Desoto Point visited

Greetings from Venice.

Well, the weather finally calmed down up in the Manatee River. The winds settled a bit so we hoped into the dink, collected our friends and headed for Desoto Point.

The winds began to kick up at about 11pm again. Gusting up to 20. We had swung in numerous circles over the past couple of days while the tides and currents went one way and the wind went another. The anchorage became a little bouncy again but hey, it’s a boat. Off to bed after a long day of adventure and exploring.

Once ashore at Desoto point we walked a trail to where we found a visitor center and museum. The display was very nice with lots to read and even some interactive things. Next was a trail around the park that had a self guided tour. There were cutouts of period figures along with detailed explanations of the events that were depicted. This is an area with quite a lot of history. The walk was welcomed and thouroughly enjoyed.

Well, about 1am we heard a very loud crash up on deck over our heads. Startled awake and jumping onto the deck in my underwear (a scary site) I discovered that we had become attached to a large steel hulled boat on anchor in the same bay. The wind was blowing at 20, his anchor line is riding up my port side stripping off my deck light and tossing it on deck. (the noise) We were kissing his bow with our stern. I ran up to my anchor rode and found that it was piano string tight. I start pulling, and discover that I can’t overcome the 20mph winds so I set up the anchor windless. Sheree is busy tending to the dinghy in tow and physically pushing us off his bow.

After much grunting and groaning we finally freed ourselves from our newest neighbor. He had finally come on deck hearing my engine start up and shouting directions to Sheree while coordinating our separation from his anchor line. The putz could have been a little friendlier, especially since we were in our underwear. There was no damage, other than a slightly bent lifeline clip.

We went to the other end of the bay, upwind of Nat’s boat and reset the anchor. All of the turning back and forth had finally pulled the anchor free and sent us plowing a furrow along the bottom until slowed by the other boat. We had been between Nat’s boat and the one we kissed. Nat was now between us and the boat we kissed.

We stayed awake for a while after that, trying to exhaust adrenalin and get back to sleep. Sheree spent the rest of the night popping up on deck checking our new position.

The next morning we went up in the cockpit for our am coffee. I saw Nat was up so I gave him a call on the phone. “Hey, what are you doing on the other side of us?” I inquired.

Nat told me a story about how he got up at around 2am and saw everything had changed. He immediately assumed that he had broken free and went on to reset his anchor. Sheree and I were chuckling quite hard. I wanted to let Nat think it was him that had drug anchor, but Sheree made me eventually fess up.

We broke anchor (intentionally this time) and got underway. Nat headed home, and we headed south.

The Gulf was rough and choppy so we motored south on the Intercoastal Waterway. It was a nice ride, but a bit windy. We arrived in Sarasota bay intending to visit the Ringling museum, but scratched that when we saw the whitecaps in the anchorage.

Continuing south we ended up in Venice. Were staying put for the next 2 days with just some easy hanging out. I pulled my shoulder terribly bad hauling on the anchor rode so I’ll heal over the next day or so. No heavy lifting or scuba diving for the next few days. There are some geocaches in the area and we will explore Venice by dinghy along the ICW.

That’s if for now from the crew of the,

s/v AbbyGale

Filed Under: Travels

Tags: boats • sailing • travel and places