We stayed an extra day in Tarpon Springs, Fl to rest and to allow the winds to die down. The town is very unique with a large Greek population dating back to the early 1900’s. Many Greek sponge divers settled here when the industry was booming. I was able to sell our dinghy to another boater in the marina for $800. They were so excited to get a nice dinghy for a good price and I was happy to not have the boat on our swim platform. As our friend David would say, it was a win-win!
We left early on Thursday to boat 70 miles to Sarasota, Fl. We plan on taking the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway for the rest of the trip because we have no desire to boat in the Gulf of Mexico again anytime soon. We received the full boating in Florida experience for this trip. Boats of all sizes going very fast with no radio communication of any kind. People in pontoon boats they rented with no clue about the rules of the water. We feel happy that we received our training in Florida as the boating here is a different breed of cat.
We spent only one night in Sarasota, FL. Our boat looked tiny next to the mega yachts as apparently lots of rich people live in this city! Our friends Mike and Kelly were making their Gulf crossing over the night, so we were nervous once again. The winds appeared to look stronger on the Windy App than originally forecast and there was approximately 18 hours that we could not text or call them. We saw their boat, and their buddy boat Cheers on the Nebo App leaving Carrabelle and once they lose cellphone reception, the boats disappear on the App. I probably looked at Nebo 50 times to see if the boats had reappeared near Clearwater, FL., which was their destination. Friday morning, we finally got the text we were waiting for. We learned they had a rough night and that another flotilla of seven other boats had a very stressful night. One boat lost both engines at some point and limped into Clearwater with the assistance of TowBoat US. Another boat was towing a $20,000 dinghy that at some point came unattached during the crossing and is now lost at sea. This is no game!
We headed towards Venice, Fl for a short 17-mile trip. We had learned that a swing bridge was only opening every four hours, so we hustled to leave Sarasota to make the noon opening because the bridge has only 9’ clearance when closed. We slowly rolled up to the closed bridge and set our Dynamic Positioning System (DPS), aka Sky Hook, to wait for the opening. Other boats were anchored or jogging around as they waited, and we were once again grateful for our boat. Other people tell us we are cheating when we use our DPS or our joystick control for our pods, but we don’t really care. We have no problem cheating in this way. We spent one night in Venice, FL and Deven shot a great video of a dolphin feasting on a school of fish. We left early to head for Fishermen’s Village Marina in Punta Gorda, Fl. The 50-mile trip was one of the most enjoyable days I have had on the boat with calm water and warm weather. This is the same marina where I allowed a fender to fall off the boat and get caught in the port engine during training. As we headed into the marina, I told Deven this is Punta Gorda, take two! We had no issues docking the boat and I realized how much I have learned over the last 20 months. I had no clue what I was doing when I started this trip, so I was bound to improve. This Great Loop adventure has been an intensive learning experience that I will always cherish. We were able to help catch the lines for Senza Fine’ as she pulled into her home marina to cross her wake and complete the loop. We met Mike and Kelly about 6 months ago in Canada and managed to be here with them for this moment! This is a really big deal, because we know first-hand that there are many people who dream about or attempt to complete the Great Loop, and never finish! It takes hard work, patience, tenacity, luck, and a great deal of courage. Deven and I have one more run to make to accomplish our goal. We are hoping our last run goes as smoothly as Senza Fine’s did.
