January 2005

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December 30, 2004
Location: St. Petersburg, FL to Desoto Pt., Manatee River, FL
Nautical Miles Traveled: 18.9

It was a beautiful day when we left the marina this morning for Desoto Pt. The point is located just inside the Manatee river about 15 miles south of us in the bay. Because the wind was light and almost right on the nose we decided to motor sail the entire trip. Though we’re used to seeing dolphins when we’re out today’s sighting was a whole new experience. We had three huge dolphins right along side of us for about 20 minutes, only about two feet or so from the side of our hull. With the clarity of the water we were in awe seeing the dolphins below the waterline swimming, changing positions so each shared a position closest to us and occasionally surfacing for air. The largest of the three was appeared to be about 7 feet and had a huge piece of his dorsal fin missing (maybe a shark bite?), and he was able to hold his breath the longest. Of coarse we were just mesmerized and by the time we thought about getting the camera they decided to move on.

The entry to the Manatee River was pretty straight forward but with waters as shallow as two feet we were very careful to stay in the channel. At times this was challenging because of the winds and strong currents but with enough crabbing we didn’t have any problems. As we entered the river we saw s/v Anthem and m/v Toi Boat (two boats from our dock) so we headed in that direction and set our anchor in 9 feet of water about 250 feet from the shore line. First order of business after setting the anchor was to stow the boat stuff and then drop the dingy. We went over to s/v Anthem and enjoyed cheese and crackers with Rick and Kristal, then we dingied over to m/v Toi Boat and said a quick hello to Nick and Sharon. They had invited us to spend New Years Eve with them on their boat for the following night and we readily accepted. I dropped David off on Bruadair and I went for a dingy ride to do some sight seeing.

The shore in front of us is a park with remnants of the buildings from the first settlers dating back to the 1850s, lots of paths and beautiful vegetation. The sights of the anchorage from the park was also beautiful. On the south side of the river there is another park and I’ll have to check that out later. Tomorrow looks like a good day for exploring up river. Spent the rest of the afternoon kicking back and after a gorgeous sunset we had pork tenderloin with rice for dinner, watched a bit of television and off to bed.

December 31, 2004
Location: Desoto Pt., Manatee River, FL

The sun was shining and it was already in the low 70’s this morning when I hopped in the dingy to do some more exploring. David was still needing his morning cup of coffee so he stayed behind on Bruadair. I went up the Manatee river and had yet a new experience with dolphins. This was the first time I had seen dolphins while riding in the dingy, and there were about four pods of three only a couple hundred feet away. I stopped the dingy and killed the engine and just floated for about 10 minutes as the dolphins played (or fed) around me. Eventually it was time to move on and continue my explorations. I made it to the Bradenton Yacht Club and looked around a little, nothing stood out there. After turning back around into the Manatee River I decided not to go any further North because the waters were getting pretty choppy for the little boat I was in so I took my time and headed back to Bruadair. On the way I stopped and visited with Kristal and Rick on s/v Anthem.

Around mid afternoon Dan and Jamie arrived on their boat Nereia and they anchored just next to us. As soon as they had their anchor set I dingied over and said hello and picked up David’s pound of shrimp (David wanted to make a shrimp casserole to take to Toi Boat but didn’t have any shrimp, so he called Dan the day before to bring some). Made arrangements to pick Dan and Jamie up at six to take them to Toi Boat then took the shrimp back to David. He made the casserole using my mom’s crab casserole recipe but with shrimp.

At six o’clock I picked up Dan and Jamie and took them to Toi Boat where Nick and Sharon were hosting a New Years Eve party, then I went back to Bruadair to get the casserole (and David). Toi Boat is a 66’ Cheoy Lee trawler that Nick and Sharon have restored. Not only is it beautiful it is huge! There were quite a few people on Toi Boat and the food was great. David and I ended up staying only until 10pm before heading back to our boat where we finished the year with a DVD movie.

January 1, 2005
Location: Desoto Pt., Manatee River, FL

Happy New Year!!! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. Today was another great day. It was sunny and in the mid 70’s. Today’s activities included another dingy ride, visiting Kristal and Rick then visiting Dan and Jamie. Dan and I took a ride to the park on the north shore and did a quick walk around. It was pretty neat with lots of vegetation, some remnants of the buildings from the first settlers dating back to the mid 1800’s and great views of the boats at anchor. After taking some photos we jumped back in the dingy and I took Dan back to his boat. I headed back to Bruadair for lunch and some rest (it’s been a hard day so far!). In the early afternoon Brian and Debbie came in on their Whitby 42 sailboat and anchored behind us and Frank arrived a few minutes later and anchored in front of us on his Hunter. They are all neighbors of ours from the marina we’re staying at. Late in the afternoon Kristal and Debbie dingied over to tell us that Frank was having a sunset party on his boat at 6pm, then they went and told Dan and Jamie.

At six I dropped David off at Frank’s boat then went over to pick up Dan and Jamie. I’ve been their water taxi because they were having outboard issues and couldn’t use their dingy. We enjoyed the sunset from Frank’s boat with the company of everyone from five other boats. The sunset was one of the most beautiful I’ve seen on this trip so far with the spectacular golden lights from the west and the variations of pink and purples on the clouds in the east.

January 2, 2005
Location: Desoto Pt., Manatee River, FL

This morning we watched as all our friends weighed anchor and left the Manatee River to head back to the marina while Dan & Jamie and David & I stayed behind for a few extra days. By early afternoon we had this large and beautiful anchorage almost exclusively to ourselves.

Jamie, David and I went ashore to the park and had a fun time walking around. As you can see in the photo gallery we had more opportunities to take some pictures of our boats at anchor. David found a huge shell from a horseshoe crab and towards the end of our walk we came across a tortoise that was about a foot and a half long.

Once we were back on our respective boats I decided to pull out the fishing pole to see if my run of bad luck had changed. I dingied close to the shore line and after about a half hour of casting I actually caught a fish!! It was a speckled trout, and though it was too small to keep I was still excited to have finally caught my first fish since we left Texas. Granted I haven’t tried often or hard to catch one I was still happy to see that all the money spent on fishing gear does actually work. Kept fishing for another half hour then called it quits. Later in the evening we went over to Dan and Jamie’s boat for a dinner of chicken mojo, Spanish rice and vegetables. The best part was the mint chocolate chip ice cream for desert!

January 3, 2005
Location: Desoto Pt., Manatee River, FL

After talking with Dan and Jamie late this morning we decided to head back to the marina tomorrow. I took the dingy by myself today to the park on the south shore. It was a nicer park with sandy beaches, wide walkways and there were signs describing the different vegetation. Did you know that Spanish Moss is in the same family as pineapple? At least that’s what the sign said. The park was named after the Conquistador Desoto who conquered and settled the area way back when. I enjoyed the park for an hour before heading back to Bruadair.

In the evening we had Dan and Jamie over for a spaghetti dinner with Italian sausage and garlic bread. David did a real good job improvising for the garlic bread, we had run out of bread earlier in the day so he used hot dog buns. They were very good. After taking the guys back to Nereia I hoisted and stowed the outboard motor and dingy. David prepped the boat down below for tomorrow’s sail.

January 4, 2005
Location: Desoto Pt., Manatee River, FL to St. Petersburg, FL
Nautical Miles Traveled: 19

Woke up early and enjoyed our morning coffee. At 1000 we had the anchored weighed and were on our way out of the Manatee River. The trip back was basically uneventful and took four hours. It was a great week at anchor but it’s also good to be back at the marina. After securing the boat I gave it a quick bath to get the salt off the boat. While we were at anchor I made a list of a few small projects that I want to get done before heading to Mexico next month so I’ll have things to do for the next week or so.

January 9, 2005
Location: St. Petersburg, FL

Still enjoying the wonderful weather, it’s been in the high 70’s and sunny all week. We’ve been doing some of the projects on the list and a whole lot of nothing. David polished the stainless steel this week including the handrails and pulpits. I did some re-plumbing in the head and now the pump that is used to empty the toilet will now empty the holding tank as well with the switch of a valve. David also put up the awning and we did some spring cleaning. There are four jerry cans on either side of the boat for gas, diesel and water. I changed the way they were tied to the boards because it use to be that to get to one can we had to untie all four leaving three to be loose on the deck, not a good idea if it’s rough on the water. Now each can is tied with their own individual line and we can get one can at a time while the others remain secured. I’m waiting for a mechanic to call back to take a look at a small oil leak on the engine, but it’s been three weeks and everyone says their book. Good thing is it’s a small leak that is (hopefully) not to concerning.

Dan and Jamie have been really kind in taking us around town to do some shopping. We bought a new wireless internet card and some boat stuff.

Oh, we had a great time last night on the dock. Everyone got together last night in front of our boat for a small dock party and Kristal was our source of entertainment. Yesterday afternoon Kristal was up by the office and noticed a barrel with food in it, and thinking that someone was getting rid of their food she gathered a few items and brought them back to the dock. Kristal was so kind that she even shared some of her new found food with Debbie (next door to us). Well, a little while later Debbie asked where the food came from and Kristal replied that she got it from the barrel from the office. What Kristal didn’t see, but Debbie did point out, was the sign on the barrel that read ‘donate food for the needy’ (she said the barrel was turned around and didn’t see the sign). So Kristal and Debbie gathered up the food, and some extra for interest, and took it back to the barrel. The Jell-O didn’t make it back to the barrel because Kristal already made it, but the extra food she took back made up for it. So needless to say we had to pick on Kristal all night long. What made it more fun was that Dan and Jamie were the ones that donated most of the food. It’ll probably be a while before the people here on C dock forget this one (sorry Kristal, I had to share the story). We stayed up late with everyone until midnight, but it was a lot of fun with lots of laughing and story telling.

January 18, 2005
Location: St. Petersburg, FL

The last two days have been cold with temperatures down in the 60’s but the sun has still been smiling down on us. I’ve been busy helping Dan and Jamie install their solar panels and helping plan the installation of their watermaker. We’ve also been busy on Bruadair with some more small projects. We installed a new Navpod instrument housing in the cockpit so we could flush mount the radar/chartplotter unit. That involved removing the previously installed Navpod unit and pulling all the wires for the electronics out. Today all the wires were run and the electronics hooked up, all is working good. David took two of our very large toss pillows and removed the stuffing, sewed in a zipper and then stuffed the pillows with our spare bed sheets and some towels. It was an idea we stole from Dan and Jamie and it’s amazing how much more room we have in the linen closet! Granted the two pillows aren’t as soft or comfortable as before, but these two didn’t get used that much anyway and we can always use more storage.

I met a guy named Kent last night on his Ericson 36, he’s two docks over. He just came back four months ago from spending 16 years in the Rio Dulce and offered to share his knowledge about the area with us. We’re planning on going over to his boat one night this week to soak up any advice he has to share. We’re excited about talking with Kent. Still no luck in getting a mechanic down here to the boat to look at the small oil leak as everyone is just to busy. In one way it’s okay because then that would be one less bill to worry about. Put a notice on the bulletin board a few days ago to sell our charts and cruising guides for Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi as we don’t plan on going back that way by boat for some time, we’ve sold a few items already. Other than that not much is going on, just enjoying the retired life on the boat.

January 25, 2005
Location: St. Petersburg, FL

Well, we’re still here in St. Pete. The weather a couple days ago turned cold, cold enough to put on long johns. Okay, it was only in the mid 40’s for a few days but today it was back in the 70’s. I know many of you up north are probably shaking their heads.

We haven’t been doing a whole lot. Polished some stainless steel outside, installed a new navpod instrument housing so we could flush mount our radar (didn’t like the way it was previously installed), and went to West Marine bought a few spares for the boat. I removed the old analog engine water temperature gauge and replaced it with a Cruz Pro digital gauge with alarm. This unit will sound an alarm if our engine gets too hot so we’ll know if something’s wrong. Tried out our emergency tiller last week as well. It allows us to steer the boat in the event our steering cable breaks and we decided it would be best to see if it actually works before we head to Mexico. It does.

David went to dinner at a Japanese and Thai restaurant with some friends here on the dock. He had a Thai dish and after a few bites he found a big piece of plastic in his dish. They gave him a new dish and his dinner was free (remember the good word?). A week before he went of sushi with the same group and with all the mess ups in the orders he ended up getting his dinner for free. So I went to dinner last night with a couple of people on the dock to a nice steak joint. I looked so hard to see if there was any foreign matter in my dinner but no luck, so I paid the bill.

One of our neighbors here on the dock is up in New York for the week so she left David and I her car, a black VW Beetle. It’s been nice to do some running around without having to impose on others. One day this week we’re going to try and do some sight seeing. That’s if we have time. I started to disconnect all the hoses and wires on the engine today. We decided that it would be best to get the oil leak fixed so we have to pull the engine forward about three feet to work on it. That means the engine will be in the galley for a few days. To replace the $5 seal we have to disconnect the transmission from the engine so I’m sure we’ll have a few parts laying around. We got a quote from the mechanic and he wanted $1500 for labor alone so we’re going to try this ourselves first, then pay if we mess it all up. Got a lot of volunteers on the dock to help us move the engine out then back in. We’ll need it. So we’ll let you all know how it goes when we’re done.