Cruising with the Littlest Grand Wonders

Today was suppose to be the least windy day of the week and the sun was suppose to come out this afternoon.  Wind was stronger and the sun never really appeared.

This was not going to spoil our day......the little ones were so excited about going to the boat this morning....in the end they said they wanted to be on the boat “forever”!  So fun!

As we began our trip they sat on the deck box with their daddy, Shawn.

Logan, 5 decided he would relax awhile by sitting on the deck and leaning back on the windshield.

Elijah, 3, finally sat still for a photo.

They shared the first mate's chair while eating a sandwich.  As a matter of fact it was hard to catch them when they were not eating!

Logan took the job of piloting the boat very very serious.... he never seem to grow tired & followed instructions so well that the Captain took a seat behind him.

Our daughter, Linda, and the family.

When we came back into port I think I surprised my daughter. She said, “Did I just see you swing your leg over that rail and jump down on the dock???!!!!  Yep!  That is the only way off the boat before the ladder is down and I had  to tie the stern line I had just thrown down on the dock.  Not bad for an old lady?

She also said that she was impressed with us...she said we never did such adventurous things before....well, before we knew her and her siblings....let's just say that some wild adventures gave way to diapers & the work of growing a family.

We expect to be here for another week visiting friends and family. The blog will continue around January 6 when we leave Ruskin, Florida, and anchor off Anna Marie Island making our way slowly to Ft. Myers, FL, where we will begin our trek through the state via Lake Okeechobee.

Happy New Year!!

Across Tampa Bay to Little Harbor

We left Johns Pass about 10a with only some clouds on the horizon. The Captain said we would have waves abeam today...uh oh! That would mean rolling from side to side...the easiest way to get sea sick!   But I was feeling so much better than yesterday that I decided to try it without the sea bands today.

There was plenty of shoaling so we carefully watched the depth gage and eased our way into the channel.

Not too far from last night's dock was Treasure Island where our Looper friends, Randy & Vicky live....AND when we spotted their boat ...nearly as big as their house!....we sent them a text that we were about to cruise by.  They were out waiting for us as we did.

It was so good to see them......again the boating community is filled with the nicest people.....We love the name of their boat, “Barefootin'”

After about 12 miles we were out in open water... yeah, rolling rolling rolling! Some of the worse we have experienced.  But I am happy to tell you that I never felt sick...hurray the sea legs are back!

Shortly after we docked at Little Harbor the reason for our stay here came along...our daughter Linda and hubby, Shawn, and our smallest Grand Wonders.....it appeared they might be making a Superman movie or at least advertising one.

Here are the little guys, Logan and Elijah.  We are invited to be with them early Christmas morning...just after Santa has arrives....what fun!

We will take a few days off from the blog to enjoy this time with family and to give my sister-in-law, Lorena, a break also...she has surprised us with the most wonderful Christmas present delivered to us today.....Three huge photo albums of our Great Loop Adventure...every blog, every picture, every detail.....we are totally amazed that she would take on such a project!  What a labor of love!!

Caladesi Island to John's Pass

We had to wait on high tide to get out in the channel which kept us in port until 11a. Then paying carefully attention to the markers we were soon across the large shoaling areas and into the deeper Intercoastal Waterway... ICW. And on our way to John's Pass, which is not a long way but there are lots of “no Wake” areas....places that we were required to slow down.

The water was beautiful, bumpy and full of white caps! We were glad we were not in the Gulf today.

Could I have possibly grown land legs while in Tarpon Springs for over three weeks?!   I did walk around town so much and our boat was stuck in the mud a lot and didn't move much.  Cruising again has affected me as it did at first.... I am wearing sea bands (for sea sickness)!  Even tonight parked at the dock we are occasionally getting rolled sideways... yeah, I still have those tight little bands around my wrists.

The land along the ICW, especially on the beach side, is crowded with high rise condominiums.

There were many Causeway bridges we had to get under...most were plenty high but 3 were too low for our mast so the Captain lowered it. These bridges link the mainland with the beach/Gulf side.

Large mansions lined the waterway.  Some looked like hotels but many are private individual homes.

Here are some condos with boat slips.

Could this be Mary Kay's house?... it's the right color....no she lives in Dallas, TX,  I think.

A small colorful house among the big estates.

You never know what you are going to see in Florida waters... a Pirate Ship!

Once docked we had to hose off the salt water on the boat. The Isinglass was foggy with salt, too... turned out the best thing was just lots of water on it instead of the mixture I usually use.

Then I got so excited because I found out there were two Publix Grocery stores with docks nearby!  There was also a man that for a small fee would drive you there and back...no way!... did I want to do that when I could go in the dinghy with Walter and we could tie up at a dock and gather our groceries??...... it just sounded so unique! 

Walter is off to make a scouting run to see if the dinghy could get under a bridge which would be a short cut so we would not have to go out in the ICW again this afternoon.

He was quickly back saying under that bridge was a thicket of mangroves... we would have to go the other way.  We left this pelican who was on a pile close to the boat to watch over Miss gg while we left in the dinghy.

Leaving boat...

......tried to get both of us in the 2^nd photo here but just got the Captain.... my straw hat is showing bottom right corner.

Here is a large home with unusual chimneys that we saw on our way to resupply the boat.

I had hoped to show you the Publix dock and all our groceries loaded into the dinghy but alas we could not find the store!!  It is one thing to go over those bumpy waves and white caps in Miss gg but quite another when your dinghy is going up one wave and slamming down on the next!....would we have made it back with dry groceries?? I was hanging on for dear life... and I had thought this was going to be such a lark!   In the end it was too late to go get groceries so we made do with a tiny bit of leftovers for dinner.

Tomorrow we will see our youngest Grand Wonders in Ruskin, FL...all the way across Tampa Bay... should not be a long trip but there is a lot of open water.....I do hope the Bay settles down before we get in it......

A Beautiful Deserted Beach

Caladesi Island is a state park off the coast of Dunedin, FL reachable only by boat...although I did hear about a “sand spit” which goes out in the water from Clearwater Beach, FL (a town south of Dunedin) where you can “walk” to the Island. When we first went to explore the beach last night we ran into this guy, a Gopher Tortoise.

They are a protected species, unlawful to touch or disturb in any way AND you are suppose to observe them from a distance....of course we read the sign about them after this encounter.

This morning for nearly 3 hours I had the beach to myself...this is surely one of the best kept secrets in Pinellas Co. OR is this the reason there were so few folks around?

Never saw any snakes as I walked the entire beach but there were plenty of footprints.

Empty beach chairs that you can rent for the day.

Behind me is the Gulf of Mexico and a soft rolling surf.

Looking toward the north.

Southward

Many shells of Horseshoe Crabs were on the beach.

I didn't see the sandman until returning from the north end of the beach...don't know how I missed this cutie!

Close up of a fun time.

Small Chid's Footprint

If you walk beyond where the footprints are you can find some pretty sea shells.

This is the far end of the beach looking south.  You can see how the mangroves have captured sand and made land.

Here you are looking through the clear water.

I was glad to know that Big Bird made it to Caladesi beach!  This is one footprint from a trail of them running across the sand to the water's edge. This print is over 6 inches from the three front toes to the tip of that one back toe!

After 3 hours the heat was getting close to the record breaking 84 degrees today so I left for the AC of the boat... as I did the first ferry boat was landing bringing only a handful of people from the mainland...this was Saturday!.... more did come on the next boat but it never got crowded.....

Goodnight Sun, Goodnight all!

Waiting for Water

The tide was out, way out, this morning so we waited..... here's a   peek at the mud beach across from our boat.  Normally, we can't see this area... a whole new thing to deal with now until we get back to NC will be Tides.

We were sitting in the mud... wind blowing but Miss gg was still..... we knew exactly when the mud released her.  At 1031a I stood up to see what passing boat, probably a fishing boat, had rocked us...but there was no boat... we were free from the mud and dancing around at the dock as we normally do in the wind.  Yet there was not enough water to get underway.

Our plan was for a short cruise to Caladesi Island and to anchor out near the Island and later dinghy in to shore. While we waited this fella landed on our bow rail.

 It seems he wanted to hitch a ride to the Island with us....so after he posed for his close up...the Captain tried to explain that we were not taking any passengers today... mind you the rail is about 2.5 feet high and this bird was another 3 feet including that sharp beak!  He and the Captain were looking about eye to eye when Walter finally convinced him to leave!

At 1120a we had enough water to maneuver out of the shallow channel and into the Anclote River. These shrimp boats were in at the commercial fishing docks.

We had not noticed the names on them before..... we loved them!

A few days ago we met the captain of “After Math” …. he passed us coming in from anchoring out the night before.... we think... he is still working and likes a change of scene so sometimes works aboard his boat.  He blew his horn as he passed to tell us good-bye.

As we approached the Dunedin Causeway I wanted Walter to ask them to open the bridge but instead he lowered our mast.....we have multiple strands of christmas lights on the mast so I was concerned about breaking those.

However, he didn't have to put it all the way down....we scooted under the bridge just fine.

As we neared the channel for Caladesi we noticed the depths all around were very shallow.... we feared anchoring out might leave us listing hard to one side when the tide went out...at the dock, Miss gg was more of less propped against the fenders and the dock when she sank in the mud... but out in this shallow bay?... well, we called the park dept at the Island and found out there was dock space for us so we slowly worked our way into the channel, zig zagging until we saw the docks...empty except for one other boat... we could take our pick!

A lot of the island is mangroves like pictured here.This is how some islands get their start. The roots capture the weeds, silt and dirt moving through the water to make land.

No one is there at the Island to help with docking.  I had wondered what I would remember after being in port for so long.... but it all came back.  

At least I thought it had come back....the captain kept saying he would dock on the starboard side of our boat...I had all the lines there ready....then I helped him back up watching the dinghy engine ease around a pile because it sticks out on the port side....I noticed there was no dock on the starboard side!...what?! Then I said, “Captain, this, (banging on the side of the boat below his perch on the bridge) is the PORT side, right?

Captain: "RIGHT!"  

Okay, then the first mate scrambled to move the lines over to the other side of Miss gg..........I climbed off the boat via the engine room vent, jumped down and tied us up.....Oh!  Of course the Captain redid the ties after turning off the engines and getting down himself. The boat always needs adjusting...we pulled it forward a bit & put another spring line on the mid aft cleat.  We were tied up by 1:45p.  I could easily get used to this cruising style.... short days.

It was in the 80s at Caladesi Island and I was not ready to go out in the sun just yet. So we sat in the shade on the sun deck where a cool breeze off the water tossed my hair every which way.  We listened to the surf breaking not very far away while breathing in the warm salty air.... AND....we knew, we were Blessed!