South Some More

---

We left the Anclote River and entered the Gulf of Mexico again south of Anclote Key. There was a light chop and the wind was out of the east. Lots of crab pots were scattered around, not in lines like the northern part of the gulf. When Trevor radioed and said some of the floats were underwater, that made us a bit edgy. But we continued south without incident.

The air became more hazy as the day warmed, and I guess the east wind blew some of the pollution out of the cities and out into the gulf. It was quite hazy ahead of us at times, while behind us it was clear and beautiful. The wind died in the early afternoon and the water became almost glassy, really pretty.

We caught up with Sara and Trevor near the Egmont Key channel. We could see the lighthouse and the light was blinking; every 5 seconds it was lit. We could see the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in the distance, with its 174’ vertical clearance.

South of Anna Maria Island, which is at the south end of Tampa Bay, we cut east up Longboat Pass. The bridge is a bascule bridge, which lifts open, and we called to have it opened for us. The bridge tender seemed a bit grumpy, but lifted the bridge and we passed through followed by Earendil and another boat. We anchored for the night by Longboat Key.

We saved a lot of time coming down outside rather than in the ICW. It not only cut a few miles off the trip, but we avoided 9 or 10 bridges that would have had to open for Sara and Trevor. A good choice, which covered 65 ICW miles, and a beautiful day.

---

Photos

Anclote Key Lighthouse
abandoned and kind of sad

Clearwater FL
from the Gulf of Mexico

Egmont Key Lighthouse
from a long way off, about 4 miles

Longboat Pass Bridge
bascule bridge open, Earendil coming through

Moon rising
the moon's reflection on the water looked like a column of light

Comments

[peggy]

how absolutely beautiful!!! We missed any part of the eclipse or any view of the moon that because of heavy cloud cover and we were so disappointed. Glad you got some shots and look forward to some of the eclipse.