Low Water and High Times

Days 205 |  Tarpon Springs to Madiera Beach  |  4.6 Hours  |  29 Miles  

The orange glow in our windows this morning was enough to get me out of bed and take a look. The sun rose over our bow, but the color quickly faded to gray by the time we cast off our lines at 8:20 along with Miss Utah. We were at low tide which revealed many interesting features as we moved out the Anclote River, including crab pots and mud flats. The Anclote Keys Lighthouse led us back out into the GICW where the water was skinny. Charts showed expected depths to be two feet under our keel. Either through the effects of a low new moon tide and/or shoaling, we saw depths under one foot. Nerve wracking, but we never touched.

 
Barrier islands dotted the western boundary and in the gaps we could see that the Gulf of Mexico was still churned up by the wind. The ride in the GICW was smooth and we definitely had better views than if we'd gone outside. We passed by a resemblance of Gilligan's Island and saw dozens of dolphin swimming nearby. With temperatures in the mid-40s, I did not venture outside the pilot house to take more pictures. We had three bridges that needed to open for us. The Dunedin-Honeymoon Island Bridge was the first. We passed through without delay.

I know its a bad picture, but I had my first pink bird encounter. My first thought was flamingo, but Google later helped me identify them as spoonbills. Hopefully I will have more opportunities to do them and their striking color justice. Our second opening was by the Indian Rocks Causeway Bridge, a rare two-lane drawbridge. Yay! Again, no waiting. The bridge tender even chatted with us about being on the Loop and the snowfall in Richmond. We agreed Florida was a much better place to be. Three miles south, we came to the Park Boulevard Bridge, and again had no significant wait. We had made great time ... and the sun was shining brightly.

An osprey was enjoying its lunch on a daymarker. The tide was coming in, but boats were still high and dry on the shore. Large and luxurious houses lined the water on both shores. Abandoned boats, such as this sailboat without a mast and with an open forward hatch, are a big issue in Florida.

We arrived at Madiera Beach and spotted our friend's boat outside their home, also sitting on the bottom. We had traveled with Larry and Carol from Trenton, Ontario, right up to the day that we had to return to Richmond from Columbus, MS, for the passing of Barry's dad. Sea Life crossed her wake just a few weeks ago, and we had looked forward to catching up with them. Miss Utah came in and set her anchor and, as we've done multiple times over the past two months, we rafted up to them. We enjoyed the beautiful afternoon. It was too cold (upper 50s) to sit out on Fiberglass Beach, but it was toasty (80s) up in the enclosed flybridge. I started a new book and knocked out 50 pages before dozing off for a while.

By 4:00 the rising tide had freed Sea Life from the shore and Larry and Carol came over to the anchorage to welcome us. We gathered onboard Miss Utah for appys and compared stories of our Gulf crossings and future plans. By 6:00 it was dark, we said our goodbyes, and returned to Crossroads for the evening. We turned on our Christmas lights and enjoyed the view of the city from the pilothouse.

We had supper onboard, trying to work down the amount of food in our freezer. Tomorrow we will depart with Miss Utah for the final time ... at least this year. They will stop in Tampa and we will continue on a short bit into Bradenton. We will both leave our boats for a few weeks and head home to visit our families for the holidays.