Burrrrr in St. Petersburg and spring plans

Yes, it is cold in St. Petersburg today and for the next couple of days–high 20’s are predicted for tonight.  But, the Chamber of Commerce promises that by next weekend it will be in the 70’s again.  If anyone wanted to make a little money, they’d have thought ahead to bring in car loads of heaters along with warm mittens and hats.  People were in CVS pharmacy even asking for heaters.  They were all out.   But, the homeless shelters say they have plenty of room for more, so those folks do have a dry, warm spot in most of the cities down here. 

Alan and I leave for Houston tomorrow for two weeks to get business taken care of, check the house,  dentist apts etc.  We will both be back in St. Petersburg by the 26th and will then head by land cruiser to Ft. Lauderdale for the trawler fest hoping to learn about great mooring places along the ICW on the east coast.  So, here are very tentative plans.

We will spend the first week of February changing oil and filters on the Muriel June, food provisioning, and checking out whatever else needs to be done here.  We plan to leave on the 8th of February and head south through Venice, Boca Grande, Sanibel, and into Charlotte Bay for a couple of weeks, then to Marco Island. When the weather looks bareable, we’ll cross down to the Keys stopping first in Marathon and then to Key West March 10-19 at the Galleon Marina.  Bonnie will join us there for a week.  On the 19th of March we’ll start heading up the Keys and along the east coast of Florida, then into Georgia and South Carolina.  We have a deadline to be in Myrtle Beach by the 25th of April for another trawler fest.  These meetings are critical for obtaining local and updated knowledge for our Great Loop travels.  We plan to be in the Chesapeake during June, July, August and September and hope to winter the boat next winter at the Atlantic Yacht Basin in Norfolk, VA.  But these are only tentative plans.  Weather and marina availablility dictate everything.  Stay warm.

Boat Manners in Florida

We have had to adjust from knowledgeable barge captains to amateur pleasure boat captains in Florida who rarely communicate and don’t follow maritime laws.  We have met many nice people in the marinas along the way living on their vessels or traveling as we are. who do know a lot about maritime laws and cruising conditions.  However we have  also encountered the Florida pleasure boaters who travel in 35 to 45 foot “fast boats” who lack basic maritime courtesies.  Besides being unaware of the impact of their wakes they are unwilling to communicate with fellow boaters.  And, few boaters here have Automatic Idenfication Systems as we do. 

The worst case was in a narrow channel where all boats were carefully moving along to avoid going aground.  Some of these channels are very narrow (only about 30 feet wide). Along came a vessel at high speed and left a large wake almost throwing the Muriel June  and other boats outside the channel and aground.  The radio came alive with “jerk!” and other explicatives.  The lesson down here is to hold your course in the center of the channel.  It is the overtaking boat’s responsibility to communicate intentions.  Some “go fast” boaters down here haven’t learned that lesson as of yet. 

Today Lynn and Sue Hill arrive and we will head back down to Sarasota and Longboat Key. Weather is beatiful and clear but very cold for Florida.  We are wearing warm hats and gloves and heavy jackets when running the boat from our fly bridge.  And, going across Tampa Bay can be very rough and windy.

Sunday in St. Petersburg

Bonnie comes to visit the Muriel June

After visitng the “once a week” market for fresh grouper and produce down near the waterfront yestrday, we decided to sample other parts of St. Petersburg today.  We walked 10 blocks to visit St Peter’s Episcopal Cathedral. It is the seat of the diocese of southwest Florida.  The sermon was given by a young minister from Menlo Park, California, who was actually married in this St. Petersburg church.  This cathedral was established in 1889 in the English gothic tradition.  After the service we walked to the Renaissance Vinoy Resort for their famous Sunday brunch.  The hotel was built in the 1920’s but in terrible disrepair after the war.  Babe Ruth stayed in it when the Yankees were here during spring training.  From the 70’s to the 90’s it was a home for vagrants and alligators we were told.  But in 1992 it opened again after being restored.  Alan and I are getting very good at taking the blue trolley throughout town and hearing the lecture–so good in fact that we know most of the important city facts and the one that we hear the most is that St. Petersburg has an average of 361 days of sunshine. Today is one of the four without sun and it is cold –so cold that two ladies downtown tried to buy our hats from us.  Burr.