The Sheriff and Manatees Both Call on Us

 

Molly meets Manatee

Our trip south included our first passage
over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel,
American's 4th longest bridge. 

Our Georgia stop with Liz and family included
lunch with Charlotte at her school.

2,000 miles, stops with family and friends and temperatures rising from below freezing to the low 80s brought us to our launch site, Anclote River Park on the West Coast of Florida.  We arrived in the Park at dusk with the intent to spend the night and launch the next day. 
 

Here we are just before the Sheriff
came by.

Soon, we were visited by the Sheriff.  Here is the dialogue.

Sheriff: “Sir. Did you know you are trespassing? This park is closed from 6:30 pm to 6 am.  Let me repeat, you are trespassing as this park is closed from 6:30 pm to 6 am.  Do you understand that?”

Us: “Yes, sir.”

Sheriff: “What makes you think that you can defy the law and spend the night here? I could technically arrest you.”

Us: “A friend of ours told us the rangers were okay with someone spending the night in order to launch the next day.”

Sheriff: “That is not the case.  Do you understand?”

Us: “Yes, sir.”

Sheriff: “I insist that you launch your boat as soon as you deem it safe to do so.  I want to make sure that you understand what I am saying – I insist that you launch your boat as soon as you deem it safe to do so.  I do not want to find your boat here tomorrow.  Do you understand, sir?”

Us: “Yes, sir.  We will launch as soon as it is safe to do so and no later than dawn tomorrow morning.”

Sheriff: “Again, I want to make sure that you are clear that you are trespassing and must depart as soon as it is safe to do so.  My name is Will and my phone number is xxx-xxx-xxxx.   I live right across the street from the park entrance and suggest that you store your truck and trailer under one of the lights as a safety precaution.”

The Sheriff proceeded to talk for the next 15 minutes about various nefarious and heinous acts that have occurred from drug dealings to a suicide hanging to go-cart racing to naked teenagers in cars.  Overall, he indicated, that it was a pretty safe area!

With that, Molly prepared dinner while I prepared the boat for launching.  We were in the water at 6:30 am the next day!

Here we are anchored up to the sand bar, and Molly is tossing the ball to Tory.

We launched at Anclote in order to attend a Rosborough Boat Rendezvous scheduled for 2/27 and 2/28 at nearby Caledesi State Park.  We had two nights to spend elsewhere before the gathering and decided to go Anclote Preserve State Park.  As we approached our planned anchorage, the island never appeared.  Successive storms over the years had swiped out much of the island and what was left was a sandbar only exposed at half tide.

After sunset Jupiter and Saturn were bright 
enough to light a path across the shallow bar,
pictured here at high tide.

As dog friendly options were limited, however, we decided to anchor off the sandbar and ended up spending two days there.  We felt like we were auditioning for Waterworld II!  At high tide the bar had roughly 2 feet of water over it, and the tide schedule worked out fine, particularly after Tory demonstrated the ability to do her thing in water, as long as she could still stand.

Rosborough boats filled Dock C on Caledesi State Park.  We met many old friends and make new ones.

After two days we motored down to Calesdesi State Park for the Rosborough Boat Rendezvous.  There were 18 boats from all over the east, and it was great to reconnect with boating friends, many of whom attended the Rendezvous that we hosted last summer in Maine. 

At the conclusion of the Rendezvous four boats made of Pronto (Mark and Cathy Uggeri), Sabbatical (Dan Evans and Jeremy Scouten), Pi (Mike Anderson) and us on Salty Paws cruised 85 miles up the coast to Crystal River.  We had so wanted to visit this town when we did the Great Loop three years ago, but the weather did not cooperate.

Crystal River is in the mold of old Florida.  The town and river are famous for being the winter home to hundreds, if not thousands, of manatees.    No buildings are higher than 4 stories, and there are several good restaurants and kayak and tour companies catering to visitors.   

We finally remembered to
took a picture of our seafood
boil after we had half eaten it.

Tory, Molly, Cathy, Mark, Mike and I at the Crab Plant.
Jeremy took the picture, and Dan and Rufus were seated
at a nearby table.

We anchored near the town center for the first night and enjoyed the Crab Plant’s boiled dinner that included virtually every type of seafood in the area including mussels, crayfish, little necks, shrimp and more.   The next day we moved to the free wall in front of Plantation, a large old-style resort with shuffleboard, horseshoes, beach volley ball and croquet (none of which we participated in). 

Our four boats - Sabbatical, Salty Paws, Pi and Pronto
at the Plantation.

My birthday celebration began with my dropping my old iPhone 7 in the water.  I took a rest after two hours of looking and my fingers feeling the bottom of rock, grass and sediment. 

Bill looking for his phone!

We kayaked in the waters near the
Plantation.

Fellow boater Dan found it with his two feet in just 10 minutes!  

A Verizon store was nearby, and I ended up with a new phone for my birthday. We stayed an extra day due to weather, and finally got our private manatee tour on Saturday, 3/2, beginning at 6:15 am! 

Molly has not done well
with the Florida no-see-ems.

The tour was fantastic, and we learned so much about the area and the amazing manatee.  Crystal River has several fresh water springs that flow at a constant 72 degrees year-round.  When the Gulf gets cold, manatees swim up the river into fresh water and may congregate at one of the springs by the hundreds.  Much of the area is a National Preserve for the Manatees, and much is being done to return their habitat to what it used to be and to educate the public on these majestic mammals that can weigh 3,000 pounds.

As this manatee approached Molly, our tour guide was ready with his GoPro.

They are about to go nose to nose.

Nose to nose it is!

There are regular manatee censuses taken by air, and last winter there were 1,100 manatees counted.  On our tour, however, because of the warm winter, there were only 36 manatees detected.  Our great tour guide found 7 of them in two different sites, and the pictures tell of our wonderful experience.

Manatees survive off eating sea grasses.  Grasses are begin replanted throughout Florida as starvation has been a leading
cause of manatee deaths, particularly on the east coast of Florida.

Not sure about the table manners here, but he/she seems to have gotten a good mouthful.

We swam up in the Three Sisters Springs.  The water is crystal clear and a constant 72 degrees.  Total volume according
to our guide is 20 million gallons per day!

This picture was taken 3 feet below the surface of the water.

I tried to swim down to the bottom of
this spring but the buoyant wetsuit
and lack of flippers made it impossible,
This equipment is by design for the
better protection of manatees..

The Crystal River cruisers were joined by
John Edwards, Jacquie Francis and her friend
Ann for a Greek meal in Tarpon Springs.

Now we are back on the Anclote River in Tarpon Springs, home to many Greek immigrants and famous for sponges.  Tomorrow we will the pull the boat of the water to trailer it south and the 2^nd chapter of this year’s Florida adventure.