Bradenton  Part 3

Saturday, April 30, 2016

We started our Saturday by going up to Old Main Street to the Farmer’s Market.  Produce and fruit and a bottle of pomegranate balsamic vinegar completed our list for the week.  These vendors set up 6 days a week at markets from Clearwater to Naples.  We got back to the boat and our neighbors returned from the market and asked if we had found the seafood vendor.  They showed us the red shrimp, huge and frozen.   Back on my bike and up to the market.  Now, what shrimp dishes to make for dinners.

At 1 P.M. ,80 or more of the slip holders were treated to an Italian lunch at Pier 22 (part of the marina property).  It was nice to make a more informal acquaintance with folks on our dock that we have just been saying hello to as they pass our boat.  We learned that one of the couples we see at the pool is from Uruguay.  Another gentleman that we see as he walks his Scotty dogs; leaves the dock with a computer and briefcase at irregular hours.   He checks sites for in ground pools for a local company.  The food was outstanding; better yet I would not have to cook an evening meal.

We relaxed, read, napped, and followed by cocktails.  At 6:15 we took the bikes and with chairs on our backs, peddled over to Manatee Avenue (the main thoroughfare) to watch the Desoto Parade.  A great number of runners came by for the first hour.  There was lots of security (police and sheriff) presence.  There were officers on motorcycles, bikes,  on foot, ATV’s and a group of young  folks from the Bradenton Police Explorers unit.  The whole parade unit was lined with metal barricades.  For one who thinks a parade is the ones we see in Pennsylvania at Halloween it was a bit of a disappointment.  The main focus seemed to be fire engines, rescue trucks, Mustang convertibles with various queens and dignitaries from the sister city in Spain.  It was a bead throwing contest, no candy at this parade; I walked away with 24 strands of beads.  I do respect the bands and people who walked almost 50 blocks.  We gave up before it was over.

Sunday, May 1, 2016

Both of us got off to an early start preparing for our departure to Caladesi  Island State Park.  Dave washed the boat and took down the screens.  Mike and Neila helped us out of the slip at 9 AM.  Sorry  to people in the boat by the entrance to the breakwater as Dave gave two blasts on the air horns as required. 

We proceeded down the Manatee River, no problem with the wind behind us, and then across the entrance of Tampa Bay.  The wind was out of the Southeast and swells two to three feet with the occasional white caps.  We needed to go under the Causeway and find the ICW channel.   I would compare it to crossing the Potomac River on the Chesapeake Bay, not fun and very wet!  The ICW goes between St Petersburg and the outer islands and up to Clearwater.  There doesn’t seem to be a square foot of land along the waterway that does not have homes, condos or hotels.  We only saw one for sale sign the whole way.  But then you come to the north end of Clearwater Beach and there is Caladesi State Park just before Honeymoon Island.  $1 a foot but if we were FL residents and over 65 it would have been $ .50.

Our docking was difficult with the wind but fellow boaters took our lines on the T-pier and then we walked the boat around into the slip.  We got settled, a brief wash down, screens up and AC on.  The women in the next boat warned us that the no-see-ums were bad if the wind stopped or at dusk.  How right they were!  We walked to the beach, the shells are small.  Tomorrow we will get to the beach before the ferry arrives and hope for better finds.  The ranger told us there will be areas roped off for nesting birds and turtles.  There are only two other boats in the marina tonight.

Monday

We got out on the beach early.  The shelling was not special.  I was rethinking my crafts as I picked out shells to save.  The walk north to the end of the island was 1.8 miles.  We approached the area where Royal Terns were nesting.  (Hopefully, I have that identification right.) That made a long stretch for me but I fared well.  Back at the boat we rested and then took our chairs, umbrella and our books to the beach for the rest of the afternoon.  The water is warm and wonderful.  Temperatures have been 10 degrees above normal the last several weeks. 

Tuesday

Weather forecast for Wednesday did not look good for boat travel.  Our plan was to get out to the beach early before the high sun.  This time, we started down the beach and saw no shells so turned around and walked north nothing.  The ranger stopped on his patrol of the beach and collected trash I had piled for pick up on our way back.  He told us he had not found turtle crawls on the beach this morning but yesterday they had had a Kemp’s Ridley turtle nest near the end of the beach entrance.  They nest during the day and are usually only seen in Mexico but this is the second year they have had a nest on their beach.

A disappointment for the morning  plan  change.  The other great place to shell is Rooker Bar north of Honeymoon Island.  Not knowing what the weather would be for Wednesday we decided to go north, shell, and then head back to Bradenton.  Upon our arrival there the bar was posted due to bird nesting.  It is a rookery thus the name Rooker Bar. Our trip across the Tampa Bay was much calmer with winds southwest.  We refueled and were back in our slip by 2 PM.  A beeline to the pool to cool down, one of the days that starts with the weather man saying the temperature is 72 and feels like 82.  I am sure you get the picture.

Dave’s stylist gave him a haircut and he cleaned the cockpit as well as the whole boat wash down.   You folks are lucky you aren’t getting original sea salt for Christmas gifts.

Two pictures I have included have made my trip so much easier and comfortable.  The bike seat has been great, Walmart.  Dave constructed the shell scoop for me.  Again from Walmart, a frying utensil and a dowel.  It sure beats all the bending over.  Feel free to copy the ideas.