Friday 12/30 - Three of us drove down to ABYC after work and unloaded our gear before Susie and Bill stopped by to say hello. A simple dinner was made up in the clubhouse before we made it an early night.
Saturday 12/31 - We got up and prepped the boat for a potential 9AM departure. With nearly everything ready, we checked the weather and decided to wait for the afternoon tide, probably around 5:30PM to let some stormy weather pass by. The cloudy misty morning was spent completing some passage preparations, reading, eating lunch up in the clubhouse, napping and taking advantage of the time to take showers onshore.
At 4:30PM the water depth was high enough to depart and we were gifted with sunny skies. Leaving the slip did not go without incident and provided a How Not To Sail moment when Sondra forgot to untie the stern line tied to the dock when she put Utopia in forward gear to leave. Once untied, we moved slowly through the canals to let the water rise some more, and was able to get out with 6" under the keel. Our other How Not To Sail moment was discovered once we reached our anchorage the next day and noticed we left the stern fender on for the entire crossing! Hey, at least it stayed tied to our swim platform handlebars.
The fog rolled in right after sunset and blanketed the view of Shell Point. However, we were awarded a beautiful sunset before the fog. There was a little bit of wind at the very beginning of the trip, so we raised the sails, but with not enough wind to keep the them filled, it was a fully motored crossing. At least the seas were pretty mellow.
Jimmy took the first shift at 9 PM and we switched at midnight with a quick New Year's toast (with sparkling apple cider) before he went below to rest. Thanks to a reminder from Bill Wilhelm right before we left, we stayed clipped in whenever we were on a solo shift, even with the full enclosure up. Both of us felt real comfortable alone at the helm through the night, although Sondra admits to feeling a little bit of nervousness when Jimmy took the first watch and she reminded him to wake her if he felt he needed to leave the cockpit. But after that, it all felt very normal and safe.
Sunday 1/1 - Sondra had the watch during sunrise. It was a peaceful morning as the sun struggled to shine through the fog. That peace ended once the first of the fishing pots started to appear. After Jimmy got up it was realized that both of us need to stay up to attempt to find the random fishing pots in the fog. After cruising this way all day, we decided to head to Anclote Key for some rest and to avoid searching for pots and boats in the fog through the afternoon and evening. We got lucky with the fog dissipating long enough for us to find an anchorage in a field of crab pots and to set the anchor. The anchor was set at 3:30PM, 23 hours after leaving our slip in Shell Point. Soon the fog rolled right back in and we spent the afternoon in our own little cloud world.
Monday 1/2 - We woke up to the last of the fog, which had nearly left when we weighed anchor for the day. Utopia was pointed to the south and motored along the scenic Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). It was a cool, but beautiful trip with southerly winds to Boca Ciega Bay where we dropped the anchor near St. Pete Beach. Here we lowered the dinghy and stopped for drinks and an appetizer at The Drunken Clam, a place we see ourselves returning to.
Tuesday 1/3 - The day started off with a dinghy ride to check out the area, then we were off to make our way over to St. Petersburg. It started off with motoring again into the southern breeze. As we reached Tampa Bay and pointed to the north, the headsail was deployed and the engine cut off for a downwind sail the last hour of the trip. It was funny to see Baxter react to the engine cutting off. With the light winds, he may of thought we were at anchor because he perked up and attempted to go check out the deck. He is not allowed to leave the cockpit while underway and we felt bad when he was restricted from his desire to explore the deck.
Of course the winds picked up as the sails were dropped to enter the marina. Since this was the end of a several day trip, and with the winds picking up, we requested assistance from the marina. It turns out the winds were pretty blanketed in the marina so Sondra was able to slowly enter the slip, and Jimmy handed the stopping spring to the guys on the dock for a very mellow docking at our final destination of the trip.
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