Tampa Bay Cruisers

Kevin,

What day are you heading to Caladesi? I'm thinking we need to get there on the 30th to secure a spot. Your thoughts?

Mike
 
See you guys there tomorrow. Looks like we're in for great weather, low-mid 70s rest of the week.

Gotta love Florida!
 
Now I'm getting really excited....It'll just be me and the doggies tomorrow. I'll go pick up the admiral on Wednesday after she get's off work...Then it's party-time at Caladesi!!! Actually, it'll be party-time tomorrow night!!!
 
What a great time! Kevin found us and stopped by for a visit, and we saw Duke's Rehab early on Thurs. before we left but nobody was around. We did meet lots of other boaters in out little neighborhood on the last pier. Caladesi was fantastic and we explored it nearly from one end to the other.

It was calm enough to take the Gulf all the way up to Clearwater Pass on the way up, but much windier on the way back inside. Although we left at noon the tide was very low and the wind blew me into some skinny water just as we were leaving the marked channel and I had to pull out backwards, and then try to straighten out again in the strong crosswind.

As we approached the intersection with the main channel I slowed a little for a Hobie on the left to pass ahead of us. Instead, he chose to come about directly in front of me like an idiot, so I had the opportunity to do the shifter and steering wheel dance again in the skinny channel with the crosswind until he completed that brilliant maneuver.

Shortly after getting on plane in the main channel the overtemp alarm came on and we stopped to cool. I pulled some hoses and found good water flow, but we made way to Clearwater Marine slowly anyway for gas, lunch, and a pump-out. While there I revved it up for a few minutes no-load to flush out and possible trapped sand and it was fine thereafter.

The rest of the way was an adventure in the dark, in unfamiliar waters, and relying heavily on the chartplotter - I couldn't imagine doing this in the days before we had chartplotters! Crossing Tampa Bay reminded me of The Perfect Storm. We made about 7mph up the swells and 9mph down. Scanning the water for markers with the spotlight revealed huge-looking breaking swells. They were following and at about 45 degrees to our course so it was a wet and harsh ride we will never forget. The CG calls on 16 for the 41 foot cruiser 45 miles SW of Pass-a-Grille taking on water, the 18 footer 5 miles SE of Pass-a-Grille taking on water, the sailboat Banana spotted adrift in Boca Ciega Bay, and the single flare spotted 3-5 miles SE all added to the excitement.

The home run up the Manatee on plane was an exhilarating finish to an anxious but very fun return trip. We're looking forward our next excursion which will be a week down in the Charlotte to Fort Myers area.
 
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Mike,

Sorry I missed you..Sounds like you had a 'fun' trip back. That Bay can make things interesting. Glad you made it back all safe and sound. Caladesi was fun. That's a great place isn't it? Anyway, maybe next time you're there we'll have a couple of 'dock-tales'.

Mike
 
Loved every minute of it. We get more addicted to boating with every trip. I just picked up a NICE 8' Zodiac on Craigslist. Searching for a motor now...
 
Reviving an old thread. It's been cold around Tampa but soon to warm up. I'm out of Tarpon and go out quite frequently. Anyone going to calidesa, 3 rooker, honeymoon, or anclote let me know. It would be fun to hook up and do some boating.

Jack
 
earthmover17 said:
Reviving an old thread. It's been cold around Tampa but soon to warm up. I'm out of Tarpon and go out quite frequently. Anyone going to calidesa, 3 rooker, honeymoon, or anclote let me know. It would be fun to hook up and do some boating.

Jack
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I'll keep it in mind Jack. The wife and I boat 3 Rooker most of the time. Used to spend a lot of quality time on the Anclote Sandbar before the better part of it washed away. Spent most of last summer (June through September) in Italy so I didn't get much boating in. Probably looking to get out in a couple of weeks once the weather turns good again.
 
Just moved into the area. Does anyone scuba dive off the artificial reefs around Dunedin/Caladesi/Clearwater? Time well spent?
 
eta said:
Just moved into the area. Does anyone scuba dive off the artificial reefs around Dunedin/Caladesi/Clearwater? Time well spent?
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Welcome to the area! I wouldn't dive around the Dunedin reef (about three miles west of Caledesi). I've never done it but I'm willing to bet that the fisherman would get pretty pissed off having someone monkeying around in the water... I am pretty sure that there is at least one other reef offshore of Clearwater but specifics escape me. All in all I've been told that scuba around here isn't overly interesting. Better to head to the Keys.
 
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