St. Petersburg, FL

Sunday January 20, 2013
27 46.571 N
82 37.733 W

Great Mooring Ball, right downtown

There are good days and there are great days - and today was a great day!

We had the anchor up at 7AM sharp, called the bridge and were on our way. We had about 12 miles of waterway to Venice and then we were heading out into the Gulf. Overall trip to St. Petersburg was 63 NM.

A bridge

As we approached Venice we saw dead fish in the water, the numbers increasing to the thousands. I asked a bridge operator on the radio and he explained that there had recently been a large algae bloom in the Gulf that had killed the fish. This is a problem in the Gulf, seems to happen every summer, because of the warm water temps and all the fertilizer coming down the rivers.

By 9:30 AM we were out in the Gulf. The pass at Venice was very attractive, with marinas, white sand beaches and beautiful houses on either side as we approached. The Gulf was very benign and all we had to do was set a course and keep an eye out for crab pots. We set a course that would take us out past the 3 miles limit so we could "you know what". The sun was in and out, when it was shining the water was perfect blue. A bit of weather rolled past, for an hour or less we had breaking waves, but then it settled again.

After about 40 miles off shore we made the turn into Tampa Bay. There is a new cable stayed bridge spanning the entrance. We were in this area 20 odd years ago on vacation and a ship hit the bridge the day after we arrived, bringing it and a dozen cars down. It made the drive back to the airport later that week much longer for us. The new bridge is quite impressive, and it is well protected!

Into Tampa Bay

We were heading for a mooring field in St. Petersburg. The couple who sold us Tide Hiker, Norm and Vicki Naughton, now live in a fancy high rise apartment building overlooking the mooring field.and they had kindly invited us to dinner. The mooring field was right down town "in the middle of the action". When we were moored we had "front row seats" to a rock concert going on in the park. The mooring field was surrounded by parks and right down town. What a spot.

We picked up Bonnie and Jon in the dinghy and headed to the Naughtons for dinner. Their condo was on the 10th floor with fantastic views of the waterfront. Norm had watched us approach from 10 miles away. (Deidre and I had expertly picked up the mooring ball, and knowing Norm would be watching, we had taken a bow towards his building. He had seen us and appreciated the show of respect.) Vicki put on a great dinner and a good time was had by all.

Monday January 21, 2013

Today is MLK day so we are headed down town for the parade and an explore.