Making Don and Gail Proud

Sarasota

Well, the plan was for us to pull the anchor up at 6 a.m. from Bishop's Point and head south to Blackburn Bay. Unfortunately the weather forecasters were wrong (GASP!) again. Our night of sleep in forecasted 2-4 knot winds turned out to be a night of almost no sleep in gusty 15 - 20 knot winds. The sound of the snubber line stretching over and over just took away any chance of a good nights sleep.

We slept in a bit the following morning after the wind and waves settled before having breakfast and deciding upon a new plan. Brenda researched a few local marinas before deciding that $85+ per night was out of the question. Then she found that Marina Jacks manages a mooring field right by downtown Sarasota and charges $25 per night with full marina services included. A pumpout, hot showers and a tiki bar won us over very quickly.

We motor sailed over and picked up a mooring ball which was a first for this trip. We learned some tricks to picking up mooring balls when we chartered with Karen and Peter in the BVI last summer. Brenda expertly snagged the pennant and had us tied up in no time at all even in the windy conditions.

We enjoyed a late lunch and a few drinks at O'Leary's Tiki Bar with our dinghy tied up right in front. The wind and waves settled nicely that night which allowed us to catch up on our sleep.

O'Leary's Tiki Bar and Grill

 

The next day we took The Ernie T in to go grocery shopping at Publix. Once the groceries were back aboard we loaded up 10 days worth of laundry and went back ashore at noon to wash and dry the huge pile. When we were in Clearwater, Don and Gail aboard Island Tyme were famous for perfecting the art of laundry day. They would fill the laundry machines and then walk around the corner to The Bait House bar and grill to enjoy several cocktails while their laundry went round and round. Don always came back from doing laundry with a big grin on his face. Don loved laundry day!

Brenda and I are sometimes quick learners and took Don and Gail's lessons to heart. We completed laundry 7 hours later when we left the local tiki bar with clean laundry and big grins on our faces.

We met a fun couple at the tiki bar and mentioned to them that we hoarded our quarters for laundry day like college kids. After they paid their tab the woman handed Brenda a small stack of quarters for her laundry kitty. We all had a good laugh over that.

The end of another fun laundry day.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy