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!