Thursday, January 21, 2021 Day 46.
Chilly but beautiful day. We were at anchor last night and the current moved us 180° overnight so the sunrise was in the same place as the sunset.
Now that our new administration has been inaugurated and hopes are high, the hard work must begin.
In addition, the vaccine frenzy is up and running. And we have tried all kinds of places to sign up, and to register to get appointments. We have registered in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and various places in Florida. I am heavily caught up with this frenzy and I want the vaccine. The situation in Florida is dire, and so many people do not wear masks.
We left the GICW and entered the Gulf of Mexico near Venice, for our first leg up to St Petersburg. We were only a short distance offshore (1 to 3 miles). It was quiet, pleasant and sunny, and although a little too windy for the flybridge, I was able to spin on the back deck as we were cruising along. The scenery was lovely, passing the beaches of Longboat Key. It is so cool to spin as we cruise the Gulf of Mexico. As much as I love the Sporting Club, spinning while cruising wins hands down!
I got a call from the motor repair shop in Pompano Beach asking some questions. What?! It is Thursday! The motor was supposed to be in Clearwater Friday and they haven't even finished the repair let alone send it?! This was discouraging. This was frustrating. I now had no idea how long we would have to stay in Clearwater and whether or not we could make arrangements at the yacht club.
Around 4:40 PM we entered the north channel of Boca Ciega bay near Tierra Verde, and anchored at 5:15 PM. It was a long day for the captain. In celebration of our offshore trip, we had a great dinner of rack of lamb (my favorite), grilled, (life is good), a nice red wine and fudge for dessert.
Friday, January 22, 2021. Day 47
Captain Roland planned an easy day for today. We awakened late, and pulled up the anchor before 11 AM, starting our trip to call Carlouel Beach and Yacht Club, as guests of Cynthia and Dan. I made arrangements to take Dan and Cynthia to dinner on Sunday evening at a Club Corp affiliate country club (Countryside); they had outside dinner reservations available.
There were several bridges in front of us over this short trip, many of them required openings. The first, Cory Causeway opened at 11:20, Treasure Island Causeway Bridge opened at 11:40. This was great, the bridges are timed for 20 minutes, we can make them all at our trawler 7 knots. Very cool! We approach Welch Causeway Bridge, hopefully opening at 12:20. As we approached , at 12:08, all ready to pass under as we arrived, we were told that they only open on the half hour (oo bad), so we had to hang out till 12:30. By 1 pm, we were near Madeira Beach and requested an opening of the Park Boulevard Bridge and proceeded on, passing Indian Shores.
As we approach the bridges for which we need to request openings, we call the bridge tender on the appointed channel, on the radio. We announce the name of our boat, the time we want to pass, and hope the tender is cheerful and cooperative, as most of them are. Occasionally, the tender has had a bad day, or is uncooperative, but, in my limited experience, this is rare, although we have had a couple. They always address us as “Captain”, document the name of the boat and the time of the opening, and we always thank them when we are clear, and we wish each other a nice day. I often go outside the boat to take a photo and/or waive to the bridge tender.
We have listened on the radio to exchanges with tenders and captains whose boat's have odd names. The tender patiently asks the captain to repeat the name of the boat a couple times, and finally resorts to requesting the captain to spell the name. It is quite entertaining to listen to each bridge tender, when we are traveling near one of these vessels, one after the other ask repeatedly for the name. We know it is going to happen, and it just brings a smile to my face.
This area was narrow and heavily populated with homes and condos. There are lots of pontoon party boats in the water; very busy.
We passed under a few more bridges, some fixed and some requiring openings. Roland was able to reach Scott (our guru), this afternoon and we have an idea of why we have not had hot water for a couple of days. Whenever we have an issue, I comfort myself that we are learning so much. Maybe a break in our education would not be a terrible thing!
So here goes, the hot water issue: The water heating system is somewhat complicated. I am sure that it makes sense, it is probably efficient, but without a short course or trawlers, who would have known?
The engine heats the water (when we are not traveling and therefore, not running the engine), the generator, if we put it on (like we had been doing because it was cold and we needed heat), heats the water. Because our PO (prior owners), did not anchor out as much as we have been doing, they had turned off the valves heating the water from the engine. They used, primarily the dock electricity. Scott, our guru, let us know about the valves from the engine; problem solved. I am not sure how any new boat owner, especially an owner of one as complicated as Magic Moments, can manage without Scott.
At 2:45pm, with the help of Ian (the dockmaster) , and two helpers, with Cynthia looking on, we docked at Carlouel Yacht Club.
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