April 14 to Home

It's a long sail from Sarasota to home, but the weather forecast is for a strong southerly wind today, which would be downwind. If we go only part way, we would be slogging home Monday against an equally strong northwest wind. Easy choice. We stirred our bones early and cast off for home.

We had 15-20 kts behind us on Sarasota Bay. Sailing with reefed main alone at hull speed. A couple of gusts overcame the autopilot and we broached, but no harm done.  Near the north end of Sarasota Bay we seemed to be moving slowly even though the wind hadn't let up, as if we were dragging an anchor. In fact, we were. The lanyard which secures the anchor had either come loose or been left loose when we took in dock lines. I hauled up the anchor with no damage and a check mark on my lifetime bonehead bucket list.

Crossing Tampa Bay with a good chop and strong following wind had us rolling uncomfortably but enjoying the fast ride. We crossed the bay from the Anna Maria Bridge to inside Pass a Grille in 2 hrs. 57 min. A passage not soon to be bettered by Carina.

Home without further incident. A long to-do list of improvement ideas and a few minor repairs to be done.

We especially enjoyed ourselves on this cruise. A normal supply of challenges but plenty of good sailing, good eating, comfortable sleeping, not too hot, mostly, and unflagging morale. We're getting better and better at this.

April 13, 2019 to Sarasota

With a decent southerly wind and an engine that works and stays cool, we had a choice of sailing from Venice in the Gulf or inside in the waterway. For no other reason than that we'd done this stretch outside on the way south, we chose the waterway. Probably a good choice, as he wind increased steadily all day. Sailing downwind we made good time and put in at Marina Jack, where we stopped on the way down. They cater to many more yachty boats than Carina, but it was the right distance for the day and the marina is conveniently right downtown. After a sloppy docking, thanks to the marina hand not doing what she was told, we relaxed for a while before assembling the bike. We rode a short distance to church for a Saturday vigil Mass, then to a Greek cafe for dinner. Back to the boat just at dark, put the bike away, and settled down contentedly for the rest of the evening. A good day, but the afternoon was hot. We need to start our spring cruises in March; we don't swim much anyway, and it's easier to stay warm than cool.

April 12, 2019 at Venice

We'd arranged for the mechanic to come late afternoon, so we assembled the tandem bike and went shopping. A power cord had given both of us a shock in the last two days, so we headed to West Marine for a proper shore power cord. While we were there the mechanic called; at the boat. I told him where to find to key so he could get to work. By the time we got back, he'd found and fixed the problem. There was a clog in the gose between the seawater inlet and the engine's water pump, so there was very little water getting through. I sort of should have found that, but didn't know the signs.

We spent the rest of the day grocery shopping, reading, napping, staying out of the sun, and doing laundry. An excellent late dinner ashore at the Crow's Nest by the dock.

All fixed, provisioned, and ready to move on tomorrow.

Apr. 11 to Venice

Wind too light to sail, and engine overheating problem precluded powering, so we tied the dinghy alongside and towed Carina with the dinghy's 3 1/2 hp. motor. Didn't do badly at all; made 2 kts with the motor at half speed. Wouldn't want to try it in rough weather or against any kind of wind, but did OK in these conditions. Reached Venice early afternoon. Initially couldn''t find dockage, so investigated a city park with a boat ramp and a small non-overnight dock. would have served us fine, as there's an anchorage nearby. But did find dockage near Venice Inlet and settled down to await mechanic serice tomorrow. Docked next to a couple we met in 2017, Mike and Lou Denny from Safety Harbor, on an Island Packet 27. Mike had ideas about the source of the cooling problem, and we tried a couple of things, but no joy. Dinner aboard and a quiet night, once the boat traffic settled down.

Apr. 10 still at Engelwood.

The engine overheated shortly after we got underway. I did what I could but unable to fix it myself. The wind has come around to the W too much to sail up the waterway to look for svc so we sailed back down to the marina we'd just left. Plenty of sympathy here but unable to find diesel service locally. Forecast is a fair wind tomorrow so we can sail N. Finally contacted a mechanic who can meet us Friday at Venice, 10 mi. N. So we'll sail there tomorrow, Thur. Marina lady here gave us a 5 gal gas can which I filled with gas for possible use in the dinghy to give us a boost if needed. We're not under time pressure to get home and can even sail the whole way  if necessary. Meanwhile, we have good weather and plenty of food, water, gin and rum. Life is good.

Apr.9 to Engelwood

Strong S wind, so we took the Inland Waterway route rather than out in the Gulf.  Sailed mostly under job alone. Made good time, covered about 25 miles, and stopped at Royal Palm Marina in Lemon Bay by early afternoon.

Dinner at restaurant ashore- kareoke night, but they were having so much fun we couldn't help enjoying it.

Mon.Apr./ 8 to Pelican Bay

keyboard/ problems./ / 32/ mi./ lplanned/ for/ the/ day/ so/ up/ and/ away/ early./ Instead/ of/ following/ tehe/ ship/ channel/ 2/ mi./ out/ we/ snuck/ around/ Pt./ Ybel/ at/ S/ end/ of/ Sanibel./ Local/ kknowledge/ advd/ we/ would/ have/ enough/ water,/ and/ we/ did./ Min/ 5'.\
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Wind/ S./ about/ 10/ kts./ so/ a/ good/ downwind/ sail../ / But/ later/ the/ wind/ increased/ and/ we/ were/ rolling/ alarmingly/ wing-and-wing./ Tried/ various/ sail/ changes,/ eventually/ did/ better/ with/ reefed/ main/ alone./ we/ covered/ the/ 32/ mi/ in/ 7/ 1/ 2/ hrds./ / Pretty/ good/ for/ Carina./ Anchroed/ in/ Pelican/ Bay inside/ Cayo/ Costa./ Excellent/ naturaly/ protected/ anchorage./ Slelpt/ comfortably but rain started 4 a.m. as forecast.

Sun. Apr. 7 at Sanibel

Church and shopping by bike, did laundry, good seafood dinner at marina's restaurant. Otherwise, took it easy.

Sat., Apr. 6, 2019 to Sanibel

Red sky at dawn. Good breakfast ashore. While pulling away from dock noticed we left the dinghy. One more check mark on my bonehead bucket list.  Now writing underway with S on watch. Still a SE wind. Motorsailed a bit, but mostly power. Just watch- the wind will be from the N when we head home, whenever that is.

Later... now at Sanibel Marina. Years ago they tore down the old bridge from Punta Rassa to Sanibel, which had an opening near the Sanibel side, and replaced it with a fixed bridge 3 miles east. So to reach the south end of Sanibel requires an extra 7 miles of sailing.  No problem for the hundreds of power boats out today (Saturday) but made for a long 23 miles 99% under power for us.  But- the weather was fine and we were in beautiful Pine Island Sound. So who's complaining?

Checking the old blog posts, this is the third time we've been at this little marina, which specializes in powerboat brokerage and sees few sailing boats because of shallow water. But we know they do toss a newspaper and hot sweet rolls in the cockpit at dawn. We plan to spend two nights here. Then I swear we'll sail downwind, wherever that takes us.

Apr, 5, 2019 to Cabbage Key

Again a beautiful day but contrary wind. 20 miles under power (we burn only a qt. of diesel per hr). Arrived at our well-loved stop of Cabbage Key in time for some reading in the shade and cocktails before dinner ashore- treated ourselves to stone crabs. At bedtime we had a trifecta: hot, mosquitos and noisy slapping of boats. But we were tired after a long day on the water, and with the help of Off and a fan we slept pretty well.

Apr. 4, 2019 Venice to Englewood Beach

A nice day but SE wind and we're going SE, so power only.  4 hrs. to a favorite anchorage, just inside Stump Pass, on a narrow inlet. We anchored fore and aft, so were secure even though the tidal current was strong both ways. I explored by dinghy to see if the pass itself is navigable for Carina. It is, at least for now; shallowest spot 5' of water. The pass was dredged in 2017. May shoal in the future. Back at the boat, we began to get rain- radar shows only this tiny spot of rain on the whole Gulf coast.
Grilled a steak in the rain and enjoyed it with mushrooms and onions. Slept well, and rain quit so we could open up the cabin.

4-3-19 Sarasota to Venice

Took good a picture this morning of Carina docked alongside a megayacht, but Blogspot couldn't publish the post. I've had a lot of trouble with Blogspot, especially with pictures; I may change to a different blog host site.

I had asked about the condition of Big Sarasota Pass, which would give us access to the Gulf and a stretch of outside sailing, but had been warned that the shoals constantly shift and only locals use the Pass. But this morning one of the marina staff came by; he had taken the trouble to research local knowledge of the Pass and gave me good instructions. So when we got underway we carefully followed his tips and got out into the Gulf without a hitch.

We sailed south on a close reach with a fresh easterly breeze and a reef in the main. Carina was in her element. It was a beautiful sail down the coast to Venice Inlet, which we reached earlier than I'd estimated. We motored a couple of miles to our favorite Venice stop, the Fisherman's Wharf Marina. Venice is a big boating town, but there's no place to anchor because of shoal water, and only a couple of places with dockage. We were lucky to get a slip at our old haunt.

We put the bike together and rode a few miles to do some shopping: new boat shoes for S and a few grocery and hardware items. After cocktails we walked across the bridge to dinner at a spot we found last October when we were here for the Southern Tandem Rally.

The day started chilly but quickly warmed, and good weather is forecast for the rest of the week.

A good day.

4-2-19 Cortez to Sarasota

Rain and calm forecast for this morning, so we'll not cast off until later.
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The line of rain following the cold front came through quickly and was gone by noon.  We cast off under clearing skies, temperature about 70, and little wind.  But by the time we reached Sarasota Bay the breeze was coming up, from the north, and we had a good downwind sail across the bay to Sarasota.  We docked at Marina Jack among other luxury yachts. I'll try to get a Mutt-and-Jeff picture before we leave.  We walked a couple of blocks into downtown Sarasota and enjoyed a very good dinner. Back to the boat for the last of the season's Florida strawberries, and we settled down to listen to the Rays game on the radio. A cool wind is blowing, from the west, but we are snug.

Cruising south 4-1-19

We're off on another cruise on Carina, heading south toward Charlotte Harbor and wherever we get. Left home at 9-15. Cloudy sky, temp about 70. Not enough wind to sail. Easy motorsail across lumpy Tampa Bay, and then- April Fool- I aimed us for the wrong channel and directed us up Little Manatee River instead of the correct Intrcoastal Waterway channel. Been down here many times, so it's hard to believe I got it wrong. Blame my reliance on the phone app with NOAA charts, and looking too closely zoomed in. Cost just an hour, no harm, and saw an good spot for an overnight anchorage an easy sail from home sometime. By that time we could see on radar that it was raining back at home. A cold front is approaching. The east wind picked up so we got in a couple of hours of good sailing, along with light rain. Docked at Cortez at the Seafood Shack. A new dockmaster and a new policy- first night dockage free! But they got dinner business from us and we watched the Rays beat the Rockies. Rays are 4 and 1 now- a lot better than last year's start. A relaxing, easy day on the water, followed by a quiet first night sleeping. Quiet except the dinghy bumping. I have a plan for that, but will need to buy a long piece of light line.