Woke up at 5:30 and decided to wait until daylight to set of on our gulf sail. Jim was out on his boat drinking coffee and we waved goodbye. We slowly motored out to the gulf and headed south to Sarasota. There were a lot of dolphins around us and lots of birds. Did not see any sea turtles today. While Steve reviewed charts and took a break from navigating, i took over the helm and played boatcross (avoiding crab pods by zigzagging and still trying to make good time). Well my luck kicked in and the auto pilot decided to just strip a gear while in route, whew well we manually navigated into Sarasota. We were going to stop at Longboat key but it was too crowded. And we were making good time so we decidedtot head on to Sarasota. Going in to Longboat key was an adventure in itself. The channel was so shallow we ran aground several times going in to bridge, the boat surfed a little and steve suddenly yelled ” look behind me!” and “close the doors”, a huge wave came in right behind us and flooded the helm. Luckily i got the doors shut just in time, unluckily we left the window open to the berth under the helm. That window is low and right under the seating on the helm. When we made it through the bridge there were boats everywhere it looked like a boat convention. We slowly navigated our way through the hoards of boats. We saw some guys in fishing boats almost running over each other in a small area throwing nets and hauling in tons of fish. These guys surrounded by pleasure boats too! Looked like New York at rush hour. We started down the GIWW (intercostal waterway) and it was hard, the powerboaters would fly by us and send our boat rocking. You are supposed to give a slow pass when boats pass to be considerate and not rock the other boat. Steve and i have noticed the further south we get the more rude and unfriendly people are getting! It is obvious! We made our way to Charlotte Harbor and had a guy run at us head on then turn in front of us at last minute and just looked back to see what he did. I guess.Steve said  later did our bed get wet?, I checked and it was soaked at top and it got about 5 pillowcases and soaked 2 pillows, the mattress top, the sheets and the memory foam. Needless to say we looked like sea gypsies with our memory foam hung over the rail with wet rug and towels. We came into Sarasota and anchored out in bay with other anchored boats. We were outside the mooring field and were told it was fine. We cooked some dinner and tried to sleep on the couch that makes a bed! Ugh it was bad after getting used to our bed. Needless to say we had little sleep and still had a mess to clean up. O well on till tomorrow!

CAPTAINS LOG: Be very cautious of shallow water and waves when approaching longboat key entrance. All bridge channels VHF is channel 9 on GIWW.  Captain Steve

Happy Birthday to my sister Paula today, i hope it is a wonderful day. We started out our day with cereal OJ and a trip to the dock to Mike and Sharons boat to watch Extreme 4×4. Steve had a segment about his shop on the show! The guys at extreme 4×4 use Hudlow Axle to make their custom axles. I was so excited Steve has done so well and it has paid off. He has worked his a– off to make that business a success and i was so excited to see his segment on TV!! All the boat friends came over to see it and they were very impressed! After that Jim and Pam drove to the flea market with me and my famous axle maker. 🙂  On arrival we headed to the fresh fruit market to check it out! Ron Carol and their daughter Jackie also drove to the flea market. We all got separated after a few and took off to find those treasures you know are there! lol I had so much fun. There is so much stuff so much! It would take a whole day to get thru it and i think it took us several hours! Of course we found a few items we could not live without had good food and ice cream and was done.We took Jim and Pam out for dinner to make up for cooking for us so much, and i said i would not make them eat a meal i cooked on the boat. 🙂 We had a ball walked so much and drove our dinghys to a wonderful resturaunt and to a neat place in Clearwater. The tide was low so you can imagine the climb out of an inflatable boat with semi dressy clothes on:-). Steve and I went back to boat and pulled dinghy up on it and tied it down due to going back out into the ocean on Sunday. Checked everything on boat out for trip and fell asleep.

I am excited today is the day before we get to go to the Wagon Wheel flea market at Pinellas Park. We love that place , but today we have to finish getting the boat ready to go! It may seem like work a lot on the boat but you would be surprised at how much work is to maintain and keep everything ship shape and safe! Steve and I made a trip to West Marine to get his senator reel serviced and new line, and we did some clothes shopping while there as well. It took us a good couple of hours to get it all done. Before that we went to a store called Thorntons and got a free drink. They have free drinks all the time all sizes for everyone who walks in. Their gas pumps stay full so i guess the plan is working. 🙂 After West Marine we went to Autozone to get another gel battery for the boat. We checked Advance auto for a red battery cable since autozone stated that they dont carry them anymore they are all black, hhmmm. We found the cable and a lower priced gel battery. Well Autozone was not happy at all about that. They werent even happy to sell it to us so we just laughed about it later!  We finally got all the errands done and drove back to the marina.We had borrowed Ron and Carol’s truck to drive. They have been really nice. We got to the marina and I went back out with Pam and we bought meatballs for spaghetti. Pam cooked us spaghetti and meatballs on the Eros II. In return we promised to take them to eat. they have been so good to us too. We have been surrounded by great people heret at the marina. Steve and I did go to to the dock to visit and ended up sitting on  Lou and Annie’s boat and Mike and Sharon came over as well. Well we sat there and talked about snowmobiling up north on frozen lakes and ponds. I know that i have never been in that kind of freezing weather. It was so much fun hearing all the cracking ice and snow drift adventures we sat there for several hours. Then finally back to the boat and peaceful slumber. We sleep so good on the boat, esp when we are anchored out! Stay tuned for more adventure!

Today is another day of cleaning the boat, getting all the water out of the bilge and sealing some leaks. We are sealing the swim ladder today and making sure there is no other leaks in boat. Steve and I have crawled around in cramped boat spaces trying to screw bolts on, Steve has longer arms so he won that round. LOL  I am revising the stock room again to make it more accessible to me and am adding a couple small bins for personal items. I had to get rid of a bunch of magazines and books to make sure i had no loose objects to become missiles on the gulf again. 🙂 I have jumped in the bay to cool off and believe me it is cold but refreshing. No sharks got me so i may jump in another day. There are some more dolphins hanging out  in the bay. I think they are keeping an eye on us making sure we dont so anything bad. 🙂 they do seem like ocean guardians. Well back to the trip, we leave Sunday AM out into the gulf to Sarasota going in at Longboat Key. From there we are headed to Venice Beach and then to Ft Myers from there to the Dry Tortugas and back to Miami for the sailboat/boat show. After that to the Keys and Bahamas when weather permits. We are having a wonderful time and enjoying everything about our adventure!

Today I went to Jim and Pam’s boat and we made paracord bracelets and just soaked up some sun. . Steve and JIm were installing a new radio on the boat and boy what a mess. I came in and helped with mess and we had to sleep on fold out bed boy that sucks! I had fiberglass in my sheets and all over floor. Put it all in a bag for the wash. I am getting good at driving the dinghy around. It is fun like a go cart on the water :-).

Today we woke up got breakfast out of the way and our friends asked us to ride to Sarasota to check out the marina there. We are going to be leaving for the marina in Sarasota on Sunday and then head to Venice beach for Scuba diving for sharks teeth. Venice beach is made up of sharks teeth and shells. The sharks teeth are from prehistoric sharks and wash up on beach and people scuba dive for them too. Sarasota is a pretty place and we will anchor out there away,  from the marina it costs hundreds of dollars just to stay overnight at Marina. 24.50 a foot with a 32 foot boat add that up! Anchor out it is. I would rather anchor out anyway it is more fun like camping and just go in to get supplies. It is more private and quiet anchoring out. We love our dock friends too so many helpful and good people. I think boat people are great a lot better than RV people i can tell you from experience. While at Sarasota with Ron and Carol we grabbed an ice cream cone at a little tiki hut by the marina. while there we saw a 150 foot yacht. looks like a miniature cruise ship. Found a bigger sailboat for sale, but we are lucky with ours once you buy a used sailboat you buy something else to work on. And we already know what our boat needs. LOL

Welcome to our Monday! It is colder today, we woke up to a bleary cold day about 7 AM and decided to just hang out and see what happens. Pam came in from the sailboat EROS III and we went to a ia place to wash clothes close by due to the fact the machines at the Marina were full. Well the washeteria was not very nice but the washers and dryers were clean enough. Had some young skaters washing clothes who were helpful with giving us the lowdown on the hot and not so hot dryers! They were very nice to us “old dudes”. we stayed to watch the clothes due to the fact that it was not a a very nice area. I still am amazed at the sudden change from Hilton hotel to lower income properties in a second. O well i guess its that way everywhere i just notice it more here i guess. Well we got the clothes washed and groceries bought and Steve went to West Marine and bought some stuff for the boat. We ordered several items for boat, new radio, EPERB, RAM (which is a radio handset and speaker for outside of boat at helm), and water paks for the DITCH bag. Jim has been teaching us chart reading so that we can be prepared. We prepared hamburger patties and fruit salad for supper tonight and sat on deck in our new boat chairs and just enjoyed the lapping of the waves against the boat and watching the moon shining like glitter on the water.

It is 8 AM and Steve and I are ready to catch our flight. Lana came by to take us to the airport in Chattanooga which flies straight to Clearwater/St Pete airport. Headed to the security gate and awaiting our flight we were told we would have a 45 minute delay due to inclimate weather, fog is still thick in Clearwater. Finally on the plane and our tickets have the wrong seat number due to the airline changing planes, we were right in the front seats. We arrived safely in Clearwater in hot weather waited on our friends pick us up at the airport. We are so lucky to have made such good friends down here. Well we arrived back at the boat and started getting it ready to anchor out for a few days checking our systems before we head out to the gulf.  Sitting out on dock with our friends and a dolphin came by our dock. 🙂

Running more errands today. Trying to get it all in and all loose end done. My son is doing great brought him his Christmas gifts except for the one the airport security confiscated! I didn’t think that they would confiscate a small jar of roasted pineapple and Habanero dip, but it is over 3 ounces and can be deadly in the wrong hands. I will replace tht ASAP. Cant have Daniel starving out there. Supposed to go out tonight but we are feeling very tired and worn out, been to Rock Creek outfitters 2X McCallisters to eat lunch at our favorite table. It was crowded but our table was open :-). Nice to hang out at one of our favorite places together for lunch. Went to Sportsmans Warehouse so i could buy me a purse to keep my phone and keys in. Love the Sherpani stuff!. Kim called and Steve and i met her and Jerry at the fox and hound since we were close.. We couldn’t make her sons wrestling matches. They did well. We ate and headed back to the house to finish packing for the flight tomorrow!  Cant wait to get back on the boat, It feels like home now. No drama,and  no stress.

Busy day today, I took the dogs though McDonalds drive thru and went home to get ready for appnt. After appointment I met Lana, Deborah for lunch at Fujis Hibachi! Then on to the spa for mani pedi time.