Lorelei IV: Boca Ciega Bay cove to Marina Jacks mooring field, Sarasota, FL

November 1, 2015

It’s hard to believe now that the narrow Dog River channel on Mobile Bay caused us so much anxiety since that is what makes up most of the GIWW now. After we wound our way carefully out of the cove off of Boca Ciega Bay, we were once again headed south in the often narrow channels of the GIWW.

Stranded or wrecked boats off of the narrow channel

Most boats don't slow down as they pass

Since we were in the metropolitan area of Tampa/Clearwater, we passed a lot of nice waterfront homes. Many of them have a lanai, which is a Hawaiian word for covered porch or patio. Here in Florida it typically also means that the outside living space is screened.

Waterfront home with lanai

Since there are so many islands and waterways in this area, there are also a lot of bridges. Since the land is fairly low and flat, it made more sense to build lift or swing bridges to accommodate marine traffic rather than tall bridges which would have required greater lengths to avoid steep inclines. Most bridges have schedules for when they will open for boats that are too tall to pass under the bridges while they are in the closed position.

Boats waiting for bridge opening - typically on the hour, 20, & 40 minutes

Guides and charts can give the typical vertical clearance of any given bridge, but we still had to verify the current water level whenever we were approaching a bridge where the vertical clearance was listed within 5-10 ft of our clearance, which is 20.5 ft. Rob would use binoculars to read the water level gauge on the bridge fender as well as any postings for additional clearance in the center of the bridge. Sometimes we had to be fairly close to the bridge, because the gauge and other information signs couldn’t be read otherwise. We were able to pass under most bridges without having them open, but occasionally we had to request an opening. All bridges in Florida monitor VHF Channel 9, so hailing them is pretty simple.

Approaching a bascule (lift) bridge

Water level gauge shows 18 ft (small sign above it shows additional 4 ft at center)

We couldn't see these signs until we were passing them so the bridge operator opened to be safe

There was a sailboat needing to go through, so it needed the bridge opened anyways

So far we have had dolphins play in our bow wave every day since we entered into Mobile Bay. Some of them seemed to notice when we were watching them and would turn to look at us.

Rob said this dolphin turned sideways to look at him

Since it was Sunday, there were a lot of boats out with people enjoying the nice sunny weather.

All sizes of watercraft out on the water

This wreck was evidently a great fishing spot

Kite boarders

Gathering bait with a throw net

Our friends, Ray and Linda, showed us a shortcut on the chart which saved us about 10 miles. We didn’t actually go under the famous Sunshine Skyway, but we did pass close by it as we crossed Tampa Bay. It seemed funny to us that we worried so much about crossing Mobile Bay, but we didn’t even check the weather, wave heights, or wind conditions before setting out across Tampa Bay. We think this was because we made it through the Gulf Crossing, so we couldn’t imagine that conditions on Tampa Bay would even come close to those on Gulf.

Sunshine Skyway Bridge

Even though Tampa Bay is fairly large, we really didn’t see many boats as we were crossing it. We saw many more boats and people engaged in watersports once we were in Sarasota Bay, which is a great deal smaller.

Nice windy day for sailing

Lots of sailboats and power boats

This racing boat went by us at least 3 times

Heeling

Colorful Sunfish sailboats

Coast Guard courtesy inspection in progress

We took a mooring ball for the night at Marina Jacks in Sarasota. It is a nice facility that is close to the downtown area where there are a number of shops and restaurants. There was also a nice park nearby that was dog friendly and had a lot of activities going on. We sat and watched all the goings on, which included a wedding and a group of people involved in gymnastic-type activities.