November 29 Through December 9 (Click on the images to see and scroll them in full size)
November 29 Boca Ciega Bay was a good anchorage, all sand, anchor came up clean and we were surrounded by the city, it was a nice quiet evening. The next day we traveled to St. Petersburg Municipal Marina. It was a great marina, but $3/ft! We must be in Florida. We walked next to St Pete's Pier and there were several museums we did not have a chance to visit. We ate at the Tiki Bar on top of building at St. Pete’s Pier. The next night we stayed at the Sarasota Bay Mooring Field and I got to try out the mooring bridle that I had spliced up for this very occasion. I do need to splice eyes on the line. We dinghied into the dock to check in and found that this was really the home of the big boats! We ate lunch at Sunshine Grill.
December 2 we headed to Cabbage Key. Most of docks being rebuilt after hurricane Ian but they had room for 2 30 foot long tugs, so we tie up, ate awesome red snapper at dinner, and hung our dollar bills I also had the most expensive drink of my life, but it was SO worth it. before dinner, we walked nature trail and met the local tortoises.
December 3 we headed to the Franklin Lock Campground Anchorage. We are starting to see the damage from Hurricane Ian. Mostly sunk boats and destroyed marinas. Unfortunately my morning engine check revealed a problem , there was coolant all over the engine compartment. I had to repair overflow tube for generator which had cracked and fell off. We spent the night at a very pretty anchorage just above lock. The next day, we hit a record 4 locks in one day! It was a beautiful trip through canals and on to Roland Martin marina. I had gator bites for appetizer and they were so good, I had them for dinner too. The next morning, we found out that the lock we moved through was broken down and we were trapped. Fortunately it was fixed by 11:30, and we headed out to St. Lucie South Campground slip. Beautiful run down canals and uneventful crossing of Lake Okeechobee.
December 6 was our last stretch to Glenn and Carole's condo. St Nick even found us in the morning and left a great note on my computer! The water leak under our starboard cabinets is getting really bad, so time for ANOTHER repair. So Glenn and I went to Home Depot and bought a Milwaukee Multi-tool, hose clamps, FlexSeal tape and paste. I cut inspection hatch, got really lucky when I cut right at the leak and fixed the crack in the exhaust manifold. That night we ate at great Mexican restaurant. The next morning we left early, run to Indiantown by ourselves, followed by 23 foot cape dory. Thursday we cleaned out Patriot so we could take home everything we had on board that we haven't used in the last 2 1/2 months. We packed up and got into rental car headed to Valdosta Georgia, Comfort Inn, due back in Mequon Saturday! On the drive back we discovered our first Buc-ee's. It is a gas station, but it was the size of WALMART! Truly and amazing experience.
Since our departure on September 18, we have traveled 82 days and 2,231 miles, been in 8 states, transited 33 locks, passed barges bigger than a football field, been in 4-6 foot waves on Tampa Bay, fixed things on Patriot I never would have imagined that I could fix and met friends that we will have for the rest of our lives. We can hardly wait to continue our adventures when we get back. Since we are headed home, there are going to be less updates over the Holidays, but fear not, there will be an update on our activities before we return. We will be headed back down to pick up Patriot on January 10, to head down to Marathon Key, where we will spend the month of February before heading to the Bahamas, sometime in early March.
Till then, enjoy your holidays.
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