Leg 3: St. Pete to Snead Island, FL
We left St. Pete on Monday, December 13th to Snead Island which was a short 15 nautical mile hop. It was our first time to just sail in Tampa Bay and it was nice to finally day sail again. It was sunny and the winds were blowing 8-10 knots. We were sailing on a broad reach with full main and full jib, wing and wing.
We dropped anchor at the mouth of the Manatee River, about a quarter of a mile from Emerson Point Preserve on Snead Island (Palmetto, FL). It was around 2:30pm and we decided to do some dinghy exploration and try our luck again with some fishing…not a single bite.
That morning we woke up early so that we could get in all the hiking we wanted before beginning our journey to Cayo Costa, later that day. Around 8:30am while we were in the dinghy, we spotted manatees. It was the first time in our lives to see a manatee and they are more beautiful than we imagined. We don’t have pictures because we were caught up in the moment but it was a beautiful sight to see.
Leg 4: Snead Island, FL to Cayo Costa, FL
Around 4:30pm on December 14th, we decided to catch the winds and let them carry us 85 miles south to Cayo Costa and Cabbage Key. It was a downwind sail and calm seas. We coasted there in about 16 hours and dropped anchor around 8:30am on December 15th, right outside of Useppa Island, a private island, across the channel from Cabbage Key and Cayo Costa. We considered Pelican Bay off the coast of Cayo Costa but it seemed a pinch too shallow for our comfort level. Since we were staying such a short time, we decided the rich folks of Useppa could put up with us bringing down the neighborhood for a day.
First stop was the Tunnel of Love, shallow waters lined with trees and mangroves that overhang to form a tunnel that leads to what looks like brush made up of small trees and cactus. Upon closer look, you’ll find a foot path that appears to lead to nowhere until nowhere becomes the most beautiful white sand beach and crystal clear turquoise water we have ever seen. We spotted two people about a third of mile or so down the shoreline; far enough way to break out the birthday suits and go for a swim. We splashed and played around like a couple kids, laughing and carrying on like only we exist. It felt like a dream or scene from a movie. It’s moments like these when we can’t believe this is our life.
We worked up quite the appetite so we cleaned up and headed to Cabbage Key Inn Restaurant for a cheeseburger in paradise. I had a grilled mahi sandwich minus the bun, of course, and we each had potato salad as a side. The mahi was excellent, the burger was on point, but that potato salad was the worst tasting potato salad both of us had ever eaten, so go with the coleslaw. Additionally, it was the most expensive lunch we’ve had. We decided we needed to walk it off and climbed to the top of the lighthouse and hiked both trails. We got to see a gopher tortoise, a creature we’ve been reading about at every nature preserve but had yet to see.
We had one more thing to do and that was sign a dollar bill and tape it up at the Cabbage Key Inn Bar to join the other 70,000 one-dollar bills that are signed and taped up. We decided to each have a signature Cabbage Key pina colada…ya’ll they were $18 a piece and you didn’t even get to keep the cup…what is that? LOL! Luckily mother nature was looking after us and a storm began to blow in causing the electricity to go out, therefore there was no consideration for a second drink. We had to high tail it to the dinghy because our hatches and port lights were wide open. In route, the rain drops felt like needle pricks as they made contact with our skin.
We made it to the boat in time to close everything up and I decided this is a prime opportunity to do some laundry with all the fresh water pouring from the sky. This means I piled our clothes in the cockpit, let them soak in some fresh water, mixed in some Dr. Bonner’s all-natural soap, did some scrubbing motion, and let the rain do the rest. There was still some daylight when the squall ended, just enough to hang up on the clothes on the lifelines and really bring down the neighborhood.
