Actual Boating

Sarasota Bay
1/26/13
Saturday

Dear Blog Listeners,

We did it, one day out and no calamities!!!  I have to say that we are proud of ourselves.  We left Palmetto at 0830 and headed down the Manatee River toward the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW).  Luckily, no wind, so getting out of the dock was “el perfecto”.  We stopped five miles down the way at the advice of a friend  just to check everything out, make sure the machinery was okay and that we would know how to use the windlass (anchoring device) when it was time to stop. Had some lunch, watched the dolphins playing, and then headed out.

Our first lesson was a bridge. Hmmm, the gauge at the bridge read 20 feet which is exactly our clearance, we think.  I might have just tried it but I travel with a much more careful and detail oriented person.  So we practiced our turns and our backing when finally the bridge guy calls us on the radio and says “Hey Trawler,  I see you circling around down there captain, what’s your plan?”  They are ever so polite, saying captain and sir (even though I was piloting the helm) but you wonder what they are actually thinking.  Geoff admitted to us being newbies (as if he couldn’t tell) and the bridge operator instructed us in the time of the next bridge raising.  We followed a sailboat through and all was well, until they blast this crazy alarm to say the bridge is closing and  you think you did something wrong and the Coast Guard is coming after you.

By 4PM we anchored in Sarasota Bay, Buttonwood Harbor.  We saw several Osprey on the way in so we knew that this was our spot. Geoff took his dinghy ride while I napped. Really, paying this much attention is hard work!!   I awoke to the moonrise over starboard and a beautiful sunset to port.  Our anchor seems to be holding.  Our only worry is that the depth sounder is reading “0” even though the boat is floating nicely.  I explained to Geoff that you always have to check the patient especially if the machine is reading flat line!!  He must be comfortable with that, he just conked out! Goodnight All!