Gulf Coast

I left Tarpon Springs yesterday just after lunch time and headed south on the ICW. Weather has been perfect, mid 70s, sunny and light winds.

There really isn’t much to report. Mostly cruising by big houses or following the channel closely across more open water.

That last picture is the bridge across the mouth of Tampa Harbour. I remember seeing the predecessor bridge in early 1981 not long after a bunch of people had died after a ship took out part of the span. Read here. Pretty horrific accident.

I’m anchored here. Am sitting on the flybridge enjoying the sunset now that the sun is down. I stopped here around 4 and went inside to hide from the sun.

Nice spot apart from the odd wake – I lost another coffee cup here :-(. But that’ll die down at dark I think.

Last night I anchored off the channel here. Today I went up into Bradenton to fill up with fuel, and had lunch at the marina there.

Fuel usage report: 4.1 mpg since Gulfport MS, including a day at 9 knots across the Gulf and a high speed run up to Bradenton.

Motor is running perfectly. I did oil changes on both before leaving Tarpon Springs. My maintenance and repair list is well under control.

I left my car and Laser in Tarpon Springs, in Mike’s back yard. Mike is one of the guys who runs the municipal marina. It’s safe there until I get back to retrieve it.

There isn’t much between here and Fort Myers that interests me. Will keep chugging south tomorrow. Looks like more of the same weather for the next few days. Pretty nice when I’m hearing of nasty weather winter in SW Ontario.