Maximo Park, FL

Day 222 … Tues, Nov 28, 2017 … 29.9 miles, 4.5 hours

Marker One Anchorage, Dunedin, FL to Maximo Park, FL

A short day today; under 30 miles!!! The whole crew is rejoicing.

Some of the sights from the ICW today:

Even birds have to scratch themselves

Being invaded by Pirates

Another great park for Cally, almost perfect; except No Dogs on the beach or allowed swimming from the beach.  The anchorage is by the beach and close location to floating docks by the public boat ramps at a large park (with trash cans!!)

Cally enjoyed herself, despite the lack of beach access.

In pic below … Can you spot all THREE birds in the mangroves??

Just a little recap … here is where we have been so far (our satellite tracker wasn’t working quite right when we started our Loop) .

I still have a hard time believing we were in Canada for 2 months this summer in our boat and have now crossed The Gulf of Mexico and are in Florida.

Dunedin, Florida

Day 221 … Mon, Nov 27, 2017 … 83.66 miles, 9.5 hours

Cedar Key Anchorage to Dunedin, Anchored by Marker One Marina

Starting out, we are not 100% sure where we will end up tonight. It will be a long day and our 1st and 2nd choices of a marina are full. We still have choices, just depends on how long we decide to run today. This will be the last really long day for quite a while, so we may push it and be done with it.

It was a rougher ride than we like for the first part of the morning. Nothing bad, just not fun. Cally does not like it when the boat rolls side to side a lot. SO … I sit with her and she leans into me and pushes off the side of the boat so she doesn’t slide around. Rip altered course (heading east inshore several miles) so evidentially things calm down and she goes back to her usual sleeping, I mean traveling, spot.We catch up with Kia Mae out in the Gulf, who went further than us last night but is going shorter than us today so they can see Jim’s brother. It was nice to have someone around again.

Lots of dolphin playing in our wake today.

We leave the Gulf today and enter the Florida ICW. But, first we snag our first crab pot. Rip saw it (I was below brushing my teeth) and left it well to starboard but the line from the float to the crab trap had been cut and was floating just below the surface along the water in our path. Rip slowed the boat immediately, which brought me up from below to see what was wrong (tooth brush and all). The line and pot pulled in toward the boat but then appeared behind us … no damage done and Rip resumed speed. I finished brushing my teeth.

We run all the way to Dunedin Municipal Marina (who are not taking boats over 17’)but there is an anchorage outside their seawall and we decided to use their dinghy dock to get Cally to shore. We know there is a nice park there. Going this far means we have relatively short days ahead to get to Punta Gorda where we have reservations for the entire month of December.

The town Christmas tree at the park. Their  tree lighting ceremony and lighted boat parade are this coming weekend, we will be long gone.

Good night from Dunedin … it looks like a fun place where I would enjoy staying a day or two, but we are ready to move on south. We arrive too late and leave too early to partake of anything except the park for Cally.

I am not tired of the sunsets …

Cedar Key, Florida

Day 220 … Sun, Nov 26, 2017 … 59 miles, 7 hours

Sea Hag Marina, Steinhatchee FL to Cedar Key Anchorage

We don’t like to run long days in a row, just for Cally’s sake. Today is still long but not as bad as yesterday, 2:15 hours shorter. In this next stretch down the west coast of Florida, there are not a lot of choices of places that will accommodate our boat AND getting Cally off onto a dock nor anchorages with topography to get her to shore.

Off we go, into the sun … dodging strings of crab pots.

Dolphin played in our wake but never high enough for a good picture. They sure seem shy.

After a long run down the coast, we turn into Cedar Key towards the anchorage. It is a crazy, but well marked channel. There is a marked portion of the channel with a 90 degree turn and basically a U Turn.

We have 10’ or more in the channel and easily get to a close in spot to anchor.

In the pic above, we’re anchored in front of homes and by the public pier, we are close to the marked dinghy channel to floating docks and boat ramp. In the dinghy we will go through the hole under the road/pier. Taller, larger boats with T-Tops, Tuna Towers, etc go around the pier to the new boat ramp with no height restriction.

Once on land … Rip has found another great park for Cally! this one has a beach, covered pavilions, walking path, etc. Very cute, and yes, trash cans, too. Couple restaurants out by the pier look popular, too. I am sure this is a spot we could hang out for another day, but we are anxious to move on south.

Unfortunately it is too cool and too late in the day for Cally to go swimming … not enough time for her to dry off!

A stunning sunset awaited us as we returned from our last shore dooty of the day …

Good night from Cedar Key, Florida!

Tomorrow … not sure. Several places we would stop like Tarpon Springs and Dunedin Municipal Marina are full. The favorite anchorages along the way have beaches that do not allow dogs. Something will work out; Rip has several alternative spots picked depending on how long we decide to run … but it will be another long day.