Sunshine Skyway Bridge (I-275) which is the big bridge that crosses from St. Petersburg to Bradenton, I noticed a large fishing boat approaching us from behind. It had been following us for a while, and now that we were about to go under the bridge it was going to be going through the small opening with us. WTF!? On top of this, the waves were increasing and now we had breaking waves coming at us. This is a first for us: trying to get through an inlet with breaking waves. I increased the throttle and was swearing at the fishing boat trying to pass us in these conditions. As the waves would break, I would lose control for a few seconds while the boat recovers from the current and action caused by the waves, then try to keep clear of the passing boat while trying to anticipate the next breaking wave and repeat over again. We finally made it through and got to where we needed to turn off out of the channel toward Bradenton/ Manatee River.

We made the turn and headed toward the first marker for the channel into Manatee River. Florida has been so crazy with the shallow waters- A huge bay that looks like you could go right across has only three foot depths or less across most of it, so you definitely have to have either local knowledge or just follow the channel markers and hope for the best, which is not always guaranteed. Listening to the radio, there is a constant call for TowBoat US or SeaTow, which are the two boat towing companies to call if you run aground. We now membership to both companies, as one isn’t always available and it is worth the membership fee for piece of mind. Working our way in the river, we made it to the deep waters where we could breathe a little easier.

Our first destination in mind was an anchorage not too far up the river. The river is about a half mile wide and fairly deep across, but doesn’t offer much protection, especially with the direction the wind was coming from. The waters were still choppy and it didn’t look like we would be too happy dropping anchor in this, and the wind was supposed to stay high and rain was expected to follow shortly. We scoped out the anchorage and decided that it was not a good spot. We started looking at marinas in the area and started calling them to see if there was availability for us and rates. Florida has also been expensive for docks as it is now ‘in season’ and many of the marinas are full. We spoke to a couple of places and decided to go to Safe Harbor Regatta Pointe Marina, which is in Palmetto, Florida, just across the bridge from Bradenton. The rates were ‘reasonable’ and they had room for us. Upon contact they directed us to come to the fuel dock for paperwork and they would then direct us to our slip. I tried to not stop at the fuel dock and asked if we could just go to the slip, but they insisted. OK- I just didn’t want to have to try to dock twice…

Once the paperwork was taken care of, I had to depart and turn the boat around to leave the main entrance to get to another side of the marina where our slip was. Of course the wind made me work to get us turned around and I needed the assistance of a dock hand to get us pointed in the right direction. Once out of the fuel dock, we made our way to our slip and was thankful there was someone there to assist with docking. This time we made it in with no problems and was happy to be tied up and secured. Now that we were at a marina, Lauren needed to get some (all) of the laundry taken care of. We hadn’t had laundry facilities available to us in some time, so we were low on clean clothes, but not quite out of them yet- this would take some time. In the mean time I had contacted my Uncle Jeff, who lives in Sarasota, and let him know we were close to him. He was excited to hear this and told us he would come over to visit later in the evening. Lauren continued with the laundry and Jeff showed up with food. We all hung out, ate and caught up, with Jeff and I staying up until 3am bullshitting on the back deck of the boat. Lauren had called it a night earlier, so we just kept talking and talking…

Day 2- We got going and departed on the bikes. We headed for the Village of the Arts but came upon a (gasp!) brewery on the way- they seem to find us now. We stopped at Motorworks Brewing, and it was just in time as it started to rain a little as we were going inside. We had a pint and since the rain stopped, we continued to the Village of the Arts: “The Village of the Arts is an eclectic live-work community made up of colorful historic cottages that house everything from award-winning restaurants to specialty shops, studios, healing arts, bakeries and Bradenton’s best art galleries. A stroll through our color-filled streets offers a little something for everyone, whether you’re a foodie, a vinyl enthusiast or a quilt lover, with services that range from knife sharpening to yoga.” Yeah- it was a pretty cool area to explore and have lunch. After lunch we decided we should get back because the rain was expected to continue, and we high tailed it back but still got pretty soaked as it had started coming down again. The rest of the night was spent hanging out on the boat and having dinner while the weather rolled past us.

Day 3- The weather continued to be ugly and was forecast for nastiness all day. At least we had the Browns to watch. Why do we do this? Continue to have false hope week after week? F the Browns. After the debacle, I took a nap and Frank got some walks in. We plan on leaving tomorrow for Sarasota so we also did some route planning and preparations for departure, such as filling water tanks and making sure we would be ready to go first thing in the morning.

The weather lately has been cool at night and windy all day. The temperature has been getting a bit warmer during the day, but the wind just hasn’t stopped. We had decided to go to Apollo Beach for a few reasons. We had some time to kill before our reservations in Sarasota, and we didn’t want to travel too far in this weather. Tampa Bay is quite large and can get rough. When we left our dock at the Tampa Convention Center we were fairly tucked in and protected, but once we got to the open water everything changed…

Once we got to the open waters, the waves were building. We had thought that the direction the wind was coming from would make it a smooth ride. We were wrong. The waves were hitting us from the side, or beam, and rocking us back and forth. Luckily the marina we were heading to was only ten miles away. We pulled into the channel and were suddenly in the middle of commercial traffic again. There were large boats coming and going, increasing the un-comfort of the already uncomfortable ride. We ended up allowing a tug to pass us, as we were going to be turning into the channel to the left. I called on the radio and told him our intentions, and he replied with a “thank you”, but I sensed some hesitation which made me look at the chart a bit more closely. I had thought we could make the turn into the channel and cut across to the other channel we wanted to be in. Upon looking closer, it seemed to be too shallow to cut through. Maybe this is why I heard the hesitation? we were turning into a commercial traffic channel to a power factory and we really had no business turning into it… Confused, I aborted and turned around in the channel to get back out to the main channel. Looking at the charts, there was no real clear way to get to where we wanted to be without going through charted shallow waters. There must be a way in!? I followed the deepest water I could find on the charts and Lauren and I watched the depth finder closely as it continued to drop in depths… We got to around four and a half feet of water as I was approaching and that is our lowest possible to still be floating. I felt a slight brush with the bottom but was finally to the marked channel which is kept to a minimum of five feet. Whew! The wind was still blowing, but now we were behind the island and more protected. We came around the bend and in front of us was a wall that ran parallel to the channel. I saw no marking on which side to go on and this scared me. Luckily there were some fisherman in a boat and I called out to them asking “which side do I go?” They were pleasant and told me the correct side and how to get to the marina we were looking for. We worked our way to the end and turned toward the marina. I called on the phone as directed and the dockmaster told me he was not on site at the moment to help, but explained where our dock was.

The final turn to the docks brought us directly into the wind again. The winds were now around 15+mph and expected to increase throughout the night. We made the turn and saw that we were going to be between two boats with nothing in between except one wood post in the rear, and it was a super skinny spot. On top of this, it was going to be a tricky maneuver to get us turned into the spot with the wind. On the first approach, we almost had it, but not quite. I was afraid of banging into the sailboat next to us and the wind started pushing me the wrong way. I called out to Lauren “abort! abort!- I’m backing out and doing this again!” She acknowledged and I shifted to reverse. Now the current and wind were working against me. I eventually got us backed out and noticed a shipyard worker in a small excavator watching us. I got us backed out and was ready to start another approach and saw him working his way toward the dock to assist. Yay! Sometimes a hand is needed. We came back toward the dock and I started the maneuvers again, this time getting it right. Lauren was able to toss a line to the helper, and I was able to get the stern line secured with only a minor ‘pineapple’- our code word for ‘we’re going to hit something!’ before securing the ship. We have come to accept the fact there will be some slight ‘bumps’, and since we’re steel, we’re not too worried about it unless its another boat. Once the lines were secure and Frank had his walk, the bikes were unloaded and we were ready to explore.

Our ride took us a few miles to the Manatee Viewing Center, which is where the warm water that is discharged from the power plant is now a refuge for manatees. More big business propaganda at its finest. After this, we rode to a grocery store a couple of more miles away to get some supplies. At this point it was getting to be dusk and there were no breweries within biking distance, so we headed back toward the boat. The rest of the night was spent having dinner and researching our next destination. We were unsure of where this would actually be, but the weather was not settling down yet, and we felt we wanted to get farther south as soon as possible to get to the ‘good’ weather. an anchorage in Bradenton was an option, as well as some other anchorages nearby, but the weather may dictate where we end up if and when we leave tomorrow…

The trip to Tampa was bumpy. The winds had kicked up and the trip was about three hours. We had to follow the channel to get in, and was a lot of commercial traffic as well as a large Coast Guard cutter that came up on us and then passed us on the way in. We had made reservations at the convention center docks to stay for two night. We arrived early in the day and came up to the docks. There was someone there to assist and we found our slip. As we were pulling in, the wind was pushing the boat sideways. Oh boy, here we go. Lauren tossed a line to the kid on the dock, who was busy on his cell phone. She went to to secure the midship line, and I was running down to get the rear. I looked up and the front end was swinging out, so I yelled at the kid to “pull the line!” He looked at me startled and started pulling while putting his phone away, but the wind was really pushing us. Trying to stop the momentum of a forty thousand pound boat is not easy and it kept swinging out. I ran back up to the flybridge and tried to use the engine to straighten us out, but we were swinging sideways now. Show time again! Now we are almost sideways in a two slip dock. Another dock hand made his way over and was able to assist with the lines. I was able to get us somewhat turned and close enough to get him a spring line. Using the engine and the spring line, I was able to get us straightened back out and we finally were secure. Once the lines were set I filled our water tanks as they were getting low and Lauren walked Frank. We then set out to see what Tampa has to offer…

The dock was in a great location. There was a pathway that ran right along the river and we were in the center of downtown. There was also a free trolley that runs through downtown with a dozen stops in between. We hopped on and went to Ybor. “Lively Ybor City is known for boutiques and vintage shops on 7th Avenue, which also hosts Cuban and Latin American eateries. The Centro Ybor mall offers indie fast food, bars, and a cinema. Housed in a 1920s bakery, Ybor City State Museum has exhibits on the cigar industry and the area’s immigrant communities. The GaYBOR district around 7th Avenue and 15th Street attracts a diverse crowd to its bars and clubs. It was founded in the 1880s by Vicente Martinez-Ybor and other cigar manufacturers and was populated by thousands of immigrants, mainly from Cuba, Spain, and Italy. For the next 50 years, workers in Ybor City’s cigar factories rolled hundreds of millions of cigars annually giving it the nickname “Cigar City””. We walked around and found the center where they have wild chickens roaming around. We saw a few chickens and continued on our way down the main street, dodging rain drops as it had started to rain. We ducked in to a place: Zydeco Brew Werks and had to try some of their beer. Once it had stopped raining, we continued on down the street. The rain continued on and off as we walked. We eventually stopped at another spot: Rock Brothers Brewing. “Rock Brothers unites craft beer and music to support great artists, great beer and even greater fans. In the ever changing climate of the music industry, artists are looking for new revenue streams, while fans are looking for new ways to connect with their favorite musicians… We believe this authentic partnership of music and beer brings that home in a new and innovative way. From recipe inception, brand creation, artwork design and even the name of the product itself, the band is involved every step of the way. A few of the bands include Hootie and the Blowfish, Umphrey’s Mcgee and 311. They make different beers for the different bands, and it was a cool spot. Here we waited out the rain some more, then rode the trolley back to the marina. Frank got his walk and we retired to a rainy and windy night at the dock, but we were secured.

Day 2- The morning was again windy and slightly chilly, but the rain had stopped. We took the bikes and rode along the pathway until it ended into a neighborhood, then we turned around and went back the other way. We found our way to Heights Public Market: “Heights Public Market is a food-lover’s dream and a truly innovative concept in Tampa. The 22,000 sq-ft industrial market features an open floor plan with communal seating surrounded by restaurants showcasing the top chefs and restaurateurs in the Bay Area. Heights Public Market also includes a “Show + Tell” workshop that hosts an array of events such as cooking classes, wine tastings and pop-up dinners in collaboration with market tenants.” This was a really cool spot to stop for lunch! We had some veggie chili dogs and mac and cheese, then some ice cream from someone else. I cannot stress enough how cool this place was- a definite stop if you’re ever in the area. Now that we had lunch, we continued on our bikes; Lauren had researched and found a cidery somewhat nearby, back in Ybor. We ended up at Cigar City Cider and Mead just as they were opening at 3pm. The bartender was friendly and we tried some ciders and mead. He told us about a new brewery that had just opened a few days ago not too far around the corner, so we decided to check that out too. BarrieHaus Beer Co. is where we ended up. They were friendly and a lot of other brewers were there talking to the owners and hanging out. It was a fun stop too, but we had to be on our way to get back before it got too dark and let Frank out. We made it back and prepared dinner while deciding on our next stop.