Waz pulling in the anchor ...well, he has his foot on the button that brings the chain in...and giving me the hand signal to turn to starb'd to release the anchor, going forward over the top of it.
What pretty clouds to begin the day.
Leaving our overnight safe haven.
You can see our path out of the bay and heading for this bridge under construction. Fascinating! Cars were already going over the other span, and they are in the process of finishing this one.
We couldn't identify this Pink Palace in the background.
The bridges come in all shapes and sizes.
..and this one is the best of all. The Sun Harbor Skyway which is 175feet off the water at it's center span. We are looking at it to starb'd. We had to do a loop around the get under it. but it was fun looking at it and photographing it from all different angles. I have a gazillion photos of it now:)
The ever present Pelicans. These are Brown Pelican. I love the markings on their faces.
On this chart we are making a right angle turn into yet another skinny channel that takes us to the Main Shipping Channel in Tampa Bay that goes under the Sun Harbor Skyway and out to sea. We didn't go that far, but turned off just after the bridge down yet another skinny channel through more houses and mangroves. I gave up taking photos at this stage because it all looks alike. Sorry!..or you might be thanking me!
Look at all those vapor trails! and what a gorgeous day it was.
Signs on the side of the bridge as we are about to go under it. Anna Maria Bridge. Anna Maria is a Key.
Thank goodness for this feature otherwise we would have to wait and wait for them to open the bridges. We did make one miscalculation today and heard nasty sounds pinging..and said "OHNO!!!" as we went under a marginal bridge. Fortunately we came out the other side with our aerials intact! We had forgotten how high they are and that was the first time we had been made aware of them. Duh!
...and around a 90 degree bend comes this large motor yacht...and don't you love the name...!
****If you want to see the photos larger, just click on them and they will appear full screen. You can then click outside the photo to return to the blog***
This is senior housing along he ICW
The driver of this boat was a woman in a hurry. She swooped in between us and another boat (you can just see their wake on the left side) and sped off into the distance, leaving us to deal with her considerable wake. nasty!
...and here we are coming into Sarasota Bay. That is the city on the horizon. We pulled off the ICW into 11 feet of water and tracked towards the LongBoat Key anchorage that we had chosen as our place for the night. We are in 5 1/2 - 7ft of water, depending on which was we swing. We have a three foot tide, but not expecting to find ourselves lying on our sides tonight! pray!
Lots of sail boats around us tonight...that means there is enough water around here. Not lots, but enough at around 12 feet under keel.
And so, we have an early night again. It has calmed down, after we stopped in a southerly wind, and warm enough that I am thinking of taking a shower off the back tonight! :)
A lovely dinner of some fillet steak with mushrooms, onion and spinach in a creamy sauce, steamed baby carrots and steamed white rice. Yum! amazing what you can find in the fridge if you look hard enough. Not much left, Im afraid! We are thinking we might make it to Port Charlotte tomorrow, but are happy to spend another night anchored out. Our last for some months. Once in Port Charlotte at Len's place, we wont be going anywhere for three months before starting our Loop!
Ciao for tonight.
A picture on Google maps says that the pink thing is the Loews Hotel - Don Cesar.
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