Cayo Costa, FL - anchorage

Saturday 1/6/2018

Depart: Crow’s Nest, Venice, Florida 11:30

Arrive: Cayo Costa Anchorage 3:10

Distance: 31 NM

Knowing we had a relatively short distance to travel today, we slept late, showered, and relaxed until close to 11:00 when we started preparing to pull in our lines and move on. The wind caused a similar scenario as yesterday when we had no real need for lines due to the wind holding us against the dock.

The trip in the Gulf of Mexico yielded no surprises – just dolphins and crab traps for most of the way. The tricky part of the voyage came into play as we neared Cayo Costa State Park and the depth finder squealed out an alarm that we had low water below the boat. The alarm is set to sound as soon as we get below two feet of water. As we found more, then less, water, the alarm went off repeatedly as the depth finder went above and then again below two feet depth. One foot of water was the lowest we saw, but even that is disconcerting. We took it slowly and felt our way in based on past experience with the area.

Just before we left the Gulf of Mexico, I went into the galley to cook dinner. When under way, or when the generator is running, electricity is basically “free” on Sunset Delight.  I wanted to take advantage of the electric to cook my pasta in my electric deep fryer that I use as a saucepan. Timing worked out well as I finished cooking just before we arrived at Cayo Costa and the depth alarm started sounding. Thus, I was available to help watch the depths as we crept closer and closer to our anchorage for the night.

Dock for Cayo Costa State Park

Not a very busy anchorage tonight

Finally! a sunset picture!
(we could not see sunsets in St. Pete as they were blocked by the buildings)

Fortunately, we found several digital television signals, so we had all the major networks for entertainment tonight. As we sat eating dinner and watching the CBS news, we could hear the wind getting louder and louder and feel the boat rocking around accordingly. It'll be "Rock a' Bye Baby" for sleeping tonight!