My plan was...... As I told the Venice Marina when I called them about 11:00 AM, the wind and waves conspired against me and I will not make it to Venice on day one. So, after 4 hours of going head on into the wind and the waves, 4-foot waves that were close together. Lesson Plan was again slapping the waves down and I am sure she was having a blast, but our speed was down to 6 MPH (sometimes 5.5) and I was growing tired of the slow pace and rocking horse ride. I ducked into the Tampa Bay main ship channel and headed toward the Gulf Intra-Costal Waterway (GICW). There are two issues with the GICW. One, there are very limited sailing opportunities, and two LIFT BRIDGES.
Lift bridges, grrrr. My first lift bridge is about 8 miles down. As normal, I call the lift bridge when I'm about 25 minutes away (about 1:05). She informs me that the next opening is at 1:30. No problem, my chart shows I should be there right at 1:30. What I didn't know was that I would hit a current as soon as I left the bay and enter the channel for the GICW, I went from 8.1 MPH to 7 MPH. You know what that does, it put you at the bridge about 1:36. Sure enough I am about 1 mile from the bridge and the bridge tender calls me up and says “The 1:30 opening has passed, the next opening is at 2:00”. As Agent 99 would say, “Missed it by that much”. So, I slowed up and took 25 minutes to cover what would have taken 6 minutes.
And so it went. I called the bridges about 30 minutes out to find out about openings so I could time my arrival just right. I found out one thing, they are a lot stricter about opening times than the bridge we have in Beaufort. There were a few more times along the way that I lost 20 to 30 minutes, slowing up to wait on the next bridge openings, because I missed it by a few minutes. I finally made it to Marina Jacks in Sarasota about 6:15, just after sunset.
My friend Herb recommended this place, but I guess I should have checked the rate before I made the reservation, it is $2.85 per foot per night. Theresa told me I should have known when I saw the Ritz Carlton of Sarasota at the entrance to the marina. I guess it’s not bad for south FL, but I like to stay under $2 per foot for marinas. Live and learn.
The next day I left Marina Jacks heading to Placida, FL. It is going to be a short day (7 hours), so I wait for the morning rain to clear and head to the fuel dock about 9:30. I finish fueling and pull away from the marina about 9:55. I will arrive at the next lift bridge right at 10:03, and you guessed it, the 10:00 opening time has passed and the next opening will be at 10:30. So I slow down to a crawl and got through at 10:30.
Luckily the next three bridges are bridges that open on call. With these bridges you just call them on the radio, and they time the opening so that the bridge is open just as you get to the bridge. I am always amazed at how good they are at judging the speed of the boat and timing the opening. I am sure some of the fast boats must slow down, but they can time it for me perfectly.
This part of the GICW winds it way through some area with some huge homes along the waterway. One was stuck out on a little peninsula, so it had water views on three sides. I wished I could have got some pictures, but the weather was cool with off and on light rain, so the sides are up, and it is not easy to get pictures through the plastic windows. Also Otto has been acting a little odd, so I have been having resort to manual steering, which takes away from a lot of opportunities. I can't just turn the wheel over to Otto and go down below to make lunch, or take pictures. I think I have not been showing enough appreciation. I have been trying to be nicer to him and recognize his contributions. If that doesn't work I am going to tear him apart and see if there is a screw loose.
I made it to Gasparilla Marina around 4:25 and pulled up to the fuel dock to check in. I noticed the fuel price was $2.90 per gallon. I probably only burned 5 gallons during the day, but you buy cheap fuel when you can. So, I filled up Lesson Plan’s tank and my spare fuel cans as well.
Tomorrow afternoon we hit open gulf again, only two more lift bridges that operate on a fixed schedule to go.
Here are the NEBO logs for the two days
January 23, 2019
January 24, 2019
Lessons Learned:
Stay flexible.
If a lift bridge is close by, check the bridge schedule before you leave the dock.
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