Ft Myers Municipal to St. Pete

Love our view from the Ft Myers Municipal Yacht Basin! 

After spending 3 weeks at the centrally located downtown city marina, we set sail northbound.

 

 

 

 



 

Our first anchorage is beautiful Pelican Bay.

It wasn't long before the Captain and First Mate dove from Spiritus into the refreshing water . . . . 

 

 

 . . . . and later swam at their private beach at Cayo Costa State Park!

 

 

 

 

 

Cayo Costa Island has numerous walking trails that we enjoyed, reminding us of "old Florida".

 

 

 

 

 

Our daily hikes earned us our picnic lunch with the best-ever view!

 

 

 

 

 

We dinghied into a cove one day and saw 3 species of sea creatures within 20 minutes:

manatee, alligator, and dolphin!

 

 

 

 

 

It was an extra special treat to have Chip & Joyce join us on Spiritus for docktails.

They moor their sailboat, Frolic, next to us at the NAS Pensacola marina.

 

 

 

 

 

Hugs at sunset while drinking wine on Spiritus ... it doesn't get better than that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Next stop is Gasparilla Marina, where we get water and provisions in preparation for the upcoming week of favorite anchorages.  We voted this marina as having the BEST bath house and boater's lounge!

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cruising north from Gasparilla, we saw lots of osprey watching us stay between their channel marker nests.

 

 

 

 

 Spiritus was happy to be back at one of her favorite anchorages at Englewood Beach!

 

 

 

 

 



 

And her crew was happy to dinghy to their favorite tiki bar for live music . . . .

 

 

. . . .  and BEER!

 

 

 

 

 

We walked across the bridge to historic Englewood and discovered a lovely waterfront Memorial Park.

 

 

 

 

 

The charming downtown was lined with colorfully painted benches . . . .

 

. . . . with inspirational messages carved at the base of each designer bench.

 

 

 

 

 

Just to make sure the benches were put to good use, the First Mate found a treat at the ice cream shop!

 

 

 

 

Of the 11 bridges on our travel day to our next anchorage, 9 of them were raised for Spiritus!

 

 

 

 

 

We made it to our Longboat Key anchorage in time for docktails at sunset.

 

 

 

 

 

After a dinghy ride to shore, the trolley took us to Manatee Beach on Anna Maria Island.

 

 

 

 

Uh-Oh, the First Mate forgot to bring her bathing suit!!!

 

 

 

 

On our walk, we discovered a super-inviting, Caribbean-style trailer park . . . .

. . . .  with perfectly-manicured properties . . . .

. . . . and colorful flowerbeds!

 

 

 

 

 

The First Mate contemplates moving into this quaint little neighborhood.

 

 

 

 

 

And the Captain even found a place to moor Spiritus if we relocate to this paradise!

 

 

 

 

T

Dolphin escorted us into Tampa Bay. 

 

 

 

 

 We were fortunate to have calm winds and fair seas as we crossed Tampa Bay and approached the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

 

 

 

 

 

Spiritus spent 2 days on the transient dock at St. Petersburg Municipal Marina and we loved the location.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were thrilled to discover friends, Craig from Blue Heron and Bob & Vicky from Si Como No, moored on the same dock!

 

 

 

 

  

Besides eating at great restaurants, we treated ourselves to a day at the Salvador Dali Museum.

 

 

 

 

 

We were "wowed" by Dali's surreal, bizarre, creative masterpieces.

 

 

 

 

 

How does the Dali mustache look on the Filipino Captain?

 

 

 

 

 

The waterfront museum was an architectural masterpiece of its own.

 

 

 

  

Spiritus is underway, leaving Tampa Bay and entering the ICW with Si Como No.

Next stop ... Dunedin!