ssloop: Charlotte Harbor-St Petersburg

It’s good to be back on Pura Vida dos! We flew down to Punta Gorda on Thanksgiving Day to be reunited with the boat. She spent the summer (Hurricane season) on the hard at Safe Cove Boat Storage in Charlotte Harbor. Our friend Larry Poll picked up us and his wife (who was on our same flight) at the airport and lent us his van for provisioning. We spent the night on the boat on land and she was splashed the next morning. Yeehaw! After 7 months on land, the ole gal needed a good cleaning so we spent Friday whipping her back into ship shape.

Saturday morning we left the dock at Safe Cove and cruised 30 miles to anchor in Pelican Bay at Cayo Costa. This continues to be one of our favorite anchorages in Florida. Great night.

Sunday was another beautiful day, so we cruised out on the Gulf of Mexico 40 miles north to Venice where we took a slip at Crow’s Nest Marina for the night. While we enjoyed the warm, 80 degree temps, our family & friends back in Michigan were receiving their first significant snow event of the season. 😎

Our goal was to head north to St Petersburg by Thursday to help our friends at the FreedomLift booth at the St Petersburg Boat Show. Due to weather forcasts of strong northerly winds midweek, we decided to get across Tampa Bay on Monday. Our home for 3 nights was the Pasadena Marina. We were assigned a spot on their sea wall which was very well blocked from the north winds. Sweet! Tuesday and Wednesday were spent exploring St Pete Beach, John’s Pass and Gulfport. Racking up miles on the flip flops! Little to cool and windy for dinghy exploration.

Thursday morning “Captain Tide Guru” made sure we left the marina at high tide. (When there are strong north winds, it blows the water out of Tampa Bay, so the low tides have been extremely low)
We traveled around Pinellas Point and up to St Petersburg Municipal Marina. It was a cold, windy ride as the winds continue to be out of the north. Thursday thru Saturday we spent our time at the boat show, helping out at the FreedomLift booth and checking out the boats and other product being displayed. Fun! Friday night our friends from FreedomLift, Greg & Brenda Vogel & Brett Nichols stopped by the boat and then we walked into town for a fabulous dinner. We really enjoyed our stay in St Pete - great time, great town!