Maiden Voyage

​Three Weeks after taking possession and plenty of mental prep, we decided to take a day trip out of the St. Pete marina.  We headed out of Tampa Bay along Egmont Key.  We even discussed a possible overnight if everything continued to look smooth with the weather.  As we were planning our trip down, the weather for the weekend was looking wet and we were unsure of making it out for the day.

Saturday morning we woke to blue skies and bright sunshine with possible afternoon storms, so we prepared for departure and left the dock around 10:30 am.  We were super excited as we completed our first leg under the Skyway Bridge.

D taught me about the electronics and I was able to steer and set the auto pilot.  The cruise was Awesome!  We were both smiling from ear to ear.  Once arriving we set the anchor and once again we discussed the process of anchorage and how to anchor our boat!  After watching, I realized that I will need to learn to steer using the throttles and not the wheel for times such as setting the anchor.  The day was beautiful and we were able to enjoy the sun, water, and beach.  Yes, we even used the dingy to go ashore and walk along the beach.

​Lounging on the front deck we enjoyed a few beers and the sun.  Harley even joined us on the deck.  Although she is very cautious on the boat, she is beginning to settle in with a few Harley accommodations like a mat on the front deck just for her.

As the afternoon progressed, we watched the storms building inland, but was still trying to decide whether to weather the storm and stay the night or head back in.  We finally decided to pull anchor and head into the storm.  We tracked along Fort De Soto to miss some of the worst before crossing back under the Skyway towards St. Petersburg, Florida.

The wind was strong and waves were hitting our starboard side when we turned toward St. Pete with one wave even crashing over the bow on the starboard side.  The best part was the dolphins that were cruising and jumping off our bow.  The violent waves prevented me from taking photos so I could share this awesome first time dolphin experience on our boat!
The final challenge was docking back at St. Petersburg Municipal Marina.  Our dock is located on Pier 5 along the outside where there is little protection from the wind. Our boat is a little small for the slip so we have some extra poles to maneuver through that are for bigger boats. These poles make docking a challenge along with the fact we have not docked before.  Now, throw in some wind. We actually lost count after 5 attempts were made to dock before we successfully got her unharmed into the slip.

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Big Thanks! to Steve who came out to help us.  Steve and his wife Robin invited us to lunch the next day followed by a tour of downtown St. Petersburg.  We enjoyed learning all the great places, bars, and restaurants in the area.  This day was another adventure.  After waking Sunday with even stronger winds and rain, we were thankful to be safely in our slip.  Check out the video of our adventure below