Tarpon Springs to just north of John's Pass
07 November 2012 | Anchorage next to Madeira Beach
John
A lot of the old salts like to sit on the shore and watch the boats go by
We woke up this morning to clouds and a cold 20 knot wind. Another cold front blowing through. We haven't been especially lucky with the weather on this trip. I realize that it is November but I at least, don't know about Ann, hoped that the weather would be warm enough for a quick swim at the end of a long day sailing. So far, we haven't dipped a toe in the sea. The sea temperatures have been in the middle to high 70's, however, so a swim is still not out of the question if we could just get one more 80 deg day.
We had been debating whether to take the outside or inside route from Tarpon Springs to John's Pass for the next leg of our journey to Ft Myers. The outside route means to loop back out into the ocean while the inside route is along the GIWW. The 20 knot winds, gusting to 25 along with 5 foot seas out in the ocean make the decision a no brainer. Staying inside didn't make it any warmer but the flat seas of the protected waters sure made the trip a lot more comfortable.
The trip down to John's Pass was uneventful. We did have to open four bridges but the bridge tenders were all attentive and pleasant to deal with. Since we were between rush hours, all the bridges opened on demand which was nice. None of the bridges took longer for us to negotiate than a typical long stop light. During rush hours, the bridges will open on a schedule, typically on the hour and every 20 minutes thereafter forcing you to wait on them now and then.
This anchorage is a large pond just off the north side of the John's Pass inlet. It's probably man made in that a barrier island has been carved up and dredged to provide lots of finger inlets so every luxury home in the subdivision is on the water. However it got here, it makes an excellent all weather anchorage.
Now, at 5pm, the winds have moderated and the sun has come out warming the outside air up to the higher 60's. Inside the cabin, the temperature is higher still at 76 degs which should keep us quite comfortable till bed time. We don't have a heater source away from the dock so the cabin temperature will probably be pretty chilly by tomorrow morning.
Ann is busy preparing pork loin hash and green peas for supper and I need to look at the charts for tomorrow's trip so it's time to log off. The winds are supposed to be moderate tomorrow, so we will be going out through John's Pass and crossing the west side of Tampa Bay as we make our way to Sarasota and an anchorage in Little Sarasota Bay.