March 26, 2015: Dunedin to Bayport

Sleeping is usually hard the first night of a cruise but we both slept well. The bar (located about 10' from our boat) did close at 10, and by the time we were ready to turn in, all was quiet. Up at 7:15, we got our customary leisurely start, leaving the dock at 9:30. It was dead calm in the marina, but by the time we were out in the Intracoastal Waterway there was a light breeze from the SW. We powered a couple of miles to the Dunedin Causeway, the last bridge on the Gulf Coast going north. Then we raised the sails and cruised at at decent speed with the genoa wung out on the whisker pole. The wind, still behind us, gradually increased to 12 kts, giving us all the speed we could hope for. By the time we passed through St. Joseph Sound and reached Anclote Key it was turning from a breeze to a wind. It continued to increase throughout the afternoon. We changed from the genoa to the working jib, but the fitting on the end of the whisker pole pulled out. It will be an easy fix, just held on with an adhesive; I should be able to fix it underway, maybe better then it was. The wind increased to about 17 kts, we dropped the smaller jib, and as the wind's fetch increased as we scooted north, so did the seas. The side-to-side rolling became uncomfortable so we diverted 10 degrees to the west to put ourselves on a broad reach. After a half hour we jibed and reached back the other way. It didn't slow us down, and the boat's motion was much better. Our two choices for a day's destination were Hernando Beach and Bayport. Hernando Beach has probably the worst marina anywhere. You have to climb over a derilect boat to get ashore, the gates are locked at 8 p.m., construction on the bathrooms stopped in mid-job, and at 3 a.m. the commercial fishermen come in, yelling at each other. So we didn't go there. We had stopped at Bayport once before, though none of the cruising guides even mention it as a possible place to get in out of the Gulf. Bayport has neither a bay nor a port, just a shallow entrance to the Weekie Watchie River. Shallow as in 4 feet at high tide in places in the channel. We poked around as far upriver as we could, looking for a deep enough anchorage out of the channel.  We settled for a spot on the edge of the channel, and anchored just ahead of the arrival of a strong cold front with plenty of wind and rain. The forecast is for more wind and rain tomorrow, and we may just stay here. With the storm raging outside, Sandy cooked up a delicious dinner of cajun chicken and summer squash.