We departed the dock at Venice Yacht Club at 9:00am. The wind was forecast to be 15-20Kts from the exact direction we wanted to go. We can’t sail directly into the wind so we opted for a calmer passage motoring down the inter-coastal waterway.
After a lazy day of motoring onto the wind listening to “No Shoes Radio”, we anchored in Pelican Bay off of Cayo Costa around 3:00pm. This is the place I think of when I hear the Jimmy Buffet song, “One Particular Harbor”. It’s a beautiful, protected little anchorage where we’ll hunker down for the cold front coming through tomorrow.
Sunset over Cayo CostaWe dipped into the provisions to grill filets tonight with roasted garlic red potatoes and opted for a 2016 Clarendell Bordeaux Rouge while we watched the sunset over Cayo Costa.A night heron standing watch on the dinghy Hula Doll.
Today was the first Monday of no more Monday’s. First thing in the morning, I replaced the faulty circuit that was waiting for us at the dock. That seems to have taken care of the freezer issue. Whew!
We departed Sarasota Yacht Club right at noon, an hour before high tide, to transit the shallow Big Pass inlet. There were no issues. The shallowest depth we saw was 8’.
At Venice inlet, we crossed paths with the local charter sailboat, Sailing Venice, with whom we chatted with and were advised that the inlet did not get shoaling from the hurricanes last year. However, the long dock at the Crow’s Nest was almost completely destroyed.
We dropped sails, motored in and tied up at the Venice Yacht club. The dock master suggested taking a dip in the pool so we did!
We went to Pop’s Tiki Bar on the water. It’s become a traditional stop over the past 6 years or so. We met crew member Dan and his daughter there to watch the sunset and have dinner.
We had planned two days here but we actually need to leave tomorrow as there is a cold front and storms coming Wednesday. We don’t want to get stuck here until Thu.
The local trip was successful enough for us to continue heading South. We woke up to a beautiful sunrise over the anchorage. Our lithium battery bank was reasonably charged so we opted to conserve the propane at this point and used the induction stovetop and microwave to make breakfast. And coffee of course!
Art, Kelsey and Andy came over to say goodbye and wish us well. I reworked the dinghy lift straps to better fit our new dinghy, Hula Doll, then weighed anchor to head for Sarasota.
After missing the first bridge opening by 6 minutes🙄 we had lunch waiting for the next opening. If you’re 1 minute late, they won’t let you pass.
The breeze freshened from the north for a delightful, although chilly, downwind sail across Sarasota Bay arriving at Sarasota Yacht Club mid-afternoon. The new circuit breaker was waiting for us, which is a project for tomorrow morning. Thank you Amazon. I washed the boat as she was already pretty salty.
Traditionally when in Sarasota, we go to Tommy Bahamas for their “Million Dollar Mojitos”, but they were flooded from Hurricane Helene and still closed like so many of the places on the beach by us in St Pete. We opted to dine at the Sarasota Yacht Club which made us darn good Mojitos to cure our fix. We dined on the patio overlooking Hula Girl in the marina, who was adding a little color to the place. The lamb osso buco was impossible to pass up as was the macadamia crusted grouper for Alicia. I tried the Caymus Bonanza Lot 7 Cabernet which was pretty good.
Since we’re plugged into shore power tonight I wimped out and turned the furnace on to warm us up a bit after a slightly chilly dinner on the patio.
Sunrise in the anchorage at Emerson Point The two Hula Girls at Emerson Point Preserve. Downwind sailing Mojitos!Alicia with Hula Girl glowing in the marina
