Crossing under a bridge

Docked at The Club Treasure Island

The Club Treasure Island

Olympic-sized pool

Sam, David and I on a bridge

Myself, Pat, and David at the disc golf park

Sam at the beach

A LARGE sand castle

A beautiful purple tree

Our "pod" of bikes

The Treasure Island clock tower

Wednesday, April 6

Treasure Island

Since it looked like it was going to be a couple more days before Ray Marine could fix our depth finder and autopilot, we called and asked them if they could fix us at Treasure Island instead of Clearwater.  That way we could be with the Tyes.  Don said it would be just as easy at TI, so we headed on out into the Intercoastal Waterway. 

It was only about thirteen miles away and took us about four hours.  It was cold, so we bundled up in coats, gloves, and hats.  The water on both sides of the channel was very shallow, so we had to be really, really careful to stay in the very narrow channel.  Since we didn’t have a depth finder this was a little tricky, but we did fine.  No groundings!

It was a really great trip.  We passed all kinds of ritzy houses mixed in with “old Florida” bungalows.  We saw some neat boats and lots of happy, wavy boaters. One of the coolest things was the bridges.  We passed under four bascule bridges (bridges that can open up), and I got to radio to the bridge tender and arrange for the openings.  That was really fun.  One tender left it so late that I was afraid our mast was going to smack into the bridge, but we just made it through the crack!

 I saw another drama of nature.  I looked up and a little bird was frantically chasing and dive-bombing a large hawk that was flying along.  I looked closer, and the hawk had another little bird in its claws.  Poor little guy!

We pulled into the Treasure Island Club in the early afternoon.  The Tyes were there to meet us and help us tie up.

Linda Wright called and she and Denis are on their way North.  We think we can meet up with them in Bradenton in a few days.  Sure hope so!

That night we watched a DVD in our boat.  It was a goofy movie, but it was still fun.

Thursday, April 7

We all got on our fold-up bikes and wheeled off into town for breakfast.  We went to Foxy’s and had an old-fashioned meal.  It was good!

Don at Ray Marine called and wasn’t able to get the crew together to fix our boat until Friday, so Sam and I got back on our bikes and rode through town and down to the beach.  We biked all around, took pictures, and had a beer at a beach bar that had a band.  I really felt like we were in “vacation” mode.  It was fun!

Then we rode back to the club and went to the pool.  It’s Olympic sized and the water temperature was perfect.  I even fumbled around until I was actually swimming, and swam four laps.  Good for me (because I can’t hardly swim at all).

Again, we saw another neat nature thing.  This time it was only sad for a fish. While we were all sitting in our cockpit having happy hour, we looked over at this large water bird swimming by.  He had a big round fish in his beak.  It was so big he was having trouble swallowing it.  He finally got it turned the right way, and started gulping it down.  With each gulp it went a little further down his long, long neck.  It was amazing to see the lump slowly moving down, down, down.  After he got it down, he climbed up on the dock and spent over half an hour with his wings spread out sunning himself.  He probably was too heavy to lift off!

In the evening we watched another DVD (this one about Texas for Pat), and she was able to fill in all the historical background for us.  Very fun!

Friday, April 8

Sam and David borrowed the club van and went to pick up propane, while I started moving stuff out of the cockpit so Don and his crew would have room to work.  Soon after that, however, Don called and had a boat emergency, so he would be a couple of hours late.  A couple of hours later he called again and told us that the emergency had turned into a huge issue, so he won’t be able to get to us until Monday.

We were ready to move on to Bradenton, and so we decided to leave here Sunday in spite of our mechanical issues.  That way we could meet up with Linda and Denis.  Don said he and his crew would be able to work on us there, so hopefully that will proceed as planned!  The Tyes have decided to replace their engine with a new one, so they are waiting to hear how long it will take to locate one.  If it won’t be long, they’ll stay in Treasure Island and join us later.

Then, more troubles.  Our refrigerator quit working!  Sam and David did some trouble-shooting but couldn’t fix it – whatever is wrong probably requires some new parts.  I cooked up our thawed meat, and we the four of us had a consolation dinner on Mariah.

Saturday, April 9

We decided to declare another moratorium on working on boats.  The four of us set off on our folding bikes, and rode downtown to the Copper Kettle, where we had a wonderful breakfast.  Then we rode along a great bike path until we came to Azalea Park, which just happens to have a disc golf course.  We played nine holes and it was a lot of fun.  Then we got back on the bikes and rode to Home Depot, where Pat found some sun screening for their boat.  After that we rode around some gorgeous neighborhoods on our way back and saw some awesome homes.

Once we got back, we all put on our suits and went to the pool for a nice refreshing swim and relaxation time.  Later, David busied himself making screens for Sanctuary, Sam went to the club and watched golf, Pat worked on the computer, and I took a nap. 

In the evening we again climbed back on the bikes and went into town for dinner.  We went to a wonderful place, Middle Ground.  It’s been locally owned by one family for over 35 years, and it was terrific!  Don’t miss it if you’re ever in town.

After dinner we walked to the beach and watched a wonderful sunset.  Then we biked back to the club and tucked in for the night.