Remember the big gray tent that H rescued in the storm? He met its owner and found out that Claude was from North Georgia and also had a 28ft tri-maran sailboat that he had built and stores down here! He invited us to go out sailing with him and of course we didn’t hesitate! The tide was out in the early morning but as the water came in the canals/sloughs – we went out. Several other campers have since commented on how it looked to see this big wide white sailboat going out the canal, which at spots was just big enough to let him maneuver and make it thru or around the corners! Once we wound our way thru all the channel markers and into some deeper waters, we headed west across the bay towards St Petersburg at a pretty good clip. H thought he had the best seat because he got to mind the tiller and sail “Tootsie” – but I had the best seat on the boat!! OUT ON THE TRAMPOLINE - - - AND ON THE HIGH SIDE!!! I took lots of pictures and tried to catch the outrigger up out of the water as we were “hull flying” but the trampoline kept getting in the way and the camera didn’t catch it enough to blog a picture. The guys seemed to blend together well on their sailing techniques and Claude was impressed that H got more speed out of his boat than he did! On the way back to our side of the bay we did have a pod of 3 dolphins that jumped and swam back and forth behind the boat - not high enough to get a picture tho.
On our way back thru the maze of green and red channel markers, the jib sail was dropped and then the main. We anchored just off the boat launch to remove both sails and get them rolled up and bagged. When they were both packed away, we assisted in getting the mast lowered and the outriggers folded up and tucked up alongside the center section of the boat. Once beside the loading dock, it looked strange with its wings folded up, almost underneath itself, like a big seagull with droopy injured wings. Yes, the resident flock of pelicans sat on the ledge, supervising all the activity!
Saturday was quiet compared to all the excitement of Friday. Found a flea market, paid a bill via the library computer, sent some emails and drove over to Sun Center to find Wal-Mart. Sun Center is a pretty town, only 6 miles away, right next to I75 but is full of REALLY Senior Citizens and all their golf carts!!
We’ll be in EG Simmons for another week because there is still a lot to see and do. We haven’t been to the Tampa Lowry Zoo yet and the canoe has only been in the water once since we’ve been here. Oh, yeah, and we haven’t caught any fish.
