Underway on Tuesday

Sunrise over the Manatee River 12/22/2020

Monday 12/21/2020 brought a ray of hope and sunshine to The Lower Place!  Diver Craig came to see us as promised and he was fabulous!!  AND it just so happens The Lower Place has a spare set of props on board – apparently fabricated when the boat was new!!  So blessed!!

 

Old props removed! Note the "ding" on one blade!

Shortly after Diver Craig arrived he was in the water!!  He removed both props, checked a few things then placed the spare (identical) props on the shafts.  A quick test and verification of a few things and he was done!!  Took about 3 hours because we had several questions and Craig was very detailed with his work—we were more than pleased!

That helped our feelings and gave us the green light for Tuesday travel.  Our dock hosts extraordinaire Jim & Jackie have the gift of hospitality and the hearts of Mother Teresa!!!  Another load of laundry and a quick Wal-mart run done…all we had to do was enjoy their company, have a little dinner, see the Christmas Star and wait for Tuesday morning.

 

Christmas Star-taken with Droid phone camera-12/21/2020

The weather forecast was showing cooler temps with a northerly wind but otherwise bright sunny skies.  So while we absolutely LOVED our (extended) visit, we were eager to get moving and continue seeking warmer weather.  And we have this idea of being anchored for Christmas – a wish list item for me!

 

Tuesday 12/22/2020

We have become acutely aware of the tide table and how very important it is to our travel…after all this time, seems tide monitoring would be second nature to us – apparently not!  Regardless, high tide from our departure point was 6:15am which means we were up early!!!  But not before we were sent off with fresh baked blueberry muffins and smiling faces…there is no end to Jim & Jackie’s kindness!!

 

"The Channel" to the River-EASY-at high tide

By 7:18am we were pulling away, waving, smiling and promising to see them again soon…perhaps on our return trip later in the spring!  We quietly maneuvered our way out to the channel and then held our breath as we crossed into the river…easy, peasy – it was high tide!

 As we continued across Tampa Bay, we knew the beam sea would be short-lived and soon found our way back in the ICW – south bound!  It was cool and breezy so we found the increase of recreational boat traffic unusual for a Tuesday…then we remembered it was Christmas week!!

Our front yard 12/22/2020-until tide change-LOL!!

As the anxiety and adrenaline from the past few days slowly melted away we both felt more relaxed.  I thought a short cruising day and night at anchor would be ideal.  So by 12:23pm we were safely anchored in Blackburn Bay (north of Venice FL).  The sun is playing peek-a-boo with us, the recreational boaters are sending a few wakes in our direction but we are happy to have the good memories and lessons of last week.  We are also looking forward to celebrating the holy season of Christmas in the most socially distanced manner possible!!  Thankful for internet connectivity in the isolated coves!

Stay healthy and God Bless