The White Pelican

As we left the Long Beach anchorage, hugging the coast of Jewfish Key,  we turned to go south through the very narrow pass between the R38A and G39 cans.  This area must be a constant wash as the cans are much closer together than anywhere in the area.  As we slowly went through the gap our depth sounder alarmed.  We only had 1.3 feet under the keel!  (We found the newly installed sounder had came unplugged crossing Tampa Bay)  We were within a couple feet from dead center of the cans! Those with 6 foot or more need to be very careful here and go at high tide. 

After this section of waterway was behind us we found ourselves back in Sarasota Bay.  This is where we first noticed the White Pelicans.  How is it that the four previous passes in this area never brought the White Pelicans to our attention?   With a little research we found that the White Pelican only winters in Florida and moves to the central US for the summer and breeding months.  

The White Pelican has a wind span of up to 11.8 feet!*

The sections of Sarasotta Bay on the ICW are packed with rental boats and weekend boaters.  This is easily one of the most active sections of the ICW on the West Coast of Florida.  The no wake zones help keep things in check.

 We did take a little time to troll a line 

Catching two blue fish and a too small Crevalle.

The Fisher King jumping to the Fish On Drill

The balance of the trip to Venice was a balance of boredom in the long bays filled with rain and White pelican sightings.  Oh we did have the 10 idiots on the jet skies keeping up the jet ski reputations.  As we made it to Venice the Fisher King was disappointed as he was hoping to fish the floating dock.  The rain became more intense and kept us on the boat for the night.

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