Depart: St. Petersburg, FL Municipal Marina 10:00
Arrive: Venice, FL Crow's Nest Marina 4:00
Distance: 52 NM
After a thoroughly enjoyable, but way-too-chilly stay in St. Petersburg, we pulled away from the cement dock for the last time on way to Venice to visit friends en route to the Florida Keys.
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| Last view of St. Petersburg, Florida for this trip |
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| Goodbye Sunshine Highway Bridge |
We saw very little boat traffic today with one exception.
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| Trawler Twins? in Tampa Bay |
Although slightly warmer today with partial sun, we had a lot of wind. I watched the wind meter for a while, and it consistently showed 20 to 22 knot winds. As we made our way towards the Gulf and turned more into the wind, we decided to close the front panel to cut the wind and the spray we saw that would soon be in our faces.
With wind it takes two, so Clark took the starboard side and I took the port side to close the panel. As I went to pull the zipper closed, I first heard "C-R-A-C-K!" and then "Shoot!" I turned to Clark and said, "What was that?"
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| The "glass" in the front panel was so brittle from the cold that it cracked. We now have an opening that covers half the width of the panel! The crack is near the bottom of the panel. |
To travel by water from St. Pete to Venice, we had two choices. We could go via the Gulf of Mexico, "on the outside", or the intra-coastal waterway. On the "inside" we would have more protection but would have to contend with bridges. On the outside, we expected 2 to 4-foot seas. Clark checked the forecasts and determined that we would have the wind at our backs with following seas. Based on that he chose the Gulf path for us today.
As we traveled west towards the Gulf leaving Tampa Bay, the waves hit us from the side (on the beam) making for a rocky trip. The stabilizers did a good job of cutting the effect of the waves. Even so, at one point our pocket camera, that was resting on the upper helm, took flight. Because of how it flew off the helm, it passed through the lower helm and ultimately landed in the galley - two sets of stairs below us. Clark eventually made his way down there to retrieve the camera. As far as we can tell, nothing is broken.
By taking the Gulf of Mexico route, we avoided playing the "Guess the Clearance" bridge game. Very soon after entering the Gulf, however, we found another game to play with crab traps I decided to call "Spot the Pot" or perhaps "Oh Crap! A Trap!" With the seas occasionally reaching 5 footers the crab traps appeared and disappeared at will as the waves came and went. Now you see it ... now you don't!
We traveled on the Gulf, about 3 miles offshore, for almost four hours. Our non-stop conversation for the duration of the trip, 30 nautical miles, went something like this ...
"Crab trap dead ahead"... "Another dead ahead" ... "Green one on port"... "Orange one on starboard" ... "Dead ahead"... "Another dead ahead".... "There's a whole line of them. Let's try over there." ... "Green on starboard" ... "Orange on port" ...
We entered the inlet at Venice just before 4:00, and because the Crow's Nest Marina is near the inlet, we docked shortly afterward. The wind caused a lot of salt spray, so as soon as we had the boat tied to the dock, we grabbed a couple of buckets of water and sponges and washed off the worst of the salt. I hate getting on / off the boat and coming away salty because I touched something coated in dried salt water. As soon as we finished cleaning up the boat, we headed for the showers to freshen ourselves up as well.
Two years ago, when we came to Venice as part of our Great Loop trip, I tried to connect with someone I knew from high school who winters in the area. Timing did not work out for us on that trip. Knowing I would be coming this way again this year, I reached out to her, and this time we managed to get together for dinner tonight.
Kathy Johnson Shull has been a faithful friend and sender of annual Christmas cards for years and years, but we have not seen each other since high school graduation - coming up on 46 years ago. We grew up together, attended school together from first grade, and lived "down the road" from each other. Obviously we had a lot of catching up to do. While Kathy and I did our reunion bit, Clark and Kathy's husband, Tom, got to know each other. Somehow, while we chatted away, the rest of the restaurant patrons departed. Suddenly we looked up and found we were the last folks seated at any of the tables. How did that happen?!
We decided we better leave as Kathy said the waitress kept giving her "the eye". Since we ate at the Crow's Nest, where we are docked, Tom and Kathy walked back to our boat with us to take a peak at Sunset Delight. Given the precarious positioning of the boat to the dock, they opted not to attempt embarking. We are docked for the night at the fuel dock - not the best arrangement. With the chilly temperatures, we found it too cold to talk on the docks, so we said our farewells hoping that we can get together again in the near future.
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