Lady Royal

December 11 – January 24

It's been a while since my last update, so first, we're still alive and cruising!

The last posting ended at Palafax Marina in Pensacola. From there, we spent a night at Panama City Marina, and then went to Port St. Joe, a nice town on the “forgotten coast.” We had planned on being further south by the time we got there, but since we weren't, we rented a car and drove to Sarasota with Darrel and Sue (Present Moment). Julie and Sophie were flying to Tampa on December 20^th, and Darrel and Sue were flying from Tampa to Detroit on the 21^st, so we drove south, and stayed at Susie and Bill's (friends of Darrel and Sue's) condo on Longboat Key for 10 days, while Julie and Sophie visited. We went to Mote Aquarium, Sarasota Jungle Gardens, Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, St. Armond Circle, and many good restaurants. Although the weather was chilly, we often walked on the beach, searching for shells, and looked forward to the beautiful sunsets. After they left, Rob and I visited the John Ringling Circus Museum, enjoyed dinner at Mike and Nadia Ritter's house; met Greg Perry and his friend, Jerry, for lunch at Marina Jack's; and met Dan, Donna, Olivia and Layla Gilbert for dinner at the Salty Dog. When talking with Nadia, Riviera Swim Club came up, and I found out that she was my counselor, and she grew up across from my grandparents' house on Berkeley. It's really a small world!

Ice on the Bow – Panama City

Panama City Marina

Julie and I at Phillipe Creek Restaurant

Julie and Sophie at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

Julie at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

Sophie and Julie, Sunset on Longboat Key

Julie at Sarasota Jungle Gardens

Sarasota Jungle Gardens

Rob at Sarasota Jungle Gardens

Julie at Sarasota Jungle Gardens

Sarasota Jungle Gardens

Deb, Rob, Sophie and Julie at dinner in Sarasota

Julie, Longboat Key Beach

Sophie, Longboat Key Beach

Julie, Longboat Key Beach

Rob, Julie and Sophie at St. Armand Circle

Sophie and Julie, Longboat Key

Sophie, me and Julie, Longboat Key

Sunset, Longboat Key

Jerry, Rob and Greg – Sarasaota

Donna, Olivia, Dan and Layla Gilbert – Dinner in Sarasota

Siesta Key - Sue and Darrel's Condo

When Sue and Darrel got back from Detroit, we drove back to Port St. Joe, where we celebrated new year's eve. We had Darrel and Sue on Lady Royal for appetizers, then had dinner on Present Moment. After dinner, Carl and Ricki (Quest) and Skip and Barb (Moor $tuff) joined us for cocktails and dessert. Just before midnight, we had the dropping of the orange fender, to officially welcome 2011. At that point, all of us decided to go celebrate across the street at the Haughty Heron, only to find out that everything closed at midnight. Our option was to go to Mexico Beach, 20 minutes west, to once again celebrate the new year since it was an hour earlier. As inviting as the option sounded, we opted out.

Sunset, Port St. Joe

Darrel, Sue, Deb and Rob – Settled in at Port St. Joe

Darrel, Sue, Carl, Ricki, Skip, Barb and Rob – New Year's Eve

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-Happy New Year!

Our next stop was Carabelle, which was our last stop before crossing the gulf. While traveling the loop, there are two ways to get from Carabelle (or Apalachicola) to Tarpon Springs (or Clearwater). The northern part of the inner coastal ends at Carabelle, and you travel in open waters until Tarpon Springs, so boaters either cut across the gulf, or travel around the “big bend.” When traveling across, it takes about 21 hours at our cruising speed of 8 knots. When traveling around the bend, it could take days, depending on the weather windows. We chose to cut across, and did so with Darrel and Sue, our fearless leaders. Sue had been watching the weather forecasts for months, waiting for the perfect day to cross. Our thanks go to her, because the weather couldn't have been better. It was REALLY dark out there! Well, for Sue and Darrel, it was REALLY dark. We had the view of their stern light, which we followed throughout the night. We saw the shore at dawn, but couldn't get too close to shore until it was light, because there are hundreds of crab pots that you have to dodge as you get closer to shore. Since our ambitious speed of 8 knots got us there earlier than expected, we cruised south for an hour, right into the sunrise, and then changed our course, heading into Clearwater. We made it! OK, we almost made it. The Clearwater Yacht Club was in sight – but the next thing we knew, we had both run aground, and had to wait about a half hour until the tide rose to finally approach the marina. Ahh, tied up at last! We registered, and walked to Frenchie's, where we had lunch and sangria. Clearwater beaches are beautiful, although the weather wasn't warm enough to spend too much time there.

Deb, Rob, Darrel and Sue – Ready for the Crossing!

Cruising in Daylight

Sunset

Night Cruising (Scary!)

Sunrise

Sunrise (Present Moment)

Crab Pots

Clearwater

Deb, Rob, Darrel and Sue at Frenchie's

From Clearwater, we flew to Cleveland to surprise Darcy for her 50^th birthday, and spend time with family and friends. It's always good to go home, and the time always goes by too quickly. We also drove to Columbus to see Brian's new apartment. After a week-long visit, we flew back to Clearwater, and headed to Tierra Verde, where we went aground for the second time! OOPS... we were out of the channel, and the water gets really shallow outside the channel. OK, the first thing to do when going aground is stay calm. The second thing is to know where the phone number is for Boat US, the service that every boater should have. The third thing is to be nice to the Coast Guard sheriffs who pass by before Boat US arrives. We were successful at all three, and the sheriffs kindly pulled us back into the channel. The fourth thing to remember is to capture the memory of the sheriffs towing us, which I forgot to do. Oh well, three out of four isn't bad! We continued on our journey, and just before reaching Tierra Verda, received a radio transmission from Ray (Summertime) who we had met in Charlevoix, Michigan. He heard one of our transmissions to a bridge tender, and radioed back to us. It was great hearing from him, and that night, we had dinner with Ray and Linda at St. Pete Beach.

The next day, we went to Twin Dolphin Marina in Bradenton, just north of Sarasota. This is a great marina, that is protected and really boater friendly. The restaurant, Mattison's, has live music every Wednesday through Sunday, a great happy hour, and a great menu. The facility has a laundry room, clean showers, a heated pool and whirlpool, and a small town nearby. There are many people living on their boats, and there is always activity on the docks. We were glad to have Mike and Nadia Ritter and Cary and Ava Hodous on Lady Royal for cocktails and appetizers, before going to dinner at Mattison's. The weather even warmed up, and we took advantage of the warmer climate by going with Darrel and Sue to their condo, spending the day at Siesta Key, having a cook out, and spending the night there. After spending a week in Bradenton, we headed to Venice, FL and stayed at the Crow's nest. Sue and Darrel's friends, Ted and Tom, were traveling with them, and once we were docked, Ted and Sue went fishing and caught three catfish, which were all thrown back in. The bait tip? The smellier the shrimp, the better. From Venice, we came to Burnt Store Marina, just south of Punta Gorda, Pam and Bob's (Mint Julep) home port. We met Rhonda and Joey (Rhojo), and Jerry and Carolyn (Sassy), and all went to dinner together. We hadn't seen Pam and Bob since Chicago, and it was great seeing them again. Once the weather clears, we'll head south.