Blackburn Bay and Englewood Beach

Blackburn Bay

Now that we are safely tucked in at Fisherman's Village Marina we wanted to let you know what we had been up to the last few days.

We anchored overnight in Blackburn Bay just off the GIWW. It didn't offer much for exploration, but there was a nice little beach beckoning us over for a swim on this hot day. We took The Ernie T over to the beach and enjoyed a short swim and some nature watching. If you are sailing through the area and need a quiet spot to drop your anchor give Blackburn Bay a try.

The following morning we moved further south toward Englewood Beach. Looking at our charts and reading the reviews on Active Captain made Englewood Beach look like a neat spot to stop for a few days. We arrived at near high tide to clear the sand bar just off the GIWW at the entrance to the anchorage. If you turn a little too soon or late you get to call TowBoat US. We never saw less than 6 feet of water which was a relief.

We found a good anchorage spot and set the hook. We found that the tide runs really strong through here and would swing us too far north into shallow waters. Hoisting the anchor and chain we moved about 100 feet to slightly deeper water and reset the anchor. To limit our swing due to the reversing current we decided to put out our second anchor from the bow. Mike climbed in The Ernie T with the Bruce anchor and deployed it 65 feet down current. Perfect.

 

Here is why we needed two anchors. As the river current switches from ebb to flow our boat would swing in a huge circle. The anchor would pull itself out and then have to reset in the new direction.

One anchor set in a river.

The solution is to deploy a second anchor down river which limits boat swing. When there is an ebb current we would hang off of the purple anchor. When the current reverses we would hang off the red anchor. Kinda neat isn't it?

Once safely anchored at Englewood Beach we were surprised when Bret and Theresa (s/v Elusive) pulled in and anchored near us. We didn't expect to see them again so soon. They rowed over to Wrinkles for sundowners and snacks which was a lot of fun. We made plans for a happy hour at the White Elephant Bar the next day. We picked Bret and Theresa up in The Ernie T and putted to shore. We enjoyed live music and some really great Pulled Pork Nachos.

The following day our good friends Steve and Sarah from Illinois came to visit us. We met at the White Elephant Bar for a late lunch and a couple of cocktails. We loved the Pulled Pork Nachos again! We dinghied out to Wrinkles where Steve and Sarah got an up close dolphin visit for several minutes. Dolphins are fascinating and beautiful creatures. After a tour of Wrinkles and a long swim we made our way back to the White Elephant for another cocktail.

Steve checking out Wrinkles.

We wandered across the street to watch the sunset from the beach. It was nice to share one of "our" sunsets with good friends.

Brenda and Sarah on a seashell hunt.

These sunsets never get old.

We looked forward to spending a couple more days with Steve and Sarah at Englewood Beach, but as you know Tropical Storm Colin would change our plans.

 

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