Dec 10
Our plan all along was to just spend one day in Bradenton. So we were disappointed (but not surprised) that yesterday being a Monday the local natural history museum in town was closed. We needed to get to Longboat Key today for a dinner engagement but it was only a 3 hour cruise so we talked to the marina staff who agreed we could do a late departure giving us time to visit the museum for a few hours in the morning. It’s a nice newer building down by the waterfront that goes through the natural and cultural history of the south Florida area. It also includes a planetarium but the primary draw for us was the Manatee rehabilitation display. They had 2 manatees in the display tank who are getting close to being released back in the wild but were receiving 2 new ones later that day. Slow moving vegetarian critters that unfortunately get struck fairly regularly by boaters.
We shared the museum with 3 bus loads of elementary students
Feeding time - lots of lettuce!
After touring what we could in the museum we headed back to the boat for a noon departure. Pretty good mostly sunny day with warm temperatures but heavy humidity. Check our map below and you’ll see weird tracks as we stay in the deep water channels. Winds picked up pushing 15mph creating a small chop on the open and shallow Sarasota Bay portions of the trip. Another set of bascule bridges to pass through but again we fit under them all with a few feet to spare so no need to wait for a lift. With the wind still blowing strong I was getting a little concerned about docking once we arrived at Longboat Key Club Mooring. We were given our slip assignment and told to stern in for a starboard tie. This can be tricky if strong wind is blowing perpendicular to our boat where it can push us off course faster than the bow thruster can push us where we want to go. We got lucky. Our assigned slip was in a protected section of the marina where the lighter winds were blowing on our stern. So, easy in. We were greeted at the dock by our friends Russ and Jax from Cat and Dogs and made arrangements for a celebratory dinner in honor of their completing the great loop and crossing their wake. Delicious dinner in Sarasota at Columbia’s – a Cuban restaurant started in Ybor City back in 1905. Nice upscale resort marina. We’ll stay here a few days to check out Sarasota before moving down to Venice.
Journey for Dec 10.
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