Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW)

Tampa Bay to Port Charlotte …

… where we reach our unofficial halfway point, with the following to report:

3,472 nautical miles travelled

83 locks traversed

1,791 gallons of diesel used

five months “on the road”

On Friday, Nov. 29, we were up and underway by 7:30am, thankful for no fog, rain, or strong winds!

The Sunshine Skyway Bridge is quite a remarkable structure (detail of cables in second picture below).

We crossed Tampa Bay with no issues. Here are some views of our electronic charts near Bradenton and Sarasota.

We enjoyed spotting the Ringling Mansion from Sarasota Bay but not so much spotting yet more evidence of hurricane damage (illustrated by several pictures below), such sightings occurring with greater regularity along the way.

Great to start seeing more mangroves.

There are a number of bridges on the GIWW, from small swing bridges like the one at Blackburn Point where we made the opening with no waiting …

… to larger bridges where we have to either call for an opening or time it just right for the scheduled opening.

If Den lowers the antennae, there is sufficient clearance beneath some bridges so that we can pass under without danger of hitting. However, it can be a little disconcerting to be gliding just beneath the bottom of a bridge with traffic flying by above one’s head! I find myself involuntarily ducking.

It was exciting to cross under the Circus Bridge in Venice, as we’ve crossed over it by car several times plus we really began to feel like we were almost home.

Den’s brother attended and played baseball for the high school here, so we were sure to take some pictures of the ballfield for him.

There are a lot of boats out today, the day after Thanksgiving, and many speed by slower moving boats like ours, often waking us in the narrow waterway. Some kayakers and boaters in smaller boats find an island to fish from or just explore.

As we were passing by a marina in Venice, we were contacted by “Cool Change,” Loopers we’d seen most recently in Alabama who noticed us on either AIS (Automatic Identification System) or Nebo.

For a while, we cruised through a more rural part of the waterway with sandy beach areas and some private – and mostly hurricane-damaged – docks …

… then anchored for the night in Lemon Bay where the surrounding buildings were pretty beaten up by hurricane winds.

Leaving on the morning of Saturday, Nov. 30, required waiting on the wind and tide, so we didn’t get underway until 9:30. This was frustrating for a number of reasons, not the least of which was that we were due to reach home this same day! When taking the dogs to shore in the morning, we experienced the strong wind and noticed how low the tide was. When we did leave the anchorage, there was so much ground in sight that we became confused as to where the channel was. Consequently, we went aground briefly until the tide swept us off and we floated free and joined the channel. Whew.

We again saw a good deal of destruction along the way, including a ruined manufactured home park.

Charlotte Harbor was very bumpy with spray over the bow, but at least the sun was shining.

Dolphin escort always welcome!

We made it to the Myakka River and the very small South Gulf Cove Lock. It wasn’t clear how to enter the lock, as there was a hazard marker in the middle of the lock’s narrow approach! Fortunately, the lockmaster was there. When I shouted to him about the marker in the way, he said it wasn’t supposed to be there and must have been pulled into the middle of the approach by another boat. At any rate, he claimed that we could hug the mangrove on the left side and not run aground. It was a real trust issue, but we successfully made it in and through the lock.

On our eight-mile run to Safe Cove (boat yard in Port Charlotte where the boat will be taken out of the water for four months), we saw more sunken and half-sunken boats …