Dunedin to St Petersburg

We were so excited to finally “be in Florida”. It was not until we reached the western shore of Florida that we really felt like we were truly in Florida. The panhandle area of Florida seemed more like Alabama weather to us, but now the temperatures are warm and the wind has become a breeze. So it was with much anticipation and excitement that we left Marker 1 Marina in Dunedin and headed south on the ICW.

Some things in life you just can not plan if you tried and so it was that we entered the Intercoastal immediately behind our friends from Steele’n Time who had stayed in Tarpon Springs for a couple of days. What a treat to once again follow Captain Mike’s lead.

As we headed south through Clearwater, Clearwater Beach, Sand Key and Boca Ciega Bay we saw the beautiful high rise condos and gorgeous homes along Florida’s Intercoastal Waterway. Our friends Eleanor and Harold came out to see us as we passed their home. It was fun to anticipate when we would arrive in their area and the following is the picture they took as we waved to them.



The farther south we traveled the more congested the waterway became. We were quite shocked and dismayed by the behavior we encountered of more than a couple of boats on this day. While the width of the Intercoastal Waterway is often very wide, the actual navigation channel is usually not all that wide. There is certainly enough area for two boats to pass safely but when large boats (50 feet +) ran past us, full out on the throttle, they would create a wake that could toss us into the path of an oncoming boat. There seemed to be no regard for no wake zones or basic boating courtesy. I must say that this is the first time that we have experienced this type of boating behavior to such a degree. We were almost struck twice by boats passing us too fast and hitting a wake that tossed them in our direction. One boat came so close to us that it splashed water into our helm completely drenching our interior – the electronics, charts and helm dashboard were covered with so much water that we had concerns that the electronics could fail. I was quick with the towels and so far the electronics have continued to work fine.



On a fun and happy note, we actually saw a pirate ship. Our daughter Beth is convinced that we are going to be captured by pirates at some point in our adventures – so now I can tell her that we met up with a pirate vessel and it passed us by to capture someone else…


As the day wore on the “day boaters” wore off. We found Tampa Bay with its one to two foot seas to be more our style. Our destination for the weekend is the Vinoy Yacht Basin. This is a wonderful anchorage in the heart of downtown St Pete. As we arrived we found several sailboats already anchored in this lovely location.

Hours on the water: 6
Nautical miles traveled: 37.5
Number of locks: 0
Time spent waiting at locks: 0
Next Destination: Sarasota
What we're listening to: Nothing
What we watched: NCAA Basketball
Lesson for the day: Don't travel the ICW on the weekend!
Obligatory knitting report: Carol Anderson Tunic Sweater for me