FEBRUARY 2026 CRUISE To MARINA JACK’S – SARASOTA, ST. PETE’S MUNICIPAL MARINA
AND CROW’S NEST – VENICE
On February 18th ,5 boats left for this year’s February cruise north. Little Suzy, Cookin’, Aurevoir Y’All, Karine and Top Shelf cruised up on a beautiful day with calm seas up to our first stop at Marina Jack’s which was supposed to be for 4 nights. Once we saw the seas would be very rough with high winds we decided to cut our stay down to 3 nights and cruise up to St. Pete’s Municipal Marina 1 day early. During our stay at Marina Jack’s we enjoyed some free time as well as group activities. Adding a little twist to this cruise, we had a few different scheduled events besides our group dinners together. Our second evening in Sarasota consisted of an early fabulous dinner at Rosemary & Thyme followed by a fabulous Murder Mystery Trolley Tour – “Who Killed The Circus Queen”. This consisted of terrific acting by professional actors who came aboard at various stops giving us hints on the murder as well as ourselves acting along as part of the show. Fun was had by all and will make a great memory for this part of our cruise.
Weather was on our side on February 21st as we cruised our way north to St. Pete’s Municipal Marina. After arriving safely, we had an impromptu group dinner at Doc’s Fords nearby. Our second evening was a relaxing open day for all to enjoy as they wish and our third evening consisted of a group dinner at Ruth Chris’s Steakhouse. The following day we participated in a scheduled Club Event in downtown St. Pete’s. Top Shelf, Little Suzy and Cookin’ enjoyed a Walking & Culinary Tour – “Taste of Downtown St. Petersburg”. This also was an excellent event which consisted of gaining some historical knowledge as we walked through the beautiful downtown. Our first stop was at Red Mesa Cantina which used to be the old firehall converted to this restaurant. Starting with Chips and Salsa followed by Shrimp and Beef Tacos and beverages made this stop one I think we all will be venturing back to as it was fabulous. Walking over to our second stop proved to be just as interesting as we strolled into a beautiful courtyard that we probably never would have found on our own. But even more interesting was the little bistro – Dracula Legacy Wine Bar and Bistro. The owner is Romanian and loves the Dracula theme and as you can see by the photo, the whole bistro décor was the Gothic Dracula/Transylvania of the legendary movie – “Dracula”. Here our food consisted of wonderfully prepared Charcuterie boards for the group.
Prior to heading to our final stop, our tour guide – Scott (who was excellent) brought us over to where the Grand Prix Race would be held that weekend. We would have loved to be there for the race but the Marina needed our slips. Maybe next year. We also toured a very interesting Art Gallery along the way. Our final stop was a restaurant close to the marina called Bella Brava New World Trattoria. There we enjoyed pizzas and salad.
To top of the evening, the entire group including Karine and family joined us for beverages on Little Suzy.
The following morning, February 25th we all cruised down to Crow’s Nest in Venice for our final 2 nights. Our first night was an open night and the second night was our Group Dinner at the marina at Crow’s Nest Upstairs which was excellent. Also, for our final night, we enjoyed some snacks and beverages on Little Suzy prior to dinner. The following day, we headed for home with what should have been 1 foot seas but definitely started off a little more intense as we headed out. But the winds died down and weather was on our side again as we enjoyed this final leg of our February Cruise. We sure have some amazing people in this club and George and I look forward to our next cruise in March!
See you then our fellow boaters!
Suzy Koprash
“Saltwater is in our veins!”
Marathon Cruise Trip Report
Our April/May cruise to Faro Blanco Marina was a great time for members of MBYC.
On April 27th Cookin’ (Brent & Susan Cook), Karine (Bob & Sandy LaMontagne), Little Suzy (George & Suzy Koprash) and Top Shelf (Mike & Maria Adamson) left Marco for Faro Blanco Marina on Marathon.
That evening we had a great dinner together at Lazy Days where we enjoyed a fun waterside evening of food, fellowship and a terrific sunset over the Atlantic Ocean.
Friday things started happening at the marina in preparation for the 1st Annual 7 Mile Offshore Boat Races that were to begin on Saturday.
For many of us this was our first in-person Offshore Race and we got to witness the races right in front of our slips at Faro Blanco with turns 5 and 6 just off the marina entrance.
Saturday’s races went off as planned and we had a ring-side seat. It was amazing to us that somewhere around a hundred spectator boats were anchored just north of the race course while we watched from the Faro Blanco beach and from the upper deck of Karine.
The races on Sunday were more challenging with high winds and rough seas at turns 1 and 2 where 3 boats flipped over and another one flipped on the straightaway. After these 4 flips the Coast Guard stopped the race before all of the boats had even been in a race. Thankfully there were no injuries.
Sunday evening was the race party on the Faro Blanco grounds right behind our boats. The place was rocking with music, dancing, food and spirits well into the night.
On May 1st we celebrated milestone birthdays for both George Koprash and Maria Adamson with dinner that evening at The Butterfly Café at Tranquility Bay Resort.
We all had such a great time that we have already booked the same weekend in 2024 and hope to be part of the races again.
We hope more of you can join us in 2024!
Brent
Cruise Leader Continue Reading
‘Tween Waters Cruise Trip Report
Our March 13-20 cruise ended up just to ‘Tween Waters Marina on Captiva. Included on
this cruise was Cookin’ (Brent & Susan Cook), Karine (Bob & Sandy LaMontagne) O Sea
D (Vern & Ann Graham), Divergent (Bill Schroeder) and Camelot (Alan & Linda Sandlin.
The ride up, via the Gulf, was in mostly pleasant seas, especially for Cookin’ that followed
in Karine’s wake. When we came into Redfish Pass all of a sudden Divergent popped up
like he had been a hidden submarine but we were happy to see him.
It was a pleasure to have the Sandlins join us on this cruise. It has been a long time since
Alan and Linda have been able to join us on an extended cruise so we enjoyed their
company very much for two of our three nights.
Dining options on Captiva are still very limited so for the most part we ate meals on the
‘Tween Waters property at Old Captiva House and also on our own boats.
This cruise was planned for four nights at ‘Tween Waters followed by three nights at Boca
Grande Marina but mother nature had a rough forecast for both sea conditions and three
days of stormy weather at Boca Grande. In consideration of that, we cut the seven-day
cruise down to three days, eliminating the Boca Grande stop and cut one day off the ‘Tween
Waters stop and headed home early.
The ride home turned out to be slightly worse than forecast but nothing we couldn’t handle
so we had a very successful, but shortened trip, and a great time enjoying ‘Tween Waters.
Brent
The first stop on our February cruise was at Marina Jack in Sarasota where Cookin’ (Brent & Susan Cook), Karine (Bob & Sandy LaMontagne), O Sea D (Vern & Ann Graham), Little Suzy (George & Suzy Koprash) and Aurevoir Y’all (Mike & Jeanette Hale) docked for our annual four–night visit to this great marina.
While they were only able to stay with us for a couple of days, it was fantastic to have time with our newest members, George and Suzy and Mike and Jeanette. I guess we didn’t scare them off because they are both joining us again on our March cruise.
Our next stop was at the St. Pete Municipal Marina in St. Petersburg for Cookin’, Karine and O Sea D. We always enjoy this stop because it is right in downtown St. Pete and almost everything is within walking distance.
After three nights in St. Pete we waved goodbye to Vern and Ann as they headed back to Marco so Vern could catch a flight out of town. Cooks and LaMontagnes enjoyed a great dinner and a stop at Kilwins on the final night in St. Pete.
On Wednesday, February 22nd, Cookin’ and Karine left St. Pete for our final stop at the Crow’s Nest in Venice. We headed out of Tampa Bay into the Gulf for the 50 mile run to Venice in nice seas at about 26 kts.
A stop in Venice is not complete without dinner at The Crow’s Nest and lunch at The Soda Shoppe and we did both during these final two days of the cruise. On Friday the two of us headed back to Marco in nearly flat seas for a great end to a wonderful 10-day cruise.
Our next cruise is March 13 th to ‘Tween Waters in Captiva and Boca Grande for 9 boaters, including all 3 of our newest extended cruise members.
Brent
The first stop on our January cruise was at Boca Grande Marina where Cookin’ (Brent & Susan Cook), Nauti Buoy (Dave & Mary Ellen Mount), Karine (Bob & Sandy LaMontagne) O Sea D (Vern & Ann Graham), Hoosier Daddy (Dave & Jackie Cox with Guests, Andy & Linda Kelly), along with Mike and Cindy Brown by car all enjoyed a fun four-night stop.
Boca Grande suffered from Hurricane Ian in that a few of our normal haunts were either not open or no longer exist. The South Beach restaurant we always enjoyed was demolished but others were still in business so we enjoyed Scarpa’s, The Outlet at the Inlet, and the two restaurants at the marina.
The ladies enjoyed 4 days of playing Canasta while the men toured, ate, and repaired boats which is our normal past-time on these cruises.
After 3 days we bid farewell to the four friends aboard Hoosier Daddy who had to make an early departure.
Our next stop was at ‘Tween Waters Marina on Captiva for the 4 remaining boats. In contrast to Boca Grande, Captiva had much more hurricane damage with only one restaurant on the Island open for business, one food truck in a parking lot, and one pizza take-out joint.
For two of our four-night stay we enjoyed outstanding meals in Old Captiva House at the resort and one night at the food truck.
As bad as Captiva was, Sanibel was much, much worse. The four couples shared two four wheelers and went to see Sanibel. Whatever you have heard or read, Sanibel is worse off. It appears it could take years for it to return to normal and those people and businesses need all the prayers we can offer on their behalf.
As the 4 boats got ready to depart for home Nauti Buoy had an engine that would not start so Dave and Mary Ellen rode home on Karine and returned for the boat a week later after Cummins installed a new port engine starter. That’s boating!
Our next cruise is February 13th to Sarasota, St. Pete and Venice for 5 boaters, including two new members.
Brent