Wednesday, 4 February                                                                        17.3 SM

Well, now, THIS visit’s getting off to a good start.

“No problem, cap’n.” The gravelly voice of George the Dockmaster directs Steadfast to a vacant slip half-way down the concrete floating pier at Fisherman’s Wharf Marina. The bond with George is immediate, his love of the Super Bowl Champion Patriots—whose logo adorns the cap covering his closely cropped gray hair—a natural affection, attested to by the broad ‘a’s and absent ‘r’s that mark his conversation. “Oh, yeah,” says George, wearing tee-shirt and khaki cargo shorts. “Ah’m from Needham. Jus’ move-down heah three yeahs ago. Love it!”

On a sunny day like this, it’s easy to understand the appeal of Venice over snow-covered Boston and suburbs like Needham.

Ten knots from the nor’east make it feel cooler than the 65-degrees that prevail as Steadfast motors south on Sarasota Bay this morning. It’s a day of piloting through the generally narrow channel of the Gulf Inland Waterway (GIWW) over waters so sheltered, there’s no room for that wind to kick up much more than ripples. Most pleasant, this day’s traverse.

During the brief overnight stop on the way north, there hadn’t been time to see much of Venice so the decision is made to spend a couple of nights here on the way south. Plenty of time for exercise and to stroll the downtown historic district (and, of course, to tidy up the boat). Then Saturday morning, a visit aboard with new friends Lisa and Patrick (more on that later) followed by lunch with Stuart-buddies Sue and Tom.

A later conversation with George confirms, for him, it’s not just the Pats. He’s Boston all the way.

“Oh, yeah!,” says he. “I go down theah three aw faw times every spring to catch a game,” he says of the Red Sox spring training camp at Fort Myers.

Well, George, maybe we’ll see ya theah.

Ahem, that is to say, see you there – go Sox!

Steadfast out.

Monday, Groundhog Day, 2 February                                                      0.0 SM

Sarasota’s cloudy, windy, damp, showery and…it’s a BYOO-ti-ful day!

Super Bowl Sunday, 1 February                                                  13.8 SM

It’s another gorgeous day on the Gulf Waterway: full sun and 75. Oh, yeah, and it’s blowing a steady 17, gusting to 25, all from the south.

That wind makes it a short day for Little Red, who answers the call at 0830 and gets Steadfast out to the Cortez bridge in time for the regular opening at 0900. From there it’s pretty much a straight shot down the waterway to Sarasota Bay and a safe mooring in time for lunch.

You know all about Sarasota from the report a couple of weeks ago so no need to repeat.  Marina Jack may be a good spot to watch the game tonight, or O’Leary’s over on Island Park. Whatever, may the figurative sons of “Babe” Parilli prevail in Phoenix.

Go PATS!

Steadfast out.

Friday, 30 January                                                             22.8 SM

All dressed up for Gasparilla Fest.

The Sunshine Skyway spans Tampa Bay.

It’s the weekend of Tampa’s Gasparilla Festival, a celebration of the legendary exploits of the Spanish pirate Jose Gaspar. In the wake of what’s gone on off the east coast of Africa in recent years, piracy seems an odd practice to celebrate. No matter, all manner of vessel crowds Tampa harbor for the weekend, reason enough for Steadfast to head today to tiny Cortez on Anna Maria Sound.

Cortez was founded in the late 1880s when a wealthy businessman bought 140 acres for $139 and change. It prospered as a fishing center until it was all but erased by the hurricane of 1921.

Cortez today is a post office and small collection of shops lining the highway that connects Bradenton with Bradenton Beach. Step off the main road and one could be excused for thinking much of Cortez still is recovering from the hurricane.

Not so at Cortez Quay, though, where sits a snug little boat basin called Cove Sound Moorings. Back in St. Pete, Francie and Mike aboard Anam Cara made a call to their friend Dave-the-Dockmaster and he found a spot for Steadfast for a couple of nights. And that meant time to sample the “local color” along with the fresh fish.

Don’t mess with Nancy when she’s on the job at Annie’s.

Yes, fishing still is what makes Cortez renowned in these parts. It certainly isn’t interior design. For instance, locals say the grouper at Annie’s Bait & Tackle (tell me that name alone doesn’t just make your mouth water!) is the freshest and tastiest you’ll find. Harder to find is the door inside, a simple slab of clear plastic with a deck cleat for a pull that’s off to the left as you pass the bait tanks.

When you get to “43,” you’ve gone too far.

What passes for Cortez haute cuisine may be found at Swordfish Grille or maybe Cortez Kitchen, side-by-side on the pier down from the Coast Guard Station. Whichever you choose, there’s outside seating with a view of the Sound. Swordfish Grille (the extra ‘e’ is how you can tell it’s up-scale) specials include fresh steamed stone crab legs, the regular menu features items like “firecracker shrimp tacos” and all of it, they say, is dee-lish! (BTW, if you come by boat, be sure to stop before you come to Green 43 or you will stop, for sure.)

Cortez has the look and feel of the perfect pirates’ hideaway. None are in evidence this weekend, though. Probably all up in Tampa.

Steadfast out.

The Eckerd College sailing team practices on Boca Ciega Bay.

Friday, 23 January                            15.4 SM

No matter what day of the week, Span E of the Pinellas Bayway Bridge opens only on the hour and half-hour. There just may be time for Steadfast to get there in time for the ten o’clock opening, if she can make use of the southerly that’s honking up Tampa Bay this morning.

Once down the sheltered Grand Canal and into Pass-A-Grille, Red keeps pushing while the Genny unfurls to give her a boost. Speed quickly jumps to the 6s and the call is made on Channel 9 to confirm.

“Keep ‘er comin’, cap’n,” answers the bridge tender. “We’ll see if we can help ya out.”

Tierra Verde’s a lovely spot, water on both sides and easy access by car to the “big city” of Saint Petersburg. But seeing Saint Pete by boat, as with any city, will be a whole different experience.

St. Pete’s waterfront includes Tropicana Field, scene of many Sox’ disappointments.

The Genny once again is furled to pass under the Bayway span. Eastward past Eckerd College, there’s a bit of a chop on the water. But Boca Ciega Bay really gets riled east of the Sunshine Skyway. The wind now blows a steady 15-to-20, gusting near 30. Steadfast is beam-to the closely stacked three-foot waves that crawl over the shoal to starboard.  It makes for a lumpy ride ‘til she turns to port to round Pinellas Peninsula and head north a couple of miles to the entrance to Bayboro Harbor.

Once through the breakwater, though, it’s a whole different day! The sun continues to shine but the water’s still and the only evidence there’s a wind at all snaps high up on the flagstaff.

As if she needs it, Kate stops to slake her thirst at The Fountain.

The Harborage is where cruising friend Tony keeps his Catalina 30, Moondance. Tony couldn’t say enough good things about The Harborage—staff, facilities, location—and he’s not wrong. It’s one of the best, for sure. But what makes it even more special is location: all of beautiful downtown St. Pete is just a few blocks away – waterfront parks, shops of all kinds, Publix supermarket, Mahaffey Theater,

Vinoy Hotel, 20s-era outdoor post office, the St. Pete campus of the University of South Florida.  And don’t forget “The Fountain of Youth.”  (Wait a minute – did Ponce sate his parch here or in St. Augustine?)

Whatever, there is a lot to see in “The Sunshine City,” which boasts the Guiness record for most consecutive days of sunshine.

The Dali museum itself is a work of art…

…and the permanent collection of Dali’s work is amazing. (above: Homage to Crick and Watson)

Among the many must-do’s downtown is the Dali Museum (who could resist singing, “Hello,..”).  Dali was such a technically accomplished painter plus what an incredible imagination.  Surreal!  Side-by-side in several of the museum’s galleries now is a traveling exhibition of Picasso’s work juxtaposed with pieces from the permanent collection of Dali’s art.  No wonder the halls are jammed.  It’s a fantastic experience!

Gulfport could be a good harbor but not when it’s blowing 22 from the south.

On arrival, Tony gets things started suggesting a 10-minute drive to Gulfport for lunch at O’Maddy’s. A sidewalk table offers a great view of boats on the same tack Steadfast took earlier across Boca Ciega Bay. But the wind’s enough now it has rails in the water out there while on the sidewalk, it threatens to launch the open umbrellas and anything below them.

Gulfport’s a bit of an artist’s colony, it appears, with streets lined with lots of “old Florida” architecture.  Back downtown, it’s a different sort of waterfront with a much more contemporary feel.  The city maintains a large marina of its own, there’s what appears to be a cozy anchorage a few blocks north near the Vinoy, with a string of parks across Beach Street from tall condos, shops and restaurants.

The colorful sunset view westward, over the anchorage and out across Tampa Bay, can be stunning!

First Tierra Verde, then a week in St. Pete.  Two stops, both on Pinellas Peninsula, just over a dozen miles apart but may as well be on two different worlds.

When the bridge tender said “Keep ‘er comin’,” he must’ve know we wouldn’t be disappointed.

Steadfast out.

Tuesday, 20 January                                                                                                31.2 SM

A bit of blue welcomes to Tampa Bay.

Praise the Lord, it is beautiful along here! And this day, as with most this trip, it gets beautiful-er and beautiful-er each mile along the way.

The morning is not without drama, a puffy grey quilt spread above, horizon to horizon while a brisk southerly shoves Steadfast up Sarasota Bay. The genoa’s out for this stretch, giving Little Red a bit of an assist. Plenty of water here, for the first five miles or so, ‘til the Gulf Waterway wiggles west up to Longboat Key, then up into Anna Maria Sound.

The light at the north end of Egmont Island.

Toward the north end of Anna Maria, where the Sound empties into Tampa Bay, the wind lays down and a tiny tear in that skyward quilt opens to show there is azure above.

Steadfast motors on across the mouth of the now benign Bay waters toward the shoal at Mullet Key. Abeam is the plain white light tower at Egmont Key, fortified in 1898 to keep the Spanish fleet from attacking Tampa Bay (the Spanish never did so it must’ve worked).

Once across the nine-foot shoal, it’s just another three miles to North Channel. The wheel turns hard a-starboard toward Pass-a-Grille, then into the Grand Canal that leads up along Cabbage Key to Tierra Verde.

Carolyn and Kate stop to check on Steadfast.

That’s where Carolyn and Les have a vacant 50’ slip just itchin’ for a boat. The slip fits Steadfast like your big brother’s hand-me-down overcoat but that’s okay. Power, water, plenty of room to rise and fall with the tide and all at every sailor’s favorite fee – free!

A couple of days here means time to wash the salt off the deck and canvas, to explore the island, borrow bikes for a ride to historic Fort DeSoto, and, for a fun visit and good conversation with our hosts.

By the time she’s tucked away this evening, the sky is nearly clear. There’s just enough lingering cloud for an especially colorful sunset. There’s hope for another one of those tomorrow, maybe the evening after, too.

This is the day the Lord has given and we rejoice in it!

Steadfast out.

Saturday, 17 January                                                                                    18.1 SM

“Well, you can go in ‘34’ if ya want,” states Bill-the-Dockmaster, “But I wouldn’t want to try it.  Not with this wind blowin’!”

This expert advice is offered as Steadfast stands-off the fuel dock at Marina Jack, pending confirmation of a slip assignment. Bill is assured that Steadfast will go wherever he wants her to be for a couple of nights. If he doesn’t think ‘34’s a good idea, just say where.

This momentary confusion cleared up, she slides with room to spare into a slip just down from The Portside Patio. Dockage includes “live” entertainment from the Patio stage. But then, it’s been an entertaining day from the start.

Just another cute cottage along Sarasota Bay.

After a quick stop at the Crow’s Nest fuel dock, Steadfast is back heading north on the Gulf Waterway. Up the Casey Thorofare flanked by handsome homes on both sides. Venice looks like an interesting spot, simple mid-century single-stories standing their ground amid mushrooming McMansions that seem to grab more and more of the Florida waterfront.

Up Blackburn Bay past Casey Key, then Little Sarasota Bay where the channel bends slightly around Bird Keys before running the length of world-famous Siesta Key where the Gulf-side beach is rated (by some authority) the country’s best.

Hey, look! It’s like a real city!

Most of this stretch is designated manatee protection zone so powerboats pass at a civilized pace for the most part. Manatees are shy, seldom seen, but their presence is much appreciated. It’s not ‘til the waterway winds into Sarasota Bay that the trip again becomes a slalom to cross a three-foot wake on one side, a four-foot on the other.

Once traffic stops at Bay Island and the bascule bridge opens, it’s easy to find Marina Jack. It’s at the east end of the Ringling Bridge, tucked up behind the curl of Golden Gate Point and just about the only game in town. Yes, that means Jack charges top dollar but the electric heater will be needed again tonight and, it appears, for several nights to come.

Palms on Island Park silhouetted by the setting sun.

Much like the city of Sarasota, Marina Jack has a lot going for it, though. For one, it is right smack downtown. You can’t park a boat much closer, say, to Selby Botanical Garden, Church of the Redeemer, Whole Foods, fun places to eat or the art show this weekend. And The Portside Patio proves to be the perfect spot for lunch with friends and former colleagues Nancy and Harry who provide a great deal of “local knowledge.”

In other words, Sarasota is quite entertaining.

Not unlike our buddy Bill-the-Dockmaster.

Steadfast out.

Friday, 16 January                                                                                    33.4 SM

Layered-up again!

Okay, class. Welcome to Weather 101. Make a note: it’s generally colder the farther north you go. This is especially true in winter. What’s more, when the wind blows from the north—the colder places—it tends to be a cool wind. This cooling effect becomes even more noticeable when it’s cloudy and there’s no sunshine to warm things.

This explains why it’s pretty darn chilly this morning as Steadfast weighs anchor and eases out of Pelican Bay and across the mouth of Charlotte Harbor, a steady 12-knots blowing from the north, right down Gasparilla Sound. Add the five-or-so that Steadfast makes northward—thank you Little Red—and it’s right crisp in the cockpit.

A trio of bridges await at Boca Grande.

By mid-morning, the sparse patches of blue become more plentiful and by noon, the blanket of cloud yield completely to the sun.

Steadfast joins the small fleet assembled at the Boca Grande Bridge awaiting its 1030 opening, the first of five she transits today, then sallies forth once more. Past Cape Haze, through The Cutoff and up into long, narrow sheltered and clear teal waters of Lemon Bay. To port lie Don Pedro Island, then Whidden and Manasota Keys. New Point Comfort is off to starboard, then Englewood.

Cars and pedestrians board the barge ferry to Don Pedro.

Once the Hatchett Creek Bridge opens, she’s into snug Roberts Bay with the Venice waterfront off to port. As proof the local authorities have a sense of humor, the posted speed “limit” is 35-miles-an-hour, which surely makes life interesting here on the weekends.

The northerly continues to blow, the temperature forecast to fall into the forties overnight. Ergo, Steadfast is tied up and plugged-in for the night at The Crow’s Nest, a nifty little marina right at Venice Inlet. The small ceramic heater that served so well on the “Icy-W” will be called into duty once again.

Plugged in at one of the half-dozen transient slips at the Crow’s Nest.

So class, having enjoyed the session today, what can you say about the forecast tomorrow? More northerly, remember, so…that’s right: layer-up and be warmed in the knowledge that it’s a whole lot colder up where this wind is coming from!

Steadfast out.

Thursday, 15 January 2015                                                                                    21.2 SM

The sign says the State Park at Cayo Costa is “The Real Florida.”

Live oaks stretch from both sides of Cabin Road to form a natural tunnel nearly the full width of Cayo Costa. A middle-aged couple walks east bound on the white sand road, stops to respond to the question from your correspondent.

“Why, yes. We were there (Fort Myers Beach) about a week and a half ago,” says he, confirming next that, indeed, he had retrieved a boat hook for his neighbor in the anchorage. It turns out Jane and Ben (aka Inflatable Skipper) are anchored for the night just to starboard of Steadfast.

How crazy is that, huh? But not unprecedented, by any means. Just one of many delightful blessings of cruising the coast, making the acquaintance of so many friendly folk, sharing adventurs and misadventures along the way.

The cheeseburger’s a popular item at Cabbage Key.

The way this day again was made under a thick puffy blanket of gloomy gray. It was good, though, to raise sail for a while, there being enough of a nor’east wind to pull Steadfast part the way up Pine Island Sound. But by the time she was abeam of Captiva and South Seas Plantation, it was all up to Red once again. This would’ve been prudent, in any case, the waterway especially narrow along this stretch with shoals on either side.

Carnivores no doubt would’ve turned to port at Cabbage Key to enjoy a “Cheeseburger in Paradise” but Steadfast motored on past Punta Blanca before turning west into Pelican

Steadfast joined less than a dozen boats anchored in Pelican Bay.

Pass. There was an anxious moment or two as the depth readings fell into the 4s. But just for a moment and then she eased into deeper water before the anchor went down in eight feet, just off Cayo Costa park headquarters.

And that’s where she lies tonight, bobbing gently between the islands while the cool northerly pipes up on Pine Island Sound and begins to wail through the mangroves. A few drops of rain tap a random rhythm on the deck above, pause, then drum again.

It’ll be an interesting night, no doubt. And, no doubt, the same for the morrow.

Steadfast out.

Wednesday, 14 January 15                                                                                    14.8 SM

Roy the Neighbor happens by and, noting Red warming to her work, offers a hand with the docklines.

“Here ya go,” says Roy, tossing the remaining stern line in the cockpit. “You’re free.”

Indeed. After yet another dockside stay that lingers well beyond the “plan,” Steadfast again is free of land and underway.

The “floor show” at Bruno’s is almost as good as the food!

She’d returned to Fort Myers Yacht Basin so Crew could make a flight to visit family for the weekend.  It was a productive weekend aboard, small tasks but ones needing to be done.  More lurking, as always, so Sunday became Monday, then a good scrub of the decks Tuesday.  Cabin, too.  There was the lure of dinner–again–at Bruno’s of Brooklyn where Cal and Company plate pasta and sides just like Mama used to make.  And before you know it, another day in the slip (ya can’t leave on the 13th, after all) and Wednesday awaits.

It’s 1135 now, a day not quite as the Chamber of Commerce promotes nor as Accu-Guess advertised. Instead, nine-knots of northerly sweep under a thick carpet of clouds. No sun sneaks through so the air feels far more chill than the 68-degrees reported. Not nearly as chill as say in Hallieford, Virginia, for example, but not a day for the beach.

So Red kicks her in a generally southward direction down the Caloosahatchee, across San Carlos Bay and up toward the entry to Pine Island Sound. That’s where she sits now, in eight-feet of water, quarter-mile off the east shore of York Island. Now and again, a motor yacht or fishing boat makes its passing known, sending a wake off the waterway that sets Steadfast to rolling a bit. But just a bit and she seems not to mind.

After all, she’s free.

Steadfast out.