Gulfport, Sarasota and Captiva - Loop Trip Days 58 - 63

Probably the biggest change from boating on the river to moving to open water is tide. Some marinas have floating docks so you don't immediately see the change in water levels, but it is necessary to pay attention. Today we had to wait until 9:30 to leave Turtle Cove as tides changed from below normal low toward high. This time put us at about mid-range which was enough, but not any "extra" water. So we slowly eased out and followed the directions from our Harbor Host as to where the most depth in inner Chanel would be. The entire Tarpon harbor is an idle, no wake, zone so it takes a good 30 minutes just to transit the distance to the Anclote River.  The morning was chilly, but bright sunshine and no wind which made it slow ride nicer. Once reaching the channel to the river which lead to Clearwater Harbor, I was able to run faster and gain some time as there were many more slow zones ahead.  It was fun to see the places that we had driven to back when lived down here from a whole new perspective. The bays in Clearwater and St Pete varied from wide expanses to narrow channels, but none of it was especially deep so staying in the markers was key. The boats, beautiful waterfront homes, parks and high rises made the trip to Gulfport interesting. At one point, l looked down and saw a dolphin swimming along side us!  It stayed right there until I had to adjust speed to go under a bridge. A bit further along, one of the dolphin experience tour boats started following us and we realized that several more were swimming in our wake on the port side. Those folks sure got their money's worth on that tour - maybe I should apply for my commission!  After arriving at the Municipal Marina, we walked into town for dinner at O'Maddy's.  If you're ever here, this is a good place to go!  Track and photos -  www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/937913

Giving the Dolphin Experience Tour an experience

One of the dolphin that was following

Dinner location

Some of downtown Gulfport

The second day here happened to be a Tuesday which turns out to be a market day in town. The little Main Street was lined on both sides with vendor tents displaying all manner of goods. Since the day was again sunny and warm, lots of people were out to examine the wares. A few musicians were playing to add to the atmosphere and aromas from the many restaurants filled the air. One interesting feature of the town is that this street was once just lined with small homes. Now most of these have been converted to businesses. There were shops, art galleries, offices and, of course, restaurants. One person told us that many of these were the packaged homes that Sears & Roebuck once had in their catalog. Might be true, but who knows for sure. We took it all in, visited the beach, soaked in the sun and ultimately found an Italian restaurant called Pia's Trattoria for late lunch/dinner. Oh so good!  If we were here longer, this could be a do over. 

Interesting street art

The beach - it's right downtown!

Great Italian restaurant

The next leg of the trip is to Sarasota and on Wednesday morning we left Gulfport to cruise the 35 miles south. Again we see the impact of tide as the water was a bit too low to leave until 10 AM, but the other side of that is that it was also still low enough that we could slide under the fixed bridge at the south end of St Pete. After crossing over the wide entrance to Tampa Bay, it was on down the ICW first past Anna Maria Island. The waterway in this area is very wide pretty much all the way to Sarasota. Wide doesn't mean deep though so you have to pay attention to the markers. The day was sunny and beautiful blue skies, winds were calm to start, but forecast to get bad so the plan was to get docked before that started. This meant running a little faster and the dolphins came out to play!  Even the dolphin experience tour boat followed us so their folks would have a great view. No matter how many times you see them, it is just amazing. Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/937913

After arriving in Sarasota, the sky turned gray and the wind kicked up to about 20 mph.  Temperatures were dropping and the boat was rocking. Not a day to tour the town!  We did go to Owen's Fish Camp for dinner and that was excellent!  Thursday had the return of sunshine and a bit warmer temperatures. The winds had died down overnight and that made it very comfortable outside. The marina shuttle took us to St Armand's Circle on the Gulf side of town. This area has lots of great shopping and restaurants. After checking out most of the stores, we went to Columbia for a late lunch to get some of our favorite Cuban dishes. This may have been the first time we've had ropa vieja since leaving Tampa about 25 years ago!

Back deck at Owen Fish Camp

Newspaper delivered to the boat - BTW it's not the NYT

Our slip at Marina Jacks

And I thought this was only an old photo!!

Sarasota sunset

On Friday, we left fairly early to continue south to our next port which was Royal Palm Marina. This is a small marina with a good restaurant and daily live entertainment. It was a sunny day that started out chilly, but was very nice by the afternoon. The tides continue to baffle me. We left Sarasota just after low tide and it was still low tide four hours later at our destination. The marina lost all of their entrance markers in Irma so it was a bit tense getting into the dock, but we made it and got tied up right in front of the restaurant.  The musician started a bit before 5, singing and playing guitar. Very enjoyable!  We stayed for a couple of hours having snacks and light dinner and then went back to the boat and listened to him until he stopped playing. Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/937913

Royal Palm docks

Our spot on the front row!

The entertainer

  

Fire in the sky

Saturday was an early morning to get started before the tide dropped. We were up at 6, got everything ready to go and then waited for first light to make our way to the channel. There was more water than when we came in so the exit went smoothly.  The day was cloudy and in the 50's with very little wind. Today we're going to Tween Waters Marina on Captiva Island to look for some shells on the beach and have dinner at Old Captiva House. The ride down was nice and we had pods of dolphin following for at least 2 hours. At times, there were 4 or 5 swimming and jumping on both sides of the boat. This was unbelievable!!  It took about 4 hours to get to Captiva and the entrance to the bay was challenging at best.  The markings were minimal, the tide was low so at one point we were dredging up the sand and then just as we reached the tightest of the markers someone in a small runabout decided to cut me off as he came out. It all ended up okay and we arrived and docked in one of the most unusual settings ever.  Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/941348

I can't get this amazing dolphin video to load, so click this link to view it!!  https://splice.gopro.com/v?id=VWpnPk

Interesting marina 

The Cat Whisperer has found another one

Not a pool day

The beach was pretty much empty - but we got some shells

History of  Captiva

Tomorrow we will leave to go to Cape Coral/Fort Myers to see our friends Carter and Susan.  We're also excited about the prospect of warmer weather.  There will be no early start as, once again, we have to wait for the tide to begin to rise so we can get out of this shallow bay!  South Florida, here we come!!