Day 392-393
Sunday we checked the weather when we got up and it looked like we would have a respite from the wind that afternoon for long enough to get to Sarasota. We spent the morning putting the flybridge cushions back, reinstalling the bimini canvas, removing and stowing extra dock lines and getting the boat ready to travel. Our marina's diesel fuel supply had water in it, so we had to pull around to another marina up the river to refill our aft tank. By the time we actually started on the 5-mile no-wake trip down the river it was after 11:00am. Once we got out to the Gulf Intra-Coastal Waterway it was BUSY! The channel is narrow and I believe everyone with a boat was out on the water that day. On the west coast of Florida nobody watches their wake, nobody slows down, so as it turned out we had to contend more with wakes than with wind driven waves,
After one wrong turn that I had plotted wrong on the chart plotter, we got back on track and finally reached the largest body of water left in our trip, Tampa Bay. Below is a picture of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay.
We crossed Tampa Bay and reentered the smaller waterways until finally the Sarasota skyline appeared and we approached our marina for the night. With our unplanned detour it was an 80-mile day.
We pulled into "Marina Jack" and as often happens due to our wide beam we were put on the megayacht dock next to the 100 footers. This whole marina seemed to be mostly 60 foot or above yachts.
This green heron kept hanging around a crapping on our dock lines to let us know we were in the wrong marina.
Sharon walked around and took some photos of tour boats, megayachts, and the waterfront park.
This was the first time we had seen valet parking at a marina.
This line of cars in the valet parking lot are from left to right a Lexus, a BMW, a Ford (sorry), a Tesla, an Acura, a Cadillac, and a Bentley.
Yes, a Bentley Mulsanne. You too can own one for just $306,425.00
We stayed an extra day here because the next day looked windy. We had some trouble with the starboard engine being hard to start the last couple of days, so while we were here I pulled apart the starboard stateroom to check the starting battery. It turned out that the battery was original to the boat, over 10 years old. I found a nearby NAPA store that was willing to deliver to the marina, so I got a new starboard starting battery and installed it. I also checked the port battery and found that it was newer, so I did not replace it. One more long run to Fort Myers and we will be finished our loop, and we ae anxious to be finished and take a break from the boat for a while.
Oh, I almost forgot . . . . . A Maserati to you, too.
No comments :
Post a Comment