Cruising into the St Petersburg Vinoy Basin, we were met by our good friends, Jeff & Ellen in their dinghy. The mooring field was filled with Kadey Krogens: Waterford, Sea Dweller, Confetti and new KK owners-Magnolia. It's always a party when there is a mini KK rendezvous. We enjoyed a meet & greet on Magnolia, a dinner out at a cuban place-yum, street festivals and a tour of Salvador Dali's museum. We biked, we walked & we checked out the Renaissance Vinoy Resort, which is very cool. 
St Pete is where the Folding Bike Shop is located. This shop is where we purchased our new E-bikes. We biked out to the beaches & along the great bike trail. While in town, the owner of the shop tuned up our bikes. We really like this city, it is a happening place! My brother Bob & sis-in-law Karen were in town, so it was great to meet up with them and go to dinner.
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| Sunshine Skyway Bridge |
After a short 5 days, it was time to turn & head back south, this time to Venice & to a new Marina stop. We docked at the Crows Nest, which is off the GICW, situated on the inlet & walking distance to the ocean beaches. We biked many miles on their bike trail, which runs along the GICW. There is a small neighborhood that we had passed while cruising the GICW that looked interesting. We biked to Country Club Estates & found out that it is a resident owned manufactured homes community with a small protected marina that can handle boats up to 40 feet. We liked what we saw, the area & homes were very well taken care of. They even had a pet free portion of the community.
Next stop was a new anchorage for us in front of Pine Island, called St James. It's not very protected but it worked fine & we were close enough to the island to dinghy in to a local Waterfront Restaurant where we splurged on Stone Crab claws & Happy Hour drinks.Due to last fall's hurricane damaging Naples & some of Marco Island, dockage at MI Municipal was not an option because they were full. We had planned on anchoring but due to dredging & shallow water, we ended up un-expectantly at Factory Bay Marina on a T-head for the night. Right after docking, my phone rang & our friends from IHBC in Maumee, Diane & Doug were on the phone asking me "where are you?" and as I walked out to the back deck, here they were in a boat, right on our starboard. They were on their friends, the Lark's boat & happened to be cruising by & Diane recognized our boat! Boy can't get away with anything! Factory Bay Marina was really nice, free laundry & nice lounge, where we watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics coming from S Korea.
