December 31, 2012 Day 234

At anchor, Clearwater Beach, FL
Total miles to date: 4341.3
 
Happy New Year everyone!  We have had another good day. We walked over to Craig Park this morning. It is a beautiful setting that surrounds Spring Bayou and is home to several manatees.  We watched them for quite a while and tried to photograph them as they barely surfaced, only to submerge again. They are large mammals and are protected by state and federal laws.

We walked back to the boat and said hello to Loopers on Paddy Wagon, Done Dreamin and Fandango. Then it was time to prepare to leave. We departed at 1:15 and followed Sea Hunt IV back out into the Anclote River then into the Gulf ICW.  We arrived in Clearwater Beach and anchored near the marina.  We watched many tourist boats go back and forth from our anchorage– the pirate ship, fishing charters, dolphin watching boats, excursion boats, etc.

At anchor Clearwater Beach near Sea Hunt IV

Arrgh - Pirates coming toward us!

Our plans to celebrate the New Year with Sea Hunt IV were altered when we discovered more plumbing problems.  Bill spent the evening working on them. 

Fortunately, we were able to watch a panoramic view of fireworks between 11:00 and midnight and welcomed in the New Year.  We took time to reflect on this amazing past year and look forward to continuing our journey in 2013.

December 30, 2012 Day 233

Turtle Cove Marina, Tarpon Springs, FL
Total miles to date: 4320.3

We spent yesterday and today doing more boat chores.  Bill was unable to fix the motor on the aft head, so it looks like we will be buying a new unit.



Jamming with Andre and Lisa on Sea Hunt IV

After dinner on board, we went over to Sea Hunt IV and had a fun time with the DuBois family.  Bill took his banjo and joined Lisa on mandolin and Andre on guitar in several songs. 

We will leave with them tomorrow afternoon (when the tide is high enough!) and head to Clearwater Beach. We both plan to anchor out near the Clearwater Beach Marina.  We look forward to seeing the fireworks on the beach and welcome in the New Year!

December 28, 2012 Day 231

Turtle Cove Marina, Tarpon Springs, FL
Total miles to date: 4320.3

We had a fun day! We took the “Jolley Trolley“ from Tarpon Springs to Clearwater Beach ($2.25 roundtrip per person for seniors).  First stop - lunch at Frenchy’s Rockaway Grill on the beach.  Joyce loved the sea crab soup and the fruit salad served in a taco shell, and Bill enjoyed the fried clams.  Then we walked past several shops and into Pier 60, a fantastic park at the beach.  From there we walked over to Clearwater Beach Marina and said hello to three Loopers: Irish Attitude, Maia, and Nanceann.  We will probably go there early next week.

We eventually caught the return trolley back to Tarpon Springs. (It also passes through the little town of Dunedin, but we did not have time to stop).

When we returned to our boat, we chatted briefly with the DuBois family. They had returned to their boat on Sea Hunt IV after visiting with family all week. Anne and Larry have also returned to Great Laker after being gone for the holidays.  Loopers on Done Dreamin also arrived today. 

We arrived just in time as it had started to rain when we returned.  We had dinner on board tonight, and just relaxed after our day of sightseeing.

The Jolley Trolley

Clearwater Beach

Nice view from
Frenchy's Rockaway Grill

 

Lots of activities on the beach
 

 

December 27, 2012    Day 230                             

Turtle Cove Marina, Tarpon Springs, FL
Total miles to date:  4320.3

After saying goodbye to Irish Attitude in mid-morning, we walked over to the marina office to pick up our mail. We had decided to stay until Saturday, and then learned the marina’s policy of “pay for five nights and get the next two nights free”. So now we will stay until Monday!  We spent much of the afternoon walking around Tarpon Springs.  The Sponge Docks Fishing Village, which dates back to the early 1900's, continues to be full of visitors! It has some great Greek restaurants and shops, along with opportunities for fishing charters.

There are many sponge shops, one with a movie explaining the sponge industry. There are over 125 boats here to collect sponges, either with divers or by hooking them from the boats.  The sponges are then sold through the Sponge Exchange, then taken to packing houses for cleaning and clipping, and then packed for shipment.  

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral

After returning from our two mile walk into the main area of Tarpon Springs (we did get a ride back), we had dinner on board then walked back to Hellas Greek Bakery for cheesecake. 

December 26, 2012    Day 229                           

Turtle Cove Marina, Tarpon Springs, FL

Total miles to date:  4320.3

The storms that have hit the south finally found us this morning and brought some gusty winds, rain, and thunder.  Fortunately it did not last long and the sun came back out for the rest of the day.  Time to get caught up on the blog, laundry, etc. 

Joyce and Gay walked a few short blocks along the Anclote River waterfront and visited most of the small shops this afternoon. The streets were crowded with tourists today but they enjoyed the browsing!

We went to dinner at Rusty Bellies with Gay and Mike and had great seafood!  Then we walked down to Hellas Greek Restaurant and Bakery (key word here is bakery) and we each came back to our boats with some pretty decadent chocolate desserts!  Joyce and Gay had scoped this place out earlier!





Hellas Bakery!

Sponge Diver Memorial

Gay and Mike will leave in the morning, so we said goodbye tonight.  We will look forward to seeing them again sometime!  Loopers paths cross frequently and that is always a nice surprise.

December 25, 2012    Day 228                           

Turtle Cove Marina, Tarpon Springs, FL
Total miles to date:  4320.3




At 10:10 am on Sunday, December 23, we began our crossing of the Gulf with Irish Attitude and Sea Hunt IV. We were pleased to find calm water with waves no more than a foot most of the time. About 2:30 in the morning they did pick up to about 2 ½ ft. for an hour or so, and then diminished again. What a wonderful ride!  The sky was mostly cloudy so we did not get our starry night, but the moon did appear from time to time and glistened on the water through the clouds. 
Before leaving we decided we needed a “call sign” for radio communications, so we became the “Rudolph Flight” (thanks to Luc for the Christmas themed title!). We checked in during the night every hour on the radio. At one point Joyce returned from her 2 hour break to find Bill writing poems to share with the other boats during our hourly check!  Here are two examples of his creativity:

“Tis two nights before Christmas

On the Gulf of Mexico

Three boats they do travel

Three boats in a row

Their lights do shine

Green white and red

And how we do wish we

Could all go to bed.”

 

“In the night

On the Gulf of Mexico

We traveled south

We traveled slow

The clouds flew away

And the moon came out to shine

It’s 2:00 am

And there are 65 miles to go!”

About 6:40 am we slowed down to idle to wait for the sunrise.  We were starting to see the ubiquitous crab pots and need better visibility.  Sea Hunt was the lead boat and communicated over the radio calling out crab pots to port or starboard, giving us time to adjust!

We arrived at Turtle Cove Marina in Tarpon Springs on December 24, at 11:30 am, tired, but so very happy to be here. We are thankful for a safe, successful crossing. Prayers were answered!

After getting about three hours rest we had Gay and Mike (Irish Attitude) over for Christmas Eve dinner.  It was so nice to relax and enjoy the evening with friends.  Gay and Mike joined us Christmas morning for breakfast – another fun time. We are away from our families and it was good to have company!  Christmas afternoon was spent cleaning the outside of the boat to remove all the salt spray we accumulated during the crossing. Gay and Mike returned for Christmas dinner and we talked until after 11:00pm!

We will likely stay here in Tarpon Springs until Friday. We have some boat chores and also want to tour the town, known for its Greek heritage and food and also for being the “Sponge Capital of the World”.


Following Sea Hunt IV into the Gulf

 

 

Irish Attitude followed us

Sun setting on the Gulf - see how calm it is!

8 hours into the trip at 6:10pm 123.2 miles to go!

Beautiful sunrise

Irish Attitude, Sea Hunt IV, Carried Away
docked at Turtle Cove Marina in Tarpon Springs

 

December 22, 2012    Day 225                             

C-Quarters Marina, Carrabelle, FL

Total miles to date:  4139.5

Before leaving Apalachicola, Gay and Joyce took the golf cart to the grocery store at 8 am and endured a cold, windy ride. But they were happy to get the food needed for our Christmas meals!  When they got back, Bill and Mike took the cart and drove around town to see various sites. Then it was time to leave for Carrabelle. We only had 29 miles to travel today and we were happy to have a bright sunny day to travel and fairly calm seas!

When we arrived at C-Quarters Marina in Carrabelle with Irish Attitude, our friends on Sea Hunt IV were there to greet us. It was so wonderful to see them again. We last saw them in Killarney, Ontario and our paths have not crossed again until now. 

After we stopped at the fuel dock we tied up at our slip between Sea Hunt and Irish Attitude.  The docking was more complicated today and took several people helping to get our two boats tied up. Short finger piers, tall pilings, dealing with tide, etc. all made it interesting.

The conversation of the day dealt mainly with plans to cross the gulf.  The result: we are leaving at 9am tomorrow, December 23 with Sea Hunt IV and Irish Attitude to make the trip to Tarpon Springs. We expect it to take about 22 hours as we will travel at 8 mph.   We will arrive in Tarpon Springs on the morning of Christmas Eve. The marina closes at noon that day but has already given us slip assignments if they are not there when we arrive.

Joyce prepared lasagna for our Christmas Eve dinner – this will make it so much easier to have a nice meal after a long crossing!  We traditionally have this meal on Christmas Eve and it is nice to keep that tradition!

We will update our blog after we arrive.  We are hopeful for a good crossing with calm seas!