I would like to welcome you to my blog, Southern Crosses, which just happens to be the name of my newly released novel. Southern Crosses was several years in the making, and was quite a project of mine. I wanted to take you on a sailing adventure along the western coast of present day Florida, one with a few twists and turns along the way.

For the reader familiar with the area, some locations will be easily recognized. It was my intent to give you a sense of reality while referencing known landmarks and local hot spots. The story itself is purely fictional, but very believable. I’ve taken my background as a Deputy Sheriff and live aboard sailor and transformed some bits and pieces of my experiences into an adventure novel.

I invite you to go along for a great story and then join me here on my new blog. I’ll be sharing some of my sailing stories and photos along the way combined with newsworthy events along the beaches.

Please feel free to let me know what you would like to see added to this blog, or even in my next novel.

Thanks for stopping by,

Larry

Key Largo dive

Well then. We hid out in Venice for a couple of days looking for the weather in the Gulf to clear up or abate a little. The west winds have the Gulf of Mexico chopped, cloudy and basically unhappy. Yesterday, the 18^th, we decided to head out of Venice and turn left (south). The plan was to head to Charlotte Harbor, Cabbage Key. There is an acclaimed restaurant there where Jimmy Buffet is reported to have written his ‘Cheeseburger in Paradise’ song. It was our intention to devour one of those burgers, and add our dollar bill to the wall of fame.

http://www.cabbagekey.com/

Standing by in Venice

We were unable to dive for sharks teeth in the Gulf as visibility was a foot or less. I suppose my biggest clue to the Gulf conditions should not have been the official inaccurate reports on the radio, but the fact that most of the other boaters that went out of the entrance returned a short time later with everyone having that ‘deer in the headlights look’. Well, that was not stopping me! I’ve got a 40 foot boat and a capable admiral aboard!

Prior to our departure, and during the preplanning phase, I had located a little hideaway behind another key in the area where we were headed. Lots of neat places ahead to explore. Well, all best laid plans are subject to change. The aft head (toilet) had a heart attack. I preformed emergency surgery and discovered that the outflow plumbing hose looked like the arteries of an 800 pound lazy fat guy whose sole sustenance was butter and bacon grease. The 1 ½ inch hose has less than a half inch opening. There was a large build up of plaque reducing the internal opening of the hoses. I’ll have to wait till we get back to the dock and conduct major reconstructive surgery and replace the clogged arteries

So anyhow, we head out the Venice opening to the Gulf with reported 2 foot seas, but still that nagging westerly wind. After clearing the breakwater and turning left we started rolling from side to side, gunwale to gunwale. In reality, the 2 foot seas were 6 footers. Sheree was busy down below putting things back as fast as the seas were shaking them loose. Between her frustrated utterances and Abby’s helpful instructions I could hear that we were losing the battle.

Captain Courageous decided to get back inside the breakwater. I didn’t think that any of us were willing to endure heavy rolling seas for the next 7 hours.

Dinghy ride to the beach

We looked at the weather, timing, navigation issues, and decided to head north. South would happen another day when better weather presented itself. The forecast predicted this crappy wind from the west for the rest of the week.

We made our way to Sarasota Bay and are anchored in the little harbor in front of City Park. It’s really pretty, and they have some beautiful buildings downtown. No rain expected for the next week or so, at least according to the weather guessers.

3am found us jumping out of bed closing hatches in-between lightning strikes all around. We want to take the dinghy to shore for lunch and explore the park, have lunch and just walk around. I looked at the weather radar and well, the no rain for a week prediction shows a long line thunderstorms stretching out into the Gulf going… well, you get the idea.

We thought about heading back to St. Pete Beach, but I’m not wanting to sit in the cockpit driving us through driving rain and lightning bolts. So, sit here at the anchorage, bounce around a bit, and practice our knot tying and dominoes playing.

Maybe we will get to dink into the park this evening when the ‘no rain for weeks’ goes away.

From the decks of the s/v AbbyGale

Being followed home by a dolphin

Bulk rate purchases are available upon request, for a quote, please contact me at:

annen@southerncrosses.com

Please contact me at the above address should you be interested in any book signing events in the Florida area.

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/southern-crosses/3885301

http://www.amazon.com/Southern-Crosses-Lawrence-Annen/dp/0615246605/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256048486&sr=8-1

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Southern-Crosses/Lawrence-Annen/e/9780615246604/?itm=1&usri=southern+crosses