December 28, 2013 Boca Ceiga Bay

We left our anchorage at 9:45 am.  We were just on the north side of another draw bridge.  This one opened on a set schedule, and we had to wait until 10:00.  So we just motored in circles for a while. 

                     

We headed to Gulfport, Fl hoping to meet with Gordon from JSI to discuss replacing our canvas (bimini and dodger).  We hadn't heard from him all morning after leaving several messages.  So we tied up at a free city dock for day time only.  We had lunch at a little outside restaurant.  It was probably in the mid 70's. 

Since we still hadn't heard from him, we decided to head across Tampa Bay and reach the south side for an anchorage before dark.  Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy with thunderstorms (lightning is not good in a sailboat).  So we didn't want to worry about crossing the bay tomorrow. 

As we were following the ICW, we heard again the warning about the sunken airplane and to watch for markers to avoid it.  They gave the latitude and longitude quickly and I only caught one.  It sounded like it was near the same area as us.  A little later, I decided to google it on my phone.   Sure enough, we passed the area, but didn't see any markers.  We did see a few boats doing circles in an area and wondered what they were up to.  Sounds like the guy had been flying for 40 years.  His engine stopped, so he made a landing in a bay.  Then the airplane cart wheeled end over end.  He swam away from it before it sank with only a 6 inch gash in his head.  Amazing!

The water was very calm as we crossed the bay.  There is a huge ornate bridge across the bay,the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.  And there was a coast guard warning about an outbound cruise ship.  But we didn't see it.  
 

Once across the bay, we checked our Active Captain application on our phone and found a good place to anchor for the night.  We could a pasta dinner aboard the boat and had our first showers since Christmas Eve.   When you shower on a boat, you have to run a shower sump to drain the shower.  This was the first time we had showered at anchor.  We had to run our generator for awhile to charge our batteries when we realized how much power that sump used.   

Speaking of Active Captain, it reminded me of the night we met the people writing the application in Panama City.  When we introduced ourselves, they asked us where we were from.  I just got a blank look on my face and looked at Dave for an answer.  They laughed at me because I looked so confused.  I wasn't sure what to answer.  We live on our boat, and we just spent a year in Alabama, which is where we just came from.  But I still feel that I am from South Dakota.  So there it is, I am a South Dakotan at heart and always will be.