2018: Gulfport Florida

11/30/2018
No travel.

Clark reserved two nights at the Gulfport Municipal Marina to guarantee that we would receive our "snail" mail that we had forwarded here. As it turned out, it arrived yesterday, so no worries on that front. We took advantage of the extra day to take care of miscellaneous chores. I dusted, vacuumed and did laundry.

While I did those chores, Clark worked on his display units. The boat has three chart plotter displays - one on the upper helm and two in the pilot house. Clark decided to put the newly repaired unit in the upper helm and install the blue pads that the repair person had sold him for the other two units to be used in the pilot house. That meant that he had to uninstall all three units, work on them, and then put them back in their new locations of choice. He basically did a "shift left" of the units as each one moved over one slot from its original position on the boat.

In the picture below, the blue pads are used to conduct heat away from the coil to prevent it overheating. The coil shown below is the bad one returned to us by the repairman.

Coil generates high voltage to operate the back light;
The blue pads conduct heat away from the coil.

Blue pads installed - attached to coil.

With three units involved, the install-and-configure activity turned into an almost-all-day event. Even so, Clark did manage to capture a few photos during the course of the day.

Friendly bird by the marina office

He hung around all day long

Highly-decorated, "disco" , pelican
by marina office

Fish statue near marina office

Mural-painted support posts at marina

We could throw a stone from our boat and hit the fuel dock across the water from us. Unfortunately, we can't walk on water. Instead, we have a very long walk from our dock all the way around the marina to get to the marina office, restrooms, and laundry.

Since we were here in 2015, the marina has been upgraded significantly and added new restrooms and a captain's lounge. The facility is very nice with two exceptions. First, for security purposes, a key is required to get onto our dock. Okay, that is good. What is bad is that a key is required to get off the dock. That seems to me to be a nasty fire hazard. What if a fire broke out in one of the boats, we could not get off the dock without a key. As if that is not bad enough, we got one key for the two of us. With the long hike to the restroom, we have to go together, or one person is stuck on board until the other comes back.

The second, not-so-favorable thing about this marina is the cost of doing laundry. I have been paying about $1.50 per wash elsewhere. Here the price is $2.25 per load, and the washer capacities are relatively small. Even so, the wash price is not totally outside the range of acceptable charges. What is crazy here is the charge of $0.25 for 5 minutes of dry time on the dryer. I wiped out a roll of quarters on two loads of laundry. Even a dock hand who works at this marina thinks the dryer charge is outrageous. He told me that one of the regular tenants hangs her laundry from her boat for all to see in rebellion against the dryer charges.

Besides working on display units and taking pictures, Clark filled our water tanks to make the boat ready to anchor out on our trip to Marathon. Hopefully, the weather will be warm enough that we won't feel the need to run to a marina for electricity, i.e. heat.

At the end of the day, we got a visit from the Gulfport AGLCA harbor hosts. They brought a bottle of wine to share, and I provided cheese and crackers for a mini docktails. Having been in Gulfport previously, the three of us mostly talked about boat travel in Canada and the Bahamas. We shared our blog URL so they can read about our explorations over the years.

With all the activity today, I found myself quite impressed with Clark's ability to capture an amazing picture of the evening sky with a beautiful reflection of the sky and sailboats at the marina.

Reflections of a cloudy night
at Gulfport Municipal Marina.

2018: Bradenton to Gulfport FL

11/29/2018
Depart: Regatta Pointe Marina Bradenton 12:45
Arrive: Gulfport Municipal Marina 3:25
Distance: 21 NM

This morning good news came with a phone call telling Clark that he could come collect his display unit. As soon as we could get ourselves together, we made our way out to the front of the marina to call for a ride from Lyft. Magically, Lyft must have read my mind that I would be needing a ride because only the night before I got a 10% off coupon in my email. Good timing on their part as I would have gone to Uber as my default choice.

We did not get off the boat last night after docking, so we got our first look around as we walked out to the street for our ride.

Regatta Pointe Marina, Palmetto, Florida

Floating Chapel at Marina

Now a private home

Restaurant, Restrooms, and Laundry Facilities

The Lyft driver took us to our stop, waited for Clark to collect the unit and pay, and then drove us back to the marina. Very carefully, Clark carried his display unit back to the boat.

Raymarine Chart Plotter Display

Since we needed groceries and Publix was only .9 miles away, we grabbed our bikes and took off for the grocery store almost as soon as we got back from our Lyft ride. It was a bit chilly but we still enjoyed the outing. We even found some sights to explore on the way back from the store.

Palmetto Historical Park

Palmetto Historical Park

Military Museum
at Palmetto Historical Park

Chapel at Palmetto Historical Park

We have started to see more and more Christmas decorations. Today we found Santa on a boat.

Santa on the flybridge; The Grinch on the bow

We finally left Palmetto just before one and headed over the bay to the St. Petersburg area and Gulfport specifically. As we prepared to leave, Clark said, "We can take the shorter way or the longer way to get there." Obviously there was a catch to taking the shorter route. Apparently, it offered a lot more areas of low water to watch out for. Naturally, we took the shorter path.

Shoaling to the port

Shoaling to the starboard

"Danger Shallow Water"

Carcass of an old shipwreck
near Danger Shallow Water sign

I shouted out depths as we crossed to the Gulfport area. The depth differences were amazing. Keeping to the channel, we saw 22 feet and 0.9 feet of water and just about everything in between. We had to be on constant alert. We were very happy to see the entrance to the Gulfport Municipal Marina.

Gulfport Marina - just around the corner

We were last at this marina as part of our Great Loop trip in December 2015. It brought back fun memories to come back here.

View of the marina from our boat

Gulfport Marina docks

The docks at Gulfport Marina

Docks at Gulfport Marina

Clark's cousin, Dawn, lives in a town near Gulfport. Since we would be in the area, he made arrangements for her to meet us for dinner tonight. She picked us up at 6:00 and drove us to the Gulfport Family Diner. We had a short but very pleasant visit while she took a break from work.

When the waitress came to tell us she needed to collect the rest of our dishes for the last load in the dishwasher, we knew we had overstayed our welcome and needed to leave the restaurant. Dawn took us back to the docks where we decided we needed to commemorate our get together with a group photo.

Clark tried to set the camera timer to take our picture. It did not work well. We laughed so hard that one of the local boaters on the dock came up to investigate our antics. Clark talked him into taking our photo. When Dawn said, "... and we haven't even been drinking", he replied, "Yeah, and I believe that one." As he took the pictures, he kept making comments about the guy with two gals.

After multiple attempts, we got a couple of keepers.

Dawn and Ev 

3 Trouble makers - Clark, Ev, and Dawn

2018: Venice to Bradenton FL

11/28/2018
Depart: Venice Crow's Nest Marina 10:00
Arrive: Palmetto / Bradenton Regatta Pointe Marina 3:15
Distance: 45 NM

When I woke, I checked my phone for the current temperature and discovered that the temperature outside at 8:00 a.m. was yet lower than it had been at 4:00 in the morning. The projected temps showed a high at 2:00 of 61. It would definitely be a cold ride today!

We debated our travel plan for today from Venice, Florida northward to Bradenton. Our two choices included the inside route with slow-speed zones and bridges to be opened or the outside route on the Gulf of Mexico. Following our discussion, Clark seemed to be decided on the inside route.

Before we left the dock, Clark called to see if our display unit would be available for pick up today. With an answer in the affirmative, he made a reservation to stay at a marina tonight, so we could collect it.

The owner of the boat Clark helped move last night, "Dolphin",  helped us with our lines this morning to help us on our way. Just as I pulled in our last line Clark said, "I think I'll poke the nose out into the gulf to see what it looks like out there." I knew with that seemingly innocent statement that we would most definitely be traveling on the outside today. The wave heights were predicted to be 5 foot decreasing to 2-to-4 feet in the afternoon.

In the Gulf, Clark plugged in a waypoint, and the chart plotter showed the time to our turn off the Gulf as 3.5 hours. Initially, we just rolled over the oncoming waves. In the afternoon, however, when wave heights were supposed to decrease, they seemed to increase in height. With the increase came bouncing and the associated spray. Over and over again, spray shot up over the top of the boat and covered our eyeglasses with salt spray.

Between the repeated showers and the cold wind, I suggested that we move to the warmer and dryer pilot house. Of course, I could not convince him to budge. I stood behind the upper helm chair for over an hour for protection from the wind and spray. Unfortunately, the salt film on my sunglasses made it hard to see the countdown timer to know how much longer we had until the spray might stop.

As soon as we turned to exit the Gulf, the wave impact diminished, the spray and bouncing stopped, and we had a pleasant ride into the Bradenton area. Clark reconsidered the reservation at Twin Dolphins marina that he had made in the morning as being too expensive a place to stay tonight. He called an alternate marina in Palmetto, across the Manatee River, to check on availability.

Once confirmed, he canceled our Twin Dolphins stay. The quoted rate at Regatta Pointe was a dollar per foot less than that quoted at Twin Dolphins. However, the 12% "resort" tax jacked the price up. Given that, we did not save as much, but we still saved with the new reservation.

View of Bradenton, Florida from our boat

Park near Bradenton, Florida

We had ourselves checked in and our lines secured by 3:30. However, when Clark called the repair person so we could come collect our unit, he got no answer and no call back. This was not an entire surprise as Clark was told when they spoke this morning that the person we had to meet was suffering a stomach ailment. Apparently, he went home early today. Hopefully, he will be in the office tomorrow.

While we waited to see if we would get a call back, we took out a bucket of water each and started washing the salt off the boat. Thick salt coated every inch of the outside of the boat. After an hour and a half of washing down the boat, I quit.. Clark, on the other hand, stayed out washing away salt until after 6:00. As he washed the boat, the sun went down, and he got some spectacular shots of the sky.

Sunset so brilliant it looks like the sky is on fire!

2018: Punta Gorda to Venice FL

11/26/2018
No boat travel.

When we woke this morning, Clark found that he had missed a phone call from the repairman related to work on one of our Raymarine display units. He immediately called him back, found out he was available to work on our unit, and pulled out the tools required to remove the unit from the console. Clark was so intent on getting the unit up to Bradenton to get worked on that I worried he would forget to eat breakfast. I made something for him and "forced" him to take time to eat before he ran off.

Our friend Jim, whose dock we were using, offered to drive Clark to Bradenton to drop off the unit for repair. The two of them drove there while Carol and I stayed in Punta Gorda and spent time talking. The guys were back in time for lunch.

We agreed that we would check out the restaurant Carmelo's for dinner tonight. With rain in the forecast, we wanted to eat inside. They could not accommodate that but they did have a covered outdoor seating section. Our timing worked out well as we finished our dinner just as the wind picked up. We decided to leave before the rain came.

As we walked out of the restaurant, we had to dodge flying umbrellas - the kind that cover tables. The wind had taken two of them and swept them across the courtyard. As we ducked out of the restaurant, two waitstaff wrestled to get the wind-blown umbrellas under control. Jim has a great sense of humor. He asked the waitress fighting the umbrella if she remembered the story of Mary Poppins. The waitress replied, "I always did want to fly!"

Walking across the parking lot, Clark said, "I feel drops." Jim replied, "Walk faster!" We made it to the car just as the rains came. As we closed the car doors, it turned into a deluge. One minute more and we would have been soaked.

We got out of the car inside the garage, so we stayed dry throughout. Clark and Jim talked the rest of the night away. Sadly, we leave tomorrow. They had to get in all their talking before we could leave.


11/27/2018
Depart: Punta Gorda Private Dock 10:35
Arrive: Crow's Nest Marina, Venice, FL 4:35
Distance: 44 NM

Before leaving Punta Gorda, Clark spent time this morning making reservations at a marina for a couple of days from now. The exact date for completion of the display unit repair was unclear but hopefully Wednesday. Given that, Clark did not make a reservation for Wednesday night to give himself flexibility depending on whether or not the repair is done.

While he took care of reservation planning, I took advantage of the excellent WiFi to watch an episode of my Netflix show. We walked up to the house shortly after 9:30 to say goodbye to our hosts. Jim and Carol made homemade oatmeal, which Clark helped them eat. By the time we finally said our farewells, it was after 10:00. We pulled in our final lines and left the dock about 90 minutes later than originally planned.

View of canal at Punta Gorda

With the cold front that moved in last night, we had much colder temperatures than yesterday. When we got out in Charlotte Harbor, we got hit with frigid winds. My phone showed a local temperature of 65 degrees, but with the wind, it felt at least 20 degrees colder. The winds clocked in at 20 knots with gusts to 25 kts or higher.  We realized that coats and scarfs would be required since we planned to make the trip sitting at the upper helm.  Brrrrr!

The trip to Venice took about six hours.  We saw lots of water and not much else.

Old bridge remains

Old bridge remains

Line of birds standing on sand watching us go by

Unfortunately, the bulk of today's travel took us straight into the north winds. We finally got a little relief when the sun came out as we entered the canal approach into Venice.

Bike trail along the canal

Bikers on Bike Trail in Venice

Clark pointed out the bike trail to me and reminded me that we had ridden here a couple of years ago. It brought back fun memories.

We arrived at the Crow's Nest marina in Venice just after 4:00. Our holding tank monitor showed that it was time for another pump-out. Before going to our slip for the night, we stopped at the fuel dock to take care of "business".

Clark lined the boat up with the fuel dock to let the wind do the work to land us. My, oh my, did that work! The wind caught us broadside and pushed us in so hard that Clark could not effectively control our landing speed using both the bow and stern thrusters together. We came in hard, but fortunately, the marina has nice fenders that we landed up against.

The pump out was unbelievably fast. Where last time, it took 45 minutes, this time it took less than 10. That was the good news. The bad news ... we had to figure out how to get ourselves off the dock with the wind holding us hard in place.

Clark worked out a plan of action to get us off. The dockhand and I walked the boat astern until we had the midships line at the last piling on the dock. He wrapped the line around the cleat there and then Clark backed on the line and turned the boat into the wind. I yelled for the dockhand to release the line, and we were free!

We moved the short distance to the next dock where transients dock. Expecting the wind to do its work for us again, Clark lined up the boat with our assigned space and waited for the wind to push. As we sat there, we wondered, "Where did the wind go?" Given the fast ride we had at the fuel dock, we were amazed that we had no wind force to push us. Slowly the boat traveled sideways to where I could throw lines to the men waiting on the dock to help us in.

Later, as the sun got lower and lower in the sky, the owner of the boat docked in front of us decided that he had had enough rocking, and just before the sun set, he pulled in his lines and moved to the back side of the fixed dock where we are tied up. Clark ran out to help him as he had helped us as we came in to dock. Clark thought the move might help the other guy and hurt us as his boat had been blocking some of our wave action.

Even though we put fenders in place, the wind beat us up all evening. The fenders rubbed up and down the poles on the dock making a terrible squealing sound every time. I had to wonder how I would manage to sleep tonight through the screeching noises.  Clark checked his wind finder application on the phone and said that the winds should die down during the night and pick up again in the morning.

Unfortunately, the temperature tonight is supposed to drop down to 45. Travel tomorrow should be even colder than today. As we may be anchoring out if the display unit is not ready for pickup, it will be reminiscent of our cold nights coming down the east coast. I guess I will be digging out that electric blanket yet again.

Sunset in Venice, FL

2018: Punta Gorda FL

11/25/2018
No boat travel.

Carol and Jim treated us to breakfast by their pool. As with yesterday, the talk / chatter was non-stop. During our discussion, Jim suggested that we visit Fisherman's Village as a local point of interest. We piled into the car for a very entertaining afternoon.

Christmas at Fisherman's Village in
Punta Gorda, FL

We found a park bench photo opportunity that we could not resist.

Christmas Mural and Bench

As we strolled through the area, we passed a shop displaying some interesting clocks.

At various points along the walkway, we found murals.

A giant teddy bear just begged to be cuddled.

We even found Santa hearing Christmas wishes from kids

and dogs!

We decided to eat lunch at Scotty's Brewhouse.

From where we sat, we had a great view of the water and the colorful villas nearby.

Colorful Villas reminded Clark of the Bahamas

We agreed that we would stop for ice cream (a Looper tradition) before heading home. With that in mind, I kept my lunch light to leave room. After we left the restaurant, we headed towards the ice cream shop. Along the way, Clark and Jim spied a blown up, large-sized chart of the local waters. An hour later (I do not exaggerate), they were still pointing at areas on the chart and talking. Finally, Carol and I reminded them that we were there too, and we continued on our way for ice cream.

The ice cream shop we chose (there were several options) sold coffee and ice cream. While I studied the ice cream flavors, Clark took pictures of their interesting 50's decor.

A "single" serving consisted of two scoops of ice cream. Each of us got waffle cones with our favorite flavors.

On our way to Fisherman's Village, I noticed some interesting topiary in a park that we drove by. Clark reminded Jim that we had planned to stop there on our way back home, so Jim took us to explore the park. It turned out to be a nature park with a 1/2 mile trail.

We found the topiary I had seen from the car.

Birds
with Jim, Carol, and Ev in background

Dolphins

Afterwards, we walked the trail.

Along the way we read the various signs about the flora and fauna -with some expected and some surprising critters.

Armadillo

Rattlesnakes - Yikes!

Fiddler Crab

Great Blue Heron

As we left the park, we noticed a pretty sunset happening. Jim rushed us home, so Clark could jump out of the car, run around the side of the house, and get a picture! As he lined up his shot, a sailboat passed by - what great timing!

Sunset at Punta Gorda Isles