Gulfport Florida

We are anchored near the Gulfport Municipal Marina with some permanent residents because our guide indicated that there was a laundromat close by. We loaded all the laundry in the dinghy, went to the dinghy dock but the laundromat is closed. The dinghy dock is close to interesting shops and restaurants and you are allowed 8 hours free. We wandered around for an hour or so and went back to the boat with our dirty laundry.  Oh well, we will try again in Sarasota.
Jerry fished and caught a catfish and a bonefish so the anchorage was not all bad.

It was a bouncy noisy night as the wind came up on Boca Ciega Bay during the night. We had good holding so all is good.  We are getting ready to make our way to Sarasota.

Gulfport dinghy dock

Sunset on Boca Ciega Bay

The Captain is having fun

Caladesi State Park

It is a pleasure to travel in protected waters on the Intracoastal waterway. We were delayed a few minutes by the sheriff at the Dunedin Causeway because they had a diver in the water.  I wonder what gruesome task they had. It is nice not to have to hail the bridge to get it raised, North Star fits under all the causeways.
We spent the afternoon walking the beach at Caladesi State Park.  It is reputed to be one of the top 10 beaches in North America.  It was quite nice, hard packed white sand and lots of shells. I saw my first live armadillo, usually I see them dead at the side of the road. We met some friendly folks who invited us to join them at happy hour, we did join them but not before we went to photograph the sunset on the beach. We did not see the green flash that some claim to see as the sun sets.
This morning we walked along the 2 mile nature trail while we waited for the right tide to leave.  it is a nice clean park with wonderful floating docks that are easy to tie up to and to get off the boat. A very worthwhile stop.

Gopher Turtle resident

We did not see any

Bahama Mama

The beach goes on for miles and miles

Sunset over the Gulf on Honeymoon Island

The sponge capital of the world

They are not kidding about their sponges and the wonderful Greek food in Tarpon Springs. he sponge docks are lined with sponge diving boats and sponge shops. They are touristy shops selling loofah, T-shirts and soap. The Greek restaurants are everywhere with ladies handing you copies of menus of their respective establishment. I am not that familiar with Greek food and it is hard to decide when they offer the same thing at similar prices. We opted for the Parthenon and split the small house special.  It is one of the best pizzas I have ever had. The Captain liked it although he was less enthusiastic than I.
There is a really nice bicycle trail that runs through town which we found quite enjoyable.  We love this flat terrain and bonus the trail led us to a grocery store and you guessed it, West Marine.

We finished off the day with a visit to Capt'n Jack's Tiki bar for a cold beer and finger food. It was located 100 feet from our boat and looked too good to pass up.  All in all, we are glad we stayed to visit this quaint town, it was a lot of fun.

Tarpon Landing Marina

I didn't remember to look for sharks

A real fixer upper

Sponge boat at the sponge docks

Sponge Diver

Entertainment while you shop

Sunset in Tarpon Springs

Tarpon Springs

We arrived at 4:30 yesterday and drove around the crowded downtown area looking at the boats at the sponge docks.  We were looking for a concrete wall mentioned in Skipper Bob's guide but at low tide, we both went aground trying to navigate the narrow channel.  We pulled out and went to the Port of Tarpon Springs marina.  They only had room at the fuel dock and the marina is in the middle of nowhere so here we are at the Tarpon Landing Marina this morning getting ready to explore the town by bike. Randy continued on to Clearwater for some boat repairs. We will miss our travelling companion but most likely we will meet again out there somewhere.

This town has a Greek flavour and lots of sponge diving history.  The sponge docks are supposed to be the main attraction with live entertainment on week ends. It looks colourful and touristy so we will go have a look and report back tomorrow.

Sponge Docks

Sailboat in Tarpon Springs

Swimming with the Manatee

As expected, our plans changed. We felt it was too cold and windy to go out and anchor so we spent an other day at the marina. We rode our bikes to the mall and went to Charlie's Seafood restaurant for lunch with Randy.
The weather improved by afternoon so we piled into Randy's dinghy and went to look for manatees.  We saw quite a few of them so we tied up the dinghy at the entrance to the Three Sisters Spring and Randy and I went snorkeling.Jerry stayed to mind the dinghy and to take pictures. I did not see any manatees but the under water springs and the small colourful fish are interesting.  The current was pretty strong going into the spring, Jerry said I sounded like a bull moose. Coming back out was a nice ride.
We drove around some of the canals and Randy slid back in the river when we spotted a mother and her young. He was impressed with the size when you are looking at them in the water.

Most Manatees have scars from boat props

They need to surface frequently to breathe

The entrance was narrow and the current strong

Randy snorkling

Mama and baby

We left early this morning to go to Tarpon Springs and we should be there in a couple of hours. The Gulf is nice and calm and the visibility is good. Lots of crab pots to dodge.

Crystal River

We are at a rickety marina under a covered slip. It rained yesterday morning and the noise was deafening as the water poured down through the large gaps in the roof. This river is teaming with manatees because it is spring fed which means that the water temperature remains constant at 72 degrees. We plan to go anchor out near King's Spring today and get our snorkel gear on to see if we can't swim with these gentle giants.  A cold front has moved in and the high today is supposed to be less than the water temperature. We may have to revamp our plan.
Since we have 3 bicycles on board, Randy joined us for a ride into town to go to you have guessed, West Marine.  No trip into town is complete without it. We all went out for dinner at a seafood restaurant and to an Irish Pub for a night cap. Last night Randy had us over for cedar plank salmon and potato salad. He is quite the gourmet cook.  Tonight we plan to have Randy over for my famous sausage dinner. 
Jerry and I set off to go junk and antique browsing yesterday on our bikes. We had covered a few shops when Jerry picked up a tack and got a flat tire. He had to walk back 2 miles to the boat for his repair kit. I went on to get some supplies. Jerry did some boat maintenance and repaired his bike one more time.
It looks like we have a weather window Saturday so we will attempt our last jaunt down the open water of the Gulf. We are looking forward to the protected waters of the Intercoastal waterway.

Sunset at Pete's Pier Marina

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Watching the sun go down

Black Tickle is too wide for the slips, he is at the fuel dock

Crossing the Gulf of Mexico

We have completed two of three crossings of the Gulf of Mexico. This is a large body of water and mother nature is once again in charge of our schedule.

We started out at 1;30 on Monday after pouring over many weather sites. The winds were quite a bit better than on our first attempt and the swells and the chop was acceptable. We knew we would run out of daylight so we olanned to anchor in Deadman's Bay at the mouth of the Steinhatchee River, which we did. I have never been so anxious for a moonrise before. It was very dark without it, we had to have radar on to be able to follow Randy in Black Tickle.  It was hard to judge distance without it. The crossing went well wih dolphins and stingrays to entertain us. Not much to see 50 miles off shore.

We were going to stay in Steinhatchee to wait for a weather window but as luck would have it, we were able to carry on to Crystal River by 8:30 in the morning when the fog lifted a bit. I never did see DFeadman's Bay anchorage as we arrived in the dark and left in the fog. Fog is usually an indication of light winds and true to form we had flat seas and fog most of the day. We arrived at Crystal River as the suns et so we anchored rather than get to the marina in the dark. We had lots of dolphins swimming on our bow. It looks like we will hit them but we never do, they are fast.

We are waiting for mid tide to head into the marina. We don't want to be like the Loopers we heard on the VHF radio yesterday who thought it was interesting to be doing 7 knots in idle. That makes it difficult to dock a boat Florida style.

Sunset on the Gulf of Mexico

I didn't think the Gulf could get this calm

In the fog on the Gulf...better than rough seas

Sunset on Crystal River

The Gulf of Mexico

This starfish was still alive on the beach on Dog Island

We are most likely staying here for several days as a cold front is supposed to move through and the winds will be building. Next stop is Tarpon Springs and then we are back in protected waters.