2021: Longboat Key to Gulfport FL

 8 April 2021

Depart: Longboat Key anchorage 10:30

Arrive: Gulfport Municipal Marina 2:30

Distance: 29 nm

Conditions: sunny, warm, smooth seas

Around 9:00 or so I asked Clark if we would be leaving soon. He replied, "I'm eating breakfast and plan to leave when I'm done." Okay, I guessed that meant I had about 10 minutes or so. I went to the upper helm and noticed that the steering wheel had a lot of rust spots. I figured I had time to give it a quick polish. 

That job done,  I walked out into the cockpit looking for somewhere to use my leftover water and  saw that our throw ring was filthy dirty. I decided to work on that to kill a few more minutes. While I was doing that job, Clark yells out, "I'm going to do engine checks."

Clearly, I had more time to spare, so I  decided to clean the salt off the outside of the salon windows since that was another quick job and I could stop whenever he said, "Time to go!"

I managed to clean all  5 windows as well as the surrounding cockpit wall and still no indication that he was ready. I moved on to cleaning the dock box on our deck - also filthy. Just as I was finishing that job, he asked if he could "Start engines? " I stowed my bucket and sponge and moved to the upper helm for the lifting of the anchor. 

And to think I could have used that 10 minutes he said I had to continue reading the murder mystery I'm currently working on! We finally had the anchor up and were on our way at 10:30.

After we traveled for a while I asked Clark if he had taken any pictures today. He said no, so I grabbed the camera to get busy.

Clark slowed down to reduce his wake for these
Standup Paddle Boarders

The water was amazingly clear and 
we could easily see the shallow spots.

We saw quite a few dolphins and the
boats dolphin watching like the folks on
this floating Tiki hut.

We had bridges again today. At 11:35 we approached a bridge that would open at 11:45. Clark refused to hang around with the others waiting for the bridge to open. We dropped the mast so we could go under.

Lots of cars on the bridge and a few boats waiting
for the 11:45 opening including the 
S/V "No Hurry" shown here

We passed under the bridge about 11:40. As we approached the bridge the tender called to Clark on the radio to tell him the bridge would open shortly. Clark told him, "Thanks, but we're going for it". 

As we passed this mini pirate ship,
Sea Gypsy IV,
the crazies on board went wild yelling hello

a fast boat flew by

One of today's bridges had a crew nearby working to remove the old bridge. 

Bridge dismantling in progress

What a mess of reinforced concrete!

We also passed near the Tampa Bay Bridge.

Tampa Bay Bridge

We had to go out into the Gulf to get to Gulfport. Fortunately, we had calm seas again today.

Nosy egret at Gulfport Municipal Marina

Gulfport Marina - 
Gateway to the Gulf

Our purpose for coming to Gulfport was to visit Clark's cousin, Dawn. It has been a few years since we connected with her. She was busy at work until 7:00, so we had time to spare before she arrived at the marina. Last night and today Clark was focused on taxes, so I had free time.  

I guess I was in a cleaning mood. I picked up where I left off this morning. I grabbed a bucket and my Barkeeper's Friend and went to work scrubbing the chrome railings on the boat - back breaking work. They had rust spots similar to the upper helm steering wheel. It took more than a little elbow grease to clean them up. I finished my boat scrubbing at 5:00 and ran in for a quick shower before preparing dinner.

Dawn arrived just before 7:00. Clark's plan, of course, was to walk into Gulfport in search of ice cream. We walked several blocks into town, but the time passed quickly as we chatted away trying to catch up on happenings over the past couple of years. 

Ev and Clark's cousin Dawn under a natural arch

Spanish Moss

Williams Pier of Gulfport

Williams Pier 

Art near Ice Cream Store

Let It Be 
Homemade Ice Cream

Metal Sculpture at Gulfport

Dawn and Ev - downtown Gulfport

After our ice cream treat, we strolled the main drag of Gulfport and eventually headed back to the marina. As we walked along, Clark suddenly realized that he had not brought the key to the Marina's gate. We were locked out! Since all marina staff went home hours ago, it presented an interesting problem. I assumed Clark had the key since he used it earlier to get into the showers. He did not! Hmmmm!

The fence around the marina stood 8 foot or more in height. It did not look like something even Clark could climb over. As we walked along the fence wondering how we would get in, we saw a woman near a boat. Clark took off running and hopping over things to get to her before she disappeared. She agreed to meet us at the gate and let us in - I guess we looked harmless. 

She knew which boat we were on and asked, "Are you from Rumson?" We said yes and she said, "I'm from Red Bank!" (Red Bank is basically the next town over from Rumson.) As we walked towards our boats, we had a lovely chat about New Jersey. She now lives in the Gulfport area and was surprised to hear that we take the boat back and forth from Florida to New Jersey. 

Dawn sat on the boat and talked with us for a while before saying adios. It was great to reconnect and catch up. After she left, our dinner dishes, that I had no time for earlier, were waiting for me, so my chores for the day were still not done! I took care of that and then turned on the TV to listen while I worked on the blog update.

The sun went down while we were downtown, so we did not see the sun set tonight.