This bridge is special. The original bridge was scary. I remember riding over it when I was a kid. It was two narrow lanes in each direction with steel floors. When you drove over it, the car would gently swerve left and right, depending on how much tread you had left on your tires. I always hated that bridge.
On May 9, 1980, the freighter MV Summit Venture lost its direction in a sudden squall and slammed into one of the supports of the southbound span causing it to fall. It was 7:33 AM, rush hour. Cars couldn’t see what had happened, and 35 people lost their lives as their cars drove off the bridge and plummeted into the water. A friend of ours was on his motorcycle that morning. He was the last vehicle to make it over the bridge safely. I’ll never forget it.
On April 20, 1987, this new Sunshine Skyway bridge opened for traffic. It’s a beautiful bridge and signifies new beginnings and continued growth. As we sailed under it on February 26, 2020, it marked the end of our longest sailing journey yet – 1400 miles from the British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Turks and Caicos, through the Exuma chain of the Bahamas, into Ft. Lauderdale, and finally onto St. Petersburg. Just another 90 minutes, and we’d be pulling into our slip at the Harborage Marina.
There’s no place like home!
March 2020