Vinoy Basin, St. Petersburg Fl

Many years ago I was watching the local news when the weather guy cut to a camera shot from a bank building in downtown St. Pete. They showed sailboats in the harbor anchored on a beautiful morning as the sun sparkled along the water.

I pointed at the T.V. and said, “One day that is going to be us anchored there.” I received the customary, ‘yes dear, uh-huh’ reply.

Waking up this morning I listened to a now familiar sound. Light puff’s of air followed gentle swirling splashes of water. They were feeding all around my boat. We were finally parked there, in the harbor. I bet we were on the morning news show weather picture.

The dolphins were chasing breakfast. I got up and looked through the portlight. (boat window for the landlubbers reading this) I could almost reach out and touch them.

Arriving on deck in my skivvies I watched my own morning weather show. The sun was rising above the horizon casting a red glow across the bottoms of some high passing clouds. A light breeze was spinning the wind generator as the solar panel began to grab the first bits of the sun’s electrical power. The city was still quiet.

We were anchored in the Vinoy Basin, which is in downtown St. Petersburg. We have been here for three days now. Once I completed the solar panel project we decided to go out and give it a try. We headed into Tampa Bay and hoisted sails. The winds were light and variable. Not a great day for sailing, but a beautiful day for boating.

Sheree set out a couple of trolling lines looking for Spanish Mackerel. I’m certain that they would be allowed to bleed on the deck…

The day was about as peaceful as one could ask for. I was about three miles out into the bay when the wind died altogether. Not a problem I thought as we dropped the anchor. The water was calm. It was time for lunch.

Somehow a nap crept in. That melted away the rest of the afternoon so we headed in.

Approaching St. Pete there is a large pier protruding into the bay. It’s appropriately named, ‘The Pier’. There are several restaurants, an aquarium, shops, and bars. They always seem to have something going on. Live bands, arts and crafts shows, something interesting. Later this month they are having a Michael Jackson event where they are trying to break the world record for the most people ever dancing at once to the song Thriller. I think that may present a little too much activity for me…

We set anchor in the well protected bay and dropped the dinghy. The night was as peaceful as I could have ever hoped for. The bay was calm and the winds were light. The city lights were gorgeous. The buildings were lit with varying colors highlighting the architecture and flavor of the town.

There was a dinghy dock at a boat rental business here on the bay. You park at the business and on the way out is a little lock box affixed to the gate requesting a$5.00 fee for use. ‘Honor System’ in play. We were honorable.

A short walk downtown and we found a nice outside café partaking in evening cocktails and dinner. How nice. This was followed by a quiet stroll around Coffeepot Bayou in the dinghy.

The next morning we went exploring some more in the tender. We traveled through the St. Pete Yacht Club moorings and around Albert Whitted airport. There is a place to anchor at the end of the runway. This is a busy little airport on the water. You want to keep your masthead light on at night to show the small aircraft where not to go, you are that close.

The activities in an anchorage are intriguing at times. The range spreads from multimillion dollar mega yachts to rowboats. The shore-side parks house the homeless and roving packs of laughing teenagers at night.

Vinoy Park had an event yesterday that had thousands of people filling every empty space ashore. It was a breast cancer awareness 5k walk/run. Pink was the color of the day as throngs of folks lined up on Bayshore Blvd to begin the event. News camera’s were everywhere and the police had streets blocked off.

We enjoyed the spectacle from the  serenity of our boat, binoculars in hand. Most of the handmade signs were of the standard variety you would expect to see at a breast cancer event. There was one fellow who was in the middle of the pack holding up his sign, “SAVE SECOND BASE.” That was my favorite.

There was a 30’ Hunter sailboat anchored next to us for the last three days. (Did I mention we were only staying here for one night?) There was a lady onboard with a young girl, about 7. She climbed the mast and perched on the boom while playing with a doll and seemed very happy. When Mom went up front to hoist the anchor this morning the little girl manned the helm adeptly keeping the boat in position. They departed to points unknown waving goodbye on the way out of the harbor.

I didn’t know she was listening at the time, but Sheree reminded me of the day I pointed at the T.V. and said, “One day that is going to be us anchored there.”

We have arrived.

Filed Under: Travels

Tags: sailing • St. Petersburg • travel • Vinoy