12 Apr 13

Longboat Key Club Moorings is a bit too posh for the likes of boat-trash like us (not to mention seriously expensive), so after topping off water tanks and emptying out holding tanks, we moved over to the mainland side of Sarasota Bay, to Marina Jacks, where we picked up another mooring ball. Sarasota is a cool town with a very nice grouping of bars, restaurants, shops, art galleries, etc., within easy walking distance of the marina. We had a very pleasant evening walking around town and eventually settled on a wine bar - Sarasota Vineyard - for a nice round of wine sampling, followed by a nice Thai meal at Drunken Poets Cafe. We headed back to the marina about 21:00 to board the dinghy for the 600 yard run back to the boat. Unfortunately, the wind was back up to about 20 knots, naturally right on the nose, so we got soaked on the trip back to the boat, particularly John and Laurie, who were sitting in front; well I had to sit in back to drive after all. The wind slacked off about midnight to flat calm; the message is that we should have stayed in town dancing until midnight or later, and we would have had a dry run back to the boat. 

13 Apr 13

Lazy day in Sarasota. We rented a car (to take J & L to Miami tomorrow), then drove over to St. Armands Key (basically, the Rodeo Drive of Sarasota) for a bit of shopping and gawking at the would-be rich and famous. Afterward, we drove back across the Ringling Bridge to Sarasota and went to a Tapas bar for a lovely late afternoon meal. Dinner aboard - last night for John and Laurie’s visit; what fun we have had.

14 Apr 13

Up at 6:00 and away from the boat at 7:00 for the 4 hour drive to Miami. We made it to Miami Intl and said our goodbyes. Then Terri and I took the scenic route back to Sarasota via the Everglades. We stopped at the National Park HQ and took a nature tour of the River of Grass, where we saw loads of alligators. I wanted to kiss one, but could not convince Terri to wrestle one down for me, so will have to wait to cross this one off my bucket list. Made it back to the boat at about 18:00 and collapsed. Terri was in bed by 19:30, but I sat up in the cockpit reading until 21:00, when I noticed an ominous looking cloud barreling down on us from the north. As it neared, it took on the appearance of a classic wall cloud you see on “Storm Chasers”. As it passed the wind went from W 4 to NW 25 to NE 30 over the course of about 15 minutes. We battened down the hatches and got the dinghy up on the davits and held on. Fortunately, both the mooring and the mooring line held and we were just fine. By 23:00, it had calmed down completely and we went on to bed.

15 Apr 13

We decided to stay in Sarasota another day to clean-up, do laundry shop, run errands and just chill for a while. When we went to collect the rental car to turn it in, it was gone: towed off by the outfit that was preparing for the Sarasota Boat Show. After I calmed down, we found it about 200 yds away. Unfortunately, we had to give up the mooring ball and were forced to take a slip at Marina Jacks, which makes for easier shore access, but is way more expensive. Our boat buddies, Sam and Pat from “Longhawk” finally caught up with us and also took a slip at the marina. They got blown off their anchorage last night in the same front that slammed into us. We had dinner in town with Sam and Pat at Mattison’s City Grill.

16 Apr 13

Terri got her hair cut (it looks so cute I’m going to have to buy her a string of pearls) and I finished cleaning up the boat and topping off the water tanks. I rode my bike to the AT&T shop and got a HotSpot, which will allow us to get e-mails and internet on the boat anywhere there is good cell service, which is just about everywhere along the coast; can’t believe it took me so long to figure this one out, but it is wonderful. Terri and I ate dinner at Two Senoritas Mexican Restaurant, which had surprisingly good food, considering it was not in Texas. Just before we finished dinner, the heavens opened in a torrential downpour, so we had to wait a while until it tapered off and then walked home in the follow-on drizzle.