Pelican Bay

November 8, 2013

 

We are currently anchored in Pelican Bay on Cayo Costa Island after a great trip down off-coast yesterday.

 

Wednesday we left our dock at Twin Dolphin Marina in Bradenton and traveled down the Manatee River and across Tampa Bay to Egmont Key.  We prefer to stage at Egmont for the trip down, but Egmont can be a ‘rolly’  anchorage, especially with an east wind.  Since we leave very early, Egmont is an easier departure than from the alternative anchorage at Emerson Point in the river.  The east wind had laid down enough for us try Egmont and it wasn’t that bad.

 

We were up at  3:00 AM and weighed anchor at Egmont at 4:00 AM.  It was a very dark night, with no moon and light cloud cover, but the transit out of the Southwest channel with a favorable current was straight forward and we entered the gulf with no problem.

 

From there it was 58 miles south off the coast to Boca Grande channel.  We motor sailed the whole way with excellent boat speed.  Sunrise at sea is always fun – following are some pictures of sunrise over Sarasota from about 3 miles off. 

 

 

 

 

 

As we approached Boca Grande, I noticed a cluster of AIS and radar images in the channel.  I had read that they were conducting dredging operations and guessed that was what we were seeing.  We then heard some VHF radio traffic from a tug calling a sailboat inbound in the channel – it turns out they were moving the ‘huge’ dredge barge out farther in the channel and he was warning them to stay clear – his words – “we have a 600’ barge on a 300’ towing howser, over 1000’ headed your way!”  We contacted the tug and reviewed our intentions to enter the channel from the north near buoys “7” and “8” and proceed inbound.  He said OK just stay to the red (right entering) side of the channel.  Luckily there is plenty of water outside the marked channel on the ‘red side’ and we stayed well outside the channel and out of his way; this was a good thing, because there was not much room left in the channel proper.  Following are some pictures, which do not do justice to his size (they never do).

 

 

 

We are currently anchored in Pelican Bay and plan to stay her for 10+ days. Rest and Relaxation after all the work of getting the boat ready for departure.  Following is a picture of a Pelican Bay sunrise.\

 

 

 

 

Tom

Anchored Pelican Bay, Cayo Costa Island, FL