Saturday, February 21, 2009

Amazon Adventure #4. Sailing away from Tampa Bay.

A sheltered place for the night.

Sailing ( for the first time) south in choppy waves, ( the northerly winds are still with us) we finally pass under an enormous bridge at the entrance to Tampa Bay at sunset and find some shelter behind it. We bump, bump, over the shallows and find a bay in the lee of a mangrove Island. As we are dropping anchor, some fishing skiffs are moving farther out. More room for us we think, not considering the tide.


The Journal:
Dec.4th.
Got up to find we were stuck in the mud (literally!!). Got into the water. Yummm! Nice slimy, oozy, mud. Yuck!! Pushed off into deeper water. Anyway, me and Gwyn ate out breakfast while Anne and Mom wash their hair and do their ‘spungy’.Then we changed over and me and Gwyn did that. Dad washed over the side.

We motored past the bay with Bradenton in it `cuz we were too busy trying to miss all the shoals. We got to Anna Maria and got gas and some pop. Yeah! Then we went down the channel under two bridges (lifting, that is.) We were following a tug so did n`t have to wait at all. Nor did we have to blow our horn but of course Dad did ( just to bug us I think.). After the second bridge, we went into a little town and bought groceries and ate lunch.

Then we motored up the channel to a bunch of islands and found a place to stay ( in the back yard of some people`s house). Doing homework. Pizza for dinner. Elaine.

Dec 5th.
Today we woke up at around 7:00 am. Gwyn slept in of course - beats me how she can sleep through all that! We decided to stay here all day and wait for the norther to blow itself out. It`s dangerous to sail in because the channel is shallow and the waves, choppy.

We were lucky last night to find a place as sheltered as this. Without this shelter we would have had to suffer all night. It was extremely cold. Mom and Dad definitely did n`t get much sleep. It should be high tide soon and we will float free. We are going to try to get to the causeway at Sarasota. I hope we will.

Nope, not quite, but almost. We could have, but decide to anchor in a little bay. Almost no wind. Incredible! Bye, Anne.

PS. Dad got the marine battery sorted out today - so we can listen to the little getto blaster.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You forgot my birthday on the 3rd! I turned 11 at last. How could you not mention my present from Anne and Elaine - a tape of the Beach Boys' Greatest Hits. That tape is going to feature pretty heavily on the car ride home...

Bill said...

Aw, I`m sorry Gwyn. Here is part of that day." It was my birthday today. I woke up with tea in my lap and mom and Elaine were going to make French toast.
Anne saw that the tide had went out and the boat up on the beach.(we pushed it off) I crawed back into my warm bed which was then cold. (After showers) we got ready to leave.As we were going the Park Rangers waved at us through the window. So we start our trip across the big big big bay."