Crow's Nest

We took a short three hour trip to The Crow’s Nest Restaurant and Marina located in Venice, FL.  Stanwood, Janet, Alexis and I celebrated our 38^th wedding anniversary with a great meal at the restaurant.  Two bottles of Insignia wine and an expansive menu made for a great night!  Also, the marina is by the beach, and we had a nice stroll, and did some shelling.  Hardy souls were surfing on the waves generated by a cold front that moved through yesterday.   Today we head back to Marina Jack for the New Year’s celebration. 

Venice Inlet

Calm seas on the way back in the Gulf

Marina Jack

 

George

George is a stuffed Giraffe, who is a project for my granddaughter.  George travels the world, and will be included in a report for school, complete with a travel log.  Fresh back from England, George is now in Sarasota with us, and living it up!  Cameron is a better deckhand though. 

George at the helm.

George's new boat!

New Years trip

Alexis and I drove to Sarasota after Christmas and plan to stay about 10 days on the boat.  Stanwood and Janet will join us for part of the time.  It is a good thing we arrived early.  The boat had not be cleaned, inside or out, and was rank.  Sam, the marina manager, was very upset, and had it washed the next morning.  To say we were covered in bird poop, would be an understatement.  We detailed the interior.  One of the nice things about Marina Jack, is that they arrange for all services, but there was a communication error and this ball was dropped.  Also, my battery charger was faulted, and the port battery was dead.  BOAT (bust out another thousand) time or so I thought.  Sam (wanting to make up for the cleaning debacle) had a mechanic out immediately.  Turns out it was just a bad heat sensor and we are back up and running.  This blew yesterday, so we treated ourselves to a night out and dined at Caragiulos, an Italian restaurant a short walk from the marina.  The fare was wonderful and moderately priced.  Add it to the list of about 100 restaurants within walking distance.  So much for the diet!  Stanwood and Janet will join us for New Years eve, which we will spend at Marina Jack.  Downtown is blocked off, and there is a big street party with bands, and food and a fireworks show at midnight.  Hope we can stay awake till then.  Merry Christmas to all. 

Sarasota

We are at Marina Jack and settled in.  It is good to be back, and we went to see Rock at the piano bar last night.  He remembered us and played Moondance.  Headache city last night-too much fun..  Some of the boaters we made friends with last year are still here and we caught up with them.  The weather today is great-80 and sunny.  There is a downtown festival today, and we took in the sights.  We fly home Monday.

There are several theatres within walking distance

Moondance in her berth

Just what she needs-more shoes

Downtown festival

Great lunch spot

 

Longboat Key Moorings

 

We had a nice stay here, and will be headed to Marina Jack (located in downtown Sarasota) shortly, where we will leave the boat for the winter.  Longboat is a private club, that rents out slips and condos.  We had the run of the resort, which includes a beach,  pools, spa, golf, tennis, and several restaurants.  The resort is over three miles and a shuttle is available for transport.  We ate at the bar (great pizza) last night and met another couple who is living on their boat while house hunting here.  Good food, music and company!  This is a good place to come with the grand kids, as it has lots to do and is kid friendly.  It is chilly (60) and overcast today, but will clear up by tomorrow. 

The Entrepreneur

Marina restaurant

Got to be a story behind this name

The outdoor dining was better when warm!

Hot tub only today

Longboat Key

We had a great overnight at the Clearwater Municipal Marina.  Went to the beach and enjoyed the sights, and had a nice steak dinner at Beachcomber restaurant.  It had a piano bar... Too much happiness, after a long voyage!  Today, we headed to Longboat Key Moorings, a swank resort/marina.  We traveled with the Lady J, an older Hatteras, with some guys headed to Key Largo for the winter.  We turned into Longboat Pass, and they kept going.  Tonight we dine at Portafino's, the restaurant at the marina.  It looks nice.  The only mishap was my docking here today.  A manatee was right in front of my assigned slip, and would not move.  The dockmaster, seeing I was from Louisiana, reminded me not to run over it.  Trying to avoid it I whacked a piling that Alexis failed to fender off....  Swine manatee.

Florida ICW

Longboat Key

Sarasota skyline

Clearwater!

Well, we made it!  Smooth sailing through the night.  24 hours after leaving Panama City, we have arrived at Clearwater, FL.  About 140 nautical miles in the Gulf last night, and we saw nada.  Not another boat, oil rig, or even a UFO.  We did see lots of stars!!  The cold front (or what is left of it) is about to arrive, so we are going to find a protected cove and drop the hook for some much needed rest.  Our cells will be off for a while…

Clearwater

Pirates!

Clearwater beach

 

To cross or not?

The weather people are confused....  Some say it will be great, others not so great.  We just arrived in Apalachicola Bay, and it is dead calm.  We are headed to East Pass, and will probably keep on going.  If we don't turn back, we should be in Clearwater at dawn.  We will be out of cell range, but have an EPIRB.  If it goes off, send the cavalry!! 

A proper send off!

Apalachicola in our wake.

Panama City

We are at the Panama City Marina, tucked in for the night.  Due to weather conditions changing, we had to miss Destin with the Sundberys.  A long day-12 hours to get here, but uneventful.  We ran across several trawlers headed south-one starting the loop!  It looks like we will have a marginal day to cross on Tuesday.  We will head to Apalachicola tomorrow. 

Pensacola Cut

Sarasota bound

Well, we are headed to Sarasota for the winter.  We said goodbye to The Wharf marina today, and are headed south.  The Wharf has been a great place to stay, with nice restaurants, a movie theater, and a great staff. Our plan is to spend the night on the hook at Ft. McRee, and stop at Destin tomorrow.  We plan to meet Sid and Susie Sundbery there for dinner.  There is a cold front approaching, and we will wait for it to pass, and hopefully we will have a good weather window to cross the Gulf on Wednesday or Thursday.  The  boat is running well! 

Chandeleur Islands

Monday, September 24, 2012-go figure, the weatherman was wrong!  The predicted 20 knot winds did not come.  We awoke at Gulfport to a gorgeous day.  The forecast is for light east winds, so we slipped the lines and headed for the Chandeleur Islands.  1:30 PM-we arrived at Redfish Point.  The island chain is severely eroded, and cuts are numerous.  We did find some surviving grass flats, and drifted in the dinghy.  Saw lots of sharks and rays, but few reds.  I did catch five nice trout!  Alexis went to the beach, and it is in bad shape, and covered in basketball size tar balls.  It still is a beautiful setting, and we were treated to a great sunset.  Will fish tomorrow.  We have no cell or internet service-so no office calls!!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012-I caught 25 trout and one red this morning!!  Light east winds, made for a pleasant night.  The water is as pretty as Perdio Key, and we swam off the Moondance.  Also, there are numerous shorebirds, and big white pelicans on the beach.  Last night, the stargazing was wonderful.    There are four charter boats here, loaded with small runabouts.  It is a popular spot, but not too crowded.  We will head toward Orange Beach in the morning.

Boarded!

Sundown

Conundrum

Sunrise

Trout

Great wade fishing

 

Gulfport day two

Gulfport is slowly coming back from Katrina.  The marina is a state of the art fixed pier place.  There are towers on every dock that hold the electrical and power equipment, to put them above the storm surge.  Isaac’s surge covered the docks, but did not do harm.  There are several nice restaurants within walking distance, and we ate at the Half Shell last night.  Good meal!  We are directly across from the Coast Guard station, and there are two 80 foot cutters docked, with machine guns at the ready.  Is there something I don’t k now??  We will stay here one more night, and head to Orange Beach. 

Gulfport small craft harbor

Knights in Gulfport?

USCG at the ready

 

Gulfport

I caught a few more trout this morning, and we then headed for Gulfport. The marina here is new, post Katrina. It is very nice, and we will explore this evening.

We survived Isaac!

Ready for Isaac!

Rabbit bayou

Trout dinner!

Well, we are going back to Orange beach.  Isaac followed us to Houma, and we are no worse off!  We took the opportunity to have some work done at Seabrook Marine in New Orleans.  The work is complete, and we set sail around noon today.  We are anchored in Rabbit Bayou now.  It is calm, and a beautiful evening.  We arrived around 4:00, and splashed the dinghy.  I caught five trout and one red.  After a great meal, with both white and red wine, we are off to visit the sandman!  A cold front is scheduled to move in, so we will make tracks in the AM. 

 

Chased home!

Iaasac is now headed to Gulfport, and appears to be moving west.   Discretion being the better part of valor, we are headed home.

Hurricane Issac

Due to the uncertainty about the path of the hurricane, we decided to bug out. We are anchored at Cat Island, and will head for Seabrook Marina tomorrow. Too bad as we had planned to spend labor day week cruising the area.  We had our last meal ( for a while) at Villagio's last night.  It was great, and then listened to good live music at the boat bar.  Oh well.  We have a few matianence items to do at Seabrook.   It is beautiful at anchor- no indication a storm is brewing!

Back at The Wharf

Alexis and I spent a very pleasant night at anchor in Big Sabine next to Santa Rosa Island.  A beautiful sunset.  On the way back to The Wharf this morning we crossed paths with Kevin Belanger from Houma  aboard the Genesis.  We chatted on the VHF, and he will be staying several slips from us at The Wharf.  Small world!  This has been a great week trip, and we return to Houma via land yacht tomorrow.  We did have two casualties-the forward head, and the washer/dryer died this trip.  Time to break out several BOAT (bust out another thousand) units.  The joys of boat ownership....

The Wharf