Alright...so what's another day in Clearwater gonna hurt? I stopped in at a pretty neat little cafe and had a bowl of Raisin Bran...and I'll say it was quite good. I finally got that bowl of cereal I had been looking for. Around noon, I found an internet cafe/candy shop & spent about 3 hours uploading pics and bringing ya'll up to date as best as I could. I met Steve the owner, and got to talking with him a good bit. He seemed to be pretty excited about my trip...he didn't even charge me for a full hour, and on top of that he gave me a huge bag of candied peanuts to wish me luck! I love people.

I did laundry, and ended up meeting Ely, Winston & their Uncle 'Hammer'. They're on a Hunter 33, "Witchy Woman" and are kinda making the same trip I am. They left Pensacola en route to the Keys.

I cleaned up the boat real good, then we all went to Frenchy's Rockaway Grill. We played pool & met a few local girls & hung out for a while. Home around 3.

Sunday, June 20th

I woke up Sunday (...a little later than planned) and went around gathering a few last minute provisions (ice, water, cokes). I got out of the marina around 11:30, headed for the Manatee River (which is just on the south side of Tampa Bay. Had a pretty fair wind, and I motorsailed with the main & jib up. I got to Egmont Channel at the entrance of Tampa Bay around 3:30ish. I met a few huge ships going through the bay...let me tell you...their wake is big enough to sink a Boston Whaler. It took forever to go across the bay, and I finally got anchored around 6. The current was kicking, but I don't know what I expected...it is, after all, a river. I luckily had cell phone service, so I called dad to wish him a happy fathers day and all. Mark & Patti seem to be doing all right, although his dad is still pretty sick up in Cincinnati...it looks like they'll be up there for another couple weeks. I cooked dinner (beef tamales & creamed corn) and enjoyed the sunset listening to Ms. Eva.