CORTEZ BRIDGE ANCHORAGE, ANNA MARIA ISLAND, FL

16 to 18 April, 2005. We left the marina and anchored here again to wait out the weather before crossing Tampa Bay. We discovered that our dinghy was gone from the dinghy dock one day after spending some time on the island beaches. We thought it had been stolen but discovered that some kids had thrown a dead fish in it and released it. It had drifted to a nearby private dock where we recovered it. We now lock our dinghy to dinghy docks. I went back to the Sea Horse one night. I hung out after they closed and didn't get back to the dinghy until almost 6 am. It was pretty rough to dinghy against the current after a long night of drinking but I finally made it back to the boat. When we got a favorable weather report and set out, we were delayed by an accident on the Anna Maria Bridge (just after the Cortez Bridge). Two openings were cancelled due to the accident. We encountered several asshole motorboaters throwing up huge wakes right next to us but once we were through the second bridge, the ride was fairly comfortable across Tampa Bay.