To Venice & St. Pete

Our AIS Track (which is missing some points)

On Wednesday (1/13) we departed our Useppa anchorage around 1000, timed so that we'd arrive at the Crow's Nest Marina in Venice at slack current. We departed the calm ICW on the "inside", exiting to the gulf at Boca Grande Pass and headed north to Venice in a short chop of 3 foot seas, with an occasional 5-footer here & there. No big deal in Ghost Rider, except for the fact that Rick neglected to manually latch the door to the fridge, and one wave rebound proved that Chelle's wine bottles don't bounce, they break when they hit the galley floor.  Apart from that oops, and some (fairly standard) minor system issues, it was an uneventful passage and Chelle took the helm to dock us up at the Crow's Nest with ease.

Later that evening our friends Dan & Juli Eisenberg drove up from Englewood and joined us for a great dinner in downtown Venice. (Luna's....highly recommended for excellent Italian fare, but either split the entree 3-4 ways or enjoy plenty of leftovers....and it's cash or check only, no plastic.)

Today we departed Venice @ 0830 and headed north on the outside again to St. Petersburg; it was a very nice ride today, with only a short period of sloppy conditions at the entrance to Tampa Bay.  St. Pete Municipal Marina seems to be a wonderful place, although so far all we've done is give the boat a much needed bath & put her to bed...we plan to explore the area a little more after the nasty weather passes through tonight & tomorrow.