August 4, 2009

The adventure begins…

At 11:00 a.m. this morning, Gypsy Wind left Madeira Beach Florida and headed south. It was a bitter sweet departure as we waved to our friends, Capt. Bill, Austin, Bren, Shirley, Dave, Maxine, Capt. Ted, and Judy, all standing on the dock to see us off. Judy took pictures as we pulled away. As we cleared John’s Pass Bridge, a pair of dolphin danced across our bow - a good sign. At the sea buoy, we turned to the north to hoist the sails, and then turned south, sailing toward our first destination, Egmont Key. We made good time and reached Egmont Channel with plenty of daylight left. We went back and forth debating whether we should continue to Longboat Key or anchor at Egmont. Since we are not familiar with Longboat, and the entrance is very tricky, Egmont Key won the debate. As we entered the channel, Harry asked me to take the helm so he could shut his eyes for a bit. His nap was short lived, as the water came alive with bait fish and birds. Although we are heading south on a sailing vessel, we are admittedly pseudo sailors. We lived on our sportfish, Yippie Ky A, for several years before selling her and purchasing Gypsy Wind. Fishing from a sailboat is not quite the same, but absolutely can be done. In fact, we sail at the perfect trolling speed. Because we love to fish, and we love to eat fresh fish, I decided we should have a line in the water, so I woke him from his shut eye. He jumped up, grabbed a rig, and I turned the boat around to run through the bait fish. We were thinking Spanish Mackerel for dinner. The water sparkled all around us with tiny silver fish trying to get away from whatever was chasing them…but we couldn’t get a bite. I turned the boat back around and ran through them again – nothing. Slowly the water calmed and the run was over. We pulled in our line and headed for our anchorage. At 3:30 p.m., we dropped anchor at Egmont Key. Although we were unable to raise a fish, at sunset, we enjoyed fresh black fin tuna sashimi, compliments of a recent catch of Capt. Ted, a friend from the Madeira Bay Marina and Captain of the fishing vessel, Boca I. After the sun set, so did we.