Voyage #3

Sunrise was at 7:02 this morning. We wanted to be just out by then. Things were calmer in the morning, and that was dandy by me.

We were up at 5, walked dogs, had coffee, then Russ started his engine checks. I pulled out of the slip by 6:52. As a bit of added complexity, given the temperature was in the low 50s, we piloted the boat from the helm inside rather than the fly bridge. I'm ready for the warm to come back.

Given our last trip wasn't ideal, I was a little nervous. The trip down the Manatee River was smooth, as we anticipated. Once we got to the Tampa Bay the seas chopped with 1 - 2 foot waves. Some white caps.

Again the dinghy swayed a bit. This time we hit the throttle, cruising around 3000 rpms. The tide was going out, so we were against it heading to St. Petersburg. But the added speed smoothed out the ride a bit (which made me and the

A little choppy but not too bad

pugs happy), and cut about fifteen minutes off the excursion.

As predicted, once past the Sunshine Skyway Bridge things calmed down. The last half of the journey was positively lovely. We ate breakfast, some cold cereal, on the way, and reached Endeavour Marine around 10:30 in the morning. 

We tried to hail the marine on radio, but no one answered. Russ called on the cell phone to get instructions, but they weren't real clear. I decided to dock, and that got someone out right away. They pointed us to the large boat lift, wanting us to park it there. I backed out, and moved us down the thirty feet into the lift area. That all sounds easy, and it wasn't too bad -- I'm pretty proud that I can handle tighter maneuvers with some confidence.

In the map it looks like we got the boat on the 92 bridge. If you zoom in you'll see we came up right next to it, then turned left, making our way along (just a few feet!) the shore. That's where the very shallow, very narrow channel makes you go. No options. You can see the ground just ten feet from our port side. Made the docking maneuvers slightly more challenging.

They strap her in and hoist her up. The rig has wheels
so they can set her down anywhere.

We watched for a while as they cinched up and hauled out our boat. They immediately pressure washed the bottom, preparing to paint it. That task will take about a week. We don't have any hard dates when we'll get the boat back. Such is boat life.

Once Russ got the rental car, we stopped and ate at the Jasmine Thai and Sushi Restaurant. Wonderful! There lunch specials are a roll and an entree. He got the spicy tuna roll and pineapple curry, I got the Buddha roll and pad thai. Great lunch.

Now we're checked into the La Quinta near the airport. Russ heads back to SF in the morning for a few days on a 8:45 am direct flight. I will wander back up to The Villages and hang out with my folks.