May on Tampa Bay

We motored over to St. Pete just to check out the Bay



This pier that divides the Mooring field from the St. Pete Municipal Marina is a main attraction on the Waterfront.




NO. 850 is the Good stuff for polishing Stainless.



Add of Layer of Insulator Wax to protect the stainless from surface rust.



Our choice for the exterior teak.




The Stainless and Teak Caprail good for another year.




Tampa Museum of Art




I am standing just outside of the Tampa Museum of Art with the Hillsbourgh River in the Background and the University of Tampa. The Russian looking building in the Background is the old Tamps Bay Hotel that is now part of the Univ. of Tampa: http://www.plantmuseum.com/



These downtown buildings are just across a huge Plaza from the Museum, the one on the right is known as the Beer Can Building and was just bought in a forclosure for $22 Million The new owners plan to restore it to it's former Heyday in the 50's. 

Check out these two baby Green Herons

This one is looking right at you!

This 68' Irwin is bound for Hawaii!

A couple of days after getting settled into our new slip at Westshore we took the boat out just to run the motor. The St. Petersburg skyline is in easy view so we just headed that way and 2 hours later we were there. Of course the wind was right out of the west and we had almost 2 knot flood tide so it was a good day to motor. We traveled at 1800 RPM,s at a speed of about 5.3 kts. This gave us a chance to learn some about the bay and it seems the best day sailing water is out in front of St. Petersburg with plenty of water with sufficient depth, much like Corpus Bay with 10-15’ of water. The wide bodies of water near our marina are mostly <10’ so we pretty much have to stay in the channels, there are some areas with deeper water but they are narrow and would not make for pleasant sailing. We toured the Municipal Marina’s anchorage and the Mooring field. The Admiral suggested we just take a mooring ball and stay a couple of days but after she checked the weather on her IPhone we decided it might be best to go back to our slip and plan a trip over when there was less rain in the forecast. The mooring balls are just $15.00 a night so this is a must do. With the currant on our side we mad 7.5 knots on the return but there was only about 2 knots of wind so we motored on.


It is time to get Wand’rin Star cleaned up for this next year and May is the deadline for getting these projects done since whatever cool weather we have is diminishing quick. I spent 3 days getting all the stainless on the exterior polished up and a protectorant applied to slow the onset of another round of surface rust. It is so salty in Corpus that this is at least an every 6 month job but the environment here is not near as harsh so I am thinking it should last a year. We use two Collinte products, one to polish with Collinite #850 to polish and remove the surface rust. This is a wax on wax off process and I just use a old sock like a glove to make the work go quick. Then we apply Collinite’s 845 Insulator wax as a protectrant and this is just a wax on job as you leave a thin film on the metal to ward off the salty air and water.

After the Stainless is complete then it is time to get after the teak Caprail. We use Cetol since it is a very effective protector and you only have to reapply a couple of coats each year. It is not as glossy or Classy as varnish but it is a lot less work and to me it makes the old boat look a bit salty and refined. I spent a day lightly sanding with #220 sand paper, cleaning, and taping off the rail Then a few hours each of the next two days applying first some touch up Cetol Marine to the areas where there were nicks, or scratches where the teak was exposed. Then two full coats of Cetol Gloss. I got the job done just as my knees explained to me that would no longer support my body, even a soft cushion to rest them on would not convince them to do any more. The next annual project is to thoroughly clean the nonskid on the deck and apply 2 coats a acrylic wax. I will wait for the knees to recover since this is another 2-3 day project.

While I have been busy with the maintenance of WS the Admiral has been birding. There is a very small Mangrove Island right in front of our marina just about 30’ from the outer dock/breakwater of the marina. Lynn has been observing what seems to be a rookery for Blue Herons and Green Herons. She spotter the two baby Green Herons looking a bit funny on the shore and a nesting Blue Heron. She could hear the baby Blue Herons but it was not possible to see them through the thick mangroves and the nest. We spent a day over at Weeden Island http://weedonislandpreserve.org/ on a birding tour .We did see a couple of species we had never seen before but the birding right here around our marina is just as impressive. We do want to take our Kayak back to Weeden though since there are many Kayak trails through the mangroves over there that looks very interesting to me. I think we will take our small handheld Garmin as it looks like you could get lost easily in the mangroves there.
We took a Friday afternoon to go visit the Tampa Museum of Art. The museum is located right downtown along the Hillsbourgh River. We got to see the
Masterworks of 20th Century Sculpture from the Martin Z. Margulies Collection

AND

UTILITY AND AESTHETICS IN ANCIENT ART
The exhibits were cool to see but the museum had just ended their main exhibit and was preparing for the next one so we will go back next month to see the upcoming Sculptors on Paper exhibit. There is a large river walk and huge outdoor plaza where I am sure a lot of events are held. Across the river is the University of Tampa and a view of the Russian looking Architecture of the Old Tampa Bay Hotel that is now part of the university: http://www.plantmuseum.com/ we will have to make this another excursion into downtown Tampa.

We have begun to meet our dock mates and other boaters around the marina. These people are very friendly and if they see you working on your boat they stop and ask if you need anything to just ask. Almost all of the people here are part of the residential community here but there is one couple with a small 6 year old son and 11 month old Black Lab, Sasha here from Indiana. Jim, Lana, and Matthew are here in Tampa Bay getting some work done on their 68’ Irwin Cutter/Ketch. After the work is completed they plan on sailing to Hawaii. I am always amazed to see these huge sailboats that are cruised just with a crew of two. Checkout the Irwin 68 here on yachtworld: http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1986/Irwin-Ketch-2435075/Marina-del-Rey/CA/United-States What a trip that is going to be!