Friday, March 12, 2010
North on the ICW to Sarasota
alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447882146768417442" />
Tuesday thru Friday, March 9- 12.
After leaving Marathon, we anchored near Indian Key on Monday night. This is one of the "Thousand Islands" outside of Everglades City. We would love to go back there when it is warmer and take the dinghy to a lovely isolated beach nearby. We woke up Tuesday to a cool overcast morning, but the sun had peeked out by the time we arrived at Captiva Island.
Bob snapped this shot of an egret perched on our dinghy. Mr. Egret stayed a while to welcome us to 'Tween Waters Marina. As luck would have it, this was the night of the Manager's Cocktail Party. We didn't need a second invitation! After a while, a distinguished man with spectacles, a black suit, and a pocket watch joined us. He looked a lot like Theodore Roosevelt! Guess what. It WAS Theodore Roosevelt, or at least a reprisor named Joe Wiegand who is touring the 50 states in honor of TR's 150th birthday. He stayed in character the whole time we visited. When he heard we were from Alabama, "Mr. Roosevelt" told us a lot more than we already knew about the patriot Joe Wheeler. FDR seemed genuinely interested in our cruising adventures. A delightful bit of serendipity!
On Wednesday, we left Captiva Island, staying mostly in the protected waters of the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). You can always tell that you are on the ICW by the yellow symbol on the markers. We finally had a gloriously pretty day for cruising. Lots of other boats were out too; spring seems to be coming after all. This stretch of the waterway has a number of bridges, and we can't fit under a couple without waiting for a scheduled opening or by asking the bridge tender for passage through. Fortunately our timing was good, and we didn't have to wait in line. We enjoyed looking at the many beautiful houses along this stretch of the waterway. If it weren't for family and friends north of here, I might be campaigning to move to South Florida. We finally arrived in Sarasota late Wednesday afternoon. We are staying at Marina Jack's, a luxurious facility with a restaurant at the foot of Main Street while another round of wind, rain, and thunderstorms blows through.
We are carefully watching the weather forecast. Another Gulf crossing is looming, and we need two days straight of calm weather -- a rare event this winter. We will probably leave from Clearwater Beach (or an anchorage nearby at Anclote Key). This time we hope to cross in daylight, with an intermediate stop at a Cedar Key anchorage. Meanwhile, we've met up with Roger and Erika, fellow PDQ owners, who we have traveled several times with. They are actually moving their boat to Vancouver, so they are simply waiting for the transit. We hope to leave for Clearwater Beach Saturday or Sunday -- as soon as the weather clears -- with hopes of crossing next Tuesday/Wednesday. Stay tuned.
