Still southward, but not too direct

The Sarasota mooring field provided an especially bouncy second night. There's little protection from the Northwest winds and we got the brunt of it. Our little boat bounces around like a cork on the best of times, so little sleep was had. The boat faired better than the crew.

With small craft advisories forecast, we decided to stick with the inside route on the ICW. One big downside of that decision was that we were at the mercy of the bridge opening schedules. Our first bridge did not open until 11 a. m.. Rather than keep bouncing around on the mooring ball, we decided to motor across the bay to a more protected spot.

That's where the fun began. The outboard picked up a big ball of fishing line. I quickly killed the motor to keep it from wrapping up any tighter. While that was going on, the wind blew us into the shallows where we grounded.

Working from the kayak, I soon had the fishing line cut away. Then I set an anchor out in the deeper part of the channel. All we had to do was to wait for the rising tide. One big pot of coffee and a game of cribbage later, we floated free. That only set us back about 40 minutes.

With a strong tailwind, we had a nice lively sail to Venice. Friends met us there. We hopped in their car and drove to a drumming circle on the beach. After the sun went down, they invited us to spend the night at their place. The boat wasn't exactly in a “sanctioned” overnight spot, but it was safe for the one day.

Today our friends even drove us over to a Publix for groceries before dropping us off at the boat.

Sailing was slow, but the sun was out and it didn't matter. My lovely wife spotted two manatees right in the channel. We were able to warn a power boat about them in time for him to avoid a collision. We all felt good about that. Those poor beasts have a hard enough time as it is. We felt privileged to see them out in the wild.


Right now we are anchored off the ICW near a public park. It's a good place to take the dog for walks. We should be protected from the worst of the predicted high winds, but only time will tell.

Still loving the adventure.

-Sixbears