March 8, 2016
Well yesterday, we headed out about 11:30 but when we got
close to Tampa Bay, we had more time than I had expected and the weather was
good so we went on to Bradenton Beach.
Actually, we anchored across Anna Maria Sound, next to Cortez,
Florida. This anchorage is more exposed
than I like, but it is the best we can do.
Once the wind comes around to SE, we get some chop, but the bottom is
good and access to land is good.
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| Crossing Tampa Bay Again |
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| Great Lunch |
Today, we
dingyed over to Annie’s Bait and Tackle in Cortez for lunch. Nancy had grouper sandwich and I had grouper
tacos. It was real grouper and
excellent. Then we left the dingy at
Annie’s and visited the Florida Maritime Museum which was well worth the time. It is small and concentrates on Cortez, but
it is free. Cortez is a classic old
fishing town, that looks like it has for many years. There is very little new development, and no
high rise condos. In the museum, we
learned that the people of Cortez have intentionally endeavored to keep Cortez
like it is and not be destroyed by developers.
Good for them! I felt puny and
tired today so when we returned, we stayed on Dubhe and watched another thrift
store movie “Network” from 1976. Wow,
look up “The Howard Beale Show”!
March 9, 2016
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| Inflated dingy is a good thing to have. |
Kinda windy last night and when the current was running
against the current, it got a little bumpy, but we stayed put and I actually
slept well. Before breakfast, Nancy
noticed that one side of our inflatable dingy was deflated. I had been in the cockpit earlier but hadn’t
noticed it. This of course is a big
deal, as our dingy is our only transportation off of Dubhe (unless we are at a
dock). First, I took the motor off, then
inflated it and looked for leaks but could find none. Throughout the day I kept checking but it was
still tight. Now I know that there must
be a leak for the air to get out and leaks do not repair themselves. The best I can guess is that we somehow
bumped or otherwise inadvertently loosened the fill valve and when I
re-inflated it, I of course tightened it properly. Another disaster averted! I took Nancy to the beach for a few hours and
I tried fishing around the pier, hoping for sheepshead…no luck. Overall, a good day.
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| Lunch on board. |
March 10, 2016
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| So long Bradenton Beach. |
We raised the anchor about 9:30 after a leisurely
breakfast. No hurry, we are only going
14 miles to Sarasota. The wind was SSE
at 15 and choppy in the anchorage, but as we entered Sarasota Bay it was rough. I expected it to be choppy but not 3-4’ very
steep, close together seas. We slogged
ahead, giving Dubhe a saltwater drenching from the heavy spray. It took us about 3 hours to make the distance
but picked up a good, close mooring at Sarasota, Marina Jacks, where we stayed
on the way north. One of our first
chores was to shower and get ice. I have
been using ice in our cooler, rather than our refrigerator for the past couple
of weeks. As long as it is available,
it is not very inconvenient and a lot better than running my generator every
day. In fact, we were at Bradenton Beach
three days and I never needed to charge batteries. We took a walk around downtown and made happy
hour at Marina Jacks. Our supper was
beer and (cheap) bar food. This is one
of Nancy’s favorites.
March 11, 2016
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| Riding the bus. Dubhe is down there somewhere. |
We wanted to do some more exploring, so we left early and
took an Uber ride across the bay Saint Armands Circle on Saint Armands Key, a very
nice shopping/restaurant area originally developed by John Ringling in
1926. Today, it is full of classy (too
much so for me) shops. We had lunch at
the Columbia Restaurant; very good but pricy.
Then we took a bus north through Longboat Key to Anna Maria Island and
Bradenton Beach (where we had just come from).
After seeing an area from the water, it is fun to sometimes see it also
from the land side. It was a long day so
we had happy hour on Dubhe and light supper.
As we were walking through the marina, I could not help but
look at “stickers” for new boats. I am
astounded at the cost, but more so, the notion that someone may borrow money
for 20 years to purchase one. In my
opinion, this is another sign of the greed sickness that is rampant in this
country.
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| Nice Boat! The sticker says $1391 per month for 20 YEARS! |
March 12, 2016
Laundry and shopping day again. We had lunch with a friend who lives in
Sarasota, who then drove us to Publix. I
don’t remember the last time we made it to a real grocery store with a car, and
we expect to be away from “civilization” for over a week, so this was a big
haul. The problem now is to get
everything in our cooler. Before we
leave, we will need to take Dubhe into the fuel dock at the marina for a
pumpout, to fill the water tanks, get ice, and dingy gasoline. I wanted to do it this afternoon rather in
the morning, but the wind is blowing 15-20 from the longest fetch, kicking up
quite a sea. There is so much motion, you
have to be holding onto something whenever moving around on board. This is not a good time to tie the dingy to
the mooring and move into the marina (good size waves in the marina too), so we
will do it tomorrow before setting out. Tonight,
daylight savings time comes in, so we can’t get as early start as we would
like, and tomorrow is expected to be a long day (51 miles) to Cayo Costa.
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| Good Bye Sarasota. |
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