Clearwater Beach cont…

Here are some other photos of our time in Clearwater Beach. The first one is Louie with David. 

James serenading us one night. Nice to have our very own musician on the dock. 

Fish caught by one of the many fishing boats who take folks out in the gulf to fish.  There are boats that hold just a few folks and several that hold a lot. 

The ever present Pelicans waiting for fish scraps. 

The StarLite Majesty leaving for a dinner cruise. It was full every night.  

Beautiful skies. We never got tired of sunrises and sunsets. 

A shark boat that took tourists out and about many times a day. 

The pirate ship took people out day and night. All of the tourist boats passed by our dock. Every time the pirate boat passed our dock we heard this. “And now I have one more question. Who let the dogs out? Who,Who, Who, Who? ”  The crowd on the boat always joined in. From time to time we would all pop out of our boats and yell along with them. 

I have to mention that James and Stacey cooked BarB Q one evening. Everyone brought a dish. So good. 

Clearwater Beach was such fun. A boating community. We made some life long friends. If you have not been there lately for vacation you should consider it. It is a wonderful beach. Family friendly. They have made a lot of improvements in the last several years. 

It was time to go. Weather windows had been appearing only to disappear. This time six boats agreed (not an easy thing) that it looked as good as it was going to. Tomorrow would be our day to cross. It is a 26 +/- hour overnight trip from Clearwater to East pass by Dog Island. A few more hours to Apalachicola. Oysters!!!  We had our last docktail gathering. It would be goodbyes in the morning. 

Moving to Clearwater Beach – March 26

We made a spur of the moment decision to go ahead and move from the harbor by Clearwater to the Clearwater Beach Marina. They suddenly had room for us. It was a bit of a Chinese fire drill but we made it. Stacey and James were there to catch the lines along with some of our new dock friends. We settled in for the night. The next day was Easter. Martha and Wally invited us over for dinner. Delicious. Soooo good. After they dropped us off at the marina we decided to walk over to Pier 60. The place where a lot happens. Lots of activities for all ages. 

The next day (Monday) we had lunch with Dean and Sue at Salt Water Cafe the original Frenchy’s restaurant. We originally met them in Marco Island. They were finished with there trip and back home. It is always nice to catch up with other sailing friends which we did.

Tuesday was a rainy/foggy day. Stacey came over to Liza and our weather discussions began in earnest. The big question was when will we have a weather window to cross the gulf. Little did we know at the time that we would have this same discussion with lots of boaters for 24 days. In between waiting to cross and wondering when we could we had such a good time. There were so many fun boaters on our dock. 

Wednesday the Sheehans and their friends (from Pensacola) were in town in their boats staying at Clearwater Beach Yacht Club. We walked over to join them for dinner. Again catching up and sharing adventures. 

We spent the next 20 plus days doing the following. 

Tequila Tuesday’s. We caught the bus at the marina that took us to a great Mexican restaurant on the city side.  Fun was had by all. 

Waiting on the bus to go home. 

We went on a dinghy trip/picnic with 6 others to an island they named Dink Island. 

There it is. No one on the water that day but us. 

Great way to spend the afternoon with friends. 

Another night we had homemade Louisiana gumbo made by Eileen on their boat. Lee and Eileen were perfect hosts. 

It was absolutely delicious. She really knows how to make it. 

Docktails occurred quite often. 

We took the trolley to Dunedin. 

Wonderful painting on the side of a building. It was huge so I just took a sample. Wait I found a bigger one. The painting was a fund raiser. People paid to get their pet in the photo. Proceeds benefited animals. Not sure of details. 

We stopped by Skips and went to the Flanagan’s Irish Pub. 

A fun day all in all.  So you can see that we were not bored in Clearwater Beach. 

In between the fun things we did our regular chores. Went to grocery, drug stores, washed clothes, washed the boat etc. 
Clearwater Beach has beautiful sand. While we were there they had an event called Sugar Sands. A sand sculpting event plus, children’s events plus  parties every night on the beach and fireworks. 

Clearwater Marina Harborside (Downtown)…

We decided to stay at the Clearwater Harbor Marina in downtown Clearwater. The Marina is right under the Clearwater Memorial Causeway. We have stayed at the beach Marina before but never here. We were pleased with our experience. 

 View of Water’s Edge a residential condo.   It towers over everything. I wonder if it is the wave of the future here. 

S   
The Church of Scientology is apparently a big part of downtown Clearwater. We were very surprised. A lot of Clearwater residents are not real happy with this. They have many buildings downtown. We love the Jolley Trolley. They are everywhere and get us from here to there.   
Saw this on our walk. Beautiful isn’t it?  Liza in her slip. She liked it as it is a well protected harbor.   

Friday night there was a Friday Night Blast concert downtown featuring The Atlanta Rhythm Section. People arrived and set up early on the side streets to enjoy the music.   Wally and Martha from Belleair (just down the road and yes that is how you spell it) joined us.   You may remember we met them in the Panama City Marina in 2010. While there the Deepwater Horizon Oil spill occurred.  We both had to hot foot it home. They lived in Texas at the time. 
Another crowd shot.   Atlanta Rhythm Section. They were great.   

We took the Ferry over to Clearwater Beach Marina to see about getting a slip. They said they were full. We wanted to check for ourselves. James and Stacey in s/v Glass Slipper were there. They said come on over. There are a lot of fun sailors here. We are planning to cross the gulf with them. The Clearwater Ferry is a great service. One can park for free on the city side and pay a couple of dollars to go to the beach.  Parking is at a minimum at the beach. Sometimes nonexistent. You get off the ferry one block from the beach and walk over. You can also come over to eat out. 

Heading under the bridge. We were tied up there for several nights and never heard the traffic.     
One of the rides.   Another one. They come and go all day long.   

Downtown.     

  James and Stacey. Their adorable dog Louie was watching from their boat. I should have gotten his picture. Sorry Louie. This was to be our slip. We had to negotiate with these fellas. They eventually agreed.   
Before heading back on the ferry we went for an ice cream. Well of course!  Already discussing weather.   
On the way back to harbor marina.     
On the Saturday before we left we saw the final leg of the Sunshine Grand Prix bicycle race. The race took place over a week. It really 
 was exciting to watch. This was the final race of the day. Participants were from all over. This was the men’s final. We saw the tail end of the women’s race. It was equally as exciting.  We had dinner at Wally and Martha’s house that night. Wally was the cook. I should say chef. Delicious. 

Tarpon Springs…

In my last post I don’t think it was clear that by moving north I meant moving north up the west coast of Florida to a place where we could wait for a good weather window to cross the gulf to Apalachicola and oysters!!!  We moved up to Turtle Cove Marina in Tarpon Springs. We have some sailboat friends that are waiting to cross with us and they are in Clearwater Beach. Our thought was to get closer together the day before we crossed the gulf.

Dunedin Causeway Honeymoon Island bridge.

After that all of a sudden we were encompassed by thick fog. Thank goodness for radar.    Liza in her slip at the Marina. A very peaceful place way up the Anclote River. Nice Marina. We did boat chores and then walked to town to eat dinner at Rusty Bellies.

We had a good fish dinner.  A very busy place.

•  The next day we found out that a long time and very dear friend had died. We rented a car, drove to Fairhope to pick up a suit for David and drto Atlanta to celebrate her life.  It was a beautiful service that captured her essence. Funerals are always bitter sweet.
   Our view from our boat.
     Another view. An osprey sitting on the nest.
     Dessert at Hellas restaurant. All homemade.
    
    
   Walking along the sponge docks. Tarpon Springs Florida, home of the historic Sponge Docks

“The Sponge Industry helped build a Greek Community that is now famous not only for the worlds finest sponges, but for some of the finest Greek Restaurants, Markets, and Bakeries in the Country. What will you find in Tarpon Springs? The Sponge Docks, Greek Restaurants, Bakeries, Attractions, Natural Sponges, Sponge Diving, Tours, Sightseeing Cruises, Unique Greek and Florida Souvenirs, lots of Shopping, Sightseeing and Live Entertainment (Bouzoukia).”

Gulfport…

We left Marina Jacks in Sarasota. We were moving up to Gulfport. Our thoughts were to spend a few days in Gulfport and then move further to cross the gulf. We were in pursuit of a good weather window to cross the gulf. We found out it was a long time coming. In the meantime we enjoyed ourselves.  “Old Florida” is a phrase often evoked in describing Gulfport’s waterfront district, with its mix of small-scale cottages and small independent shops, restaurants and other businesses, situated among mature oak trees and brick-paved streets.

We stayed in the Gulfport City Marina. A well protected place to be. This waterside town is only about a mile from the Marina. An easy walk.    
 We were sitting in the cockpit and noticed lots of cars coming and going. It turned out that the Lions Club was having a Shrimp Boil. Off we went to get some for dinner. They were delicious. Yum!  Nice to do what the locals do.   

   
Another night our friends Wally and Martha came. They picked us up and we went to town. Gulfport on a Friday night is a happening place. Lots of people eating and drinking outside and inside. It was a lovely night. We ate at Neptune Grille which is an old fashioned Greek restaurant.  All the other restaurants had a waiting list. Actually it turned out to have very good food.   

During the night and the next morning it rained hard. Always nice to be snug in Liza and listening to the rain. 

 
I thought I would show you Liza nice and tidy.   

Sunday we walked around and went downtown to eat an early dinner as we had decided to leave in the morning. 

   
    
  Darn. We missed the sock hop.  It was time to move on. We decided to move to Turtle Cove in Tarpon Springs to wait for the elusive weather window that did not seem to be materializing. We have not been there by boat but we do know they have the Jolly Trolley and that will make getting around easier.