We were barely out of sight of the marina when an alarm sounded. The right engine was running hot. Danny stayed calm, I pretended to stay calm. It turned out the electric cable stored in the engine room had closed the starboard engine intake valve. (Maybe Danny stepped on it, he says.) He moved the cables and problem was solved. Whew!!! We were beginning to feel snake-bit.
Our route took us back down the Manatee River, into Tampa Bay, and then south between Anna Maria Island and the mainland. As we were leaving the river, Danny commented on the deceptive view, it looked as if you would go straight toward the bay, but the water was extremely shallow in the middle, we had to stay far left. Then we saw a boat heading toward us on a path crossing the shallow water. Sure enough, we saw his spray as he suddenly went aground. There was no way we could help him because there was no way cross the shallow water. Hope he had tow insurance!
The cruise down along Anna Maria Island and Longboat Kay gave us a chance to see things from the water that we had been to on land. We couldn't quite see John's Tiki Hut, but we waved at it anyhow!
As we got close to Sarasota, Danny caught a glimpse of the Ringling buildings way off to our left. The waterway channel is on the far side of the bay, and we try out best to stay in the channel! Out original "plans" had been to stop in Sarasota and tour the Ringling complex, but the prop repair delay and the distance from any marina to the museum nixed that stop.
Sarasota was gorgeous! We pulled into Marina Jack just to see the boats and get a close-up view of some of the buildings.
Resuming our normal cruising pattern, we stopped for the day beside Siesta Key about 3:30. We took a great dinghy ride up the canal looking at some very nice houses, fished a little bit, then grilled dinner. Great cruising day!
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