Sarasota Florida

Where do I begin?  I'm sorry I've been delinquent in updating our blog.  We have just been so busy I haven't had the time so I'll start from the time we arrived in Sarasota.  As you know from my last posting Debbie D. has been with us and we are all having a great  time.  The weather has been fantastic and the waters of the West gulf coast of Florida are just unbelievable.  It was foggy when we left and I had Jan and Debbie on the bow looking for crab pots.  It cleared up before we went under the Sunshine Causeway Bridge.  We stayed at a marina called Marina Jack's when we arrived at Sarasota. Super nice and convenient to most everything, plus they have a shuttle van that will take you pretty much anywhere.  We were going to stay for two days but decided to spend one more to see what we missed.  On our first day we met our long lost friends Mike and Gaile, from our Sea Ray Boat Club days, whom are from North Carolina, and are renting a house in Venice Florida.  We have been in touch since we left, so we could make sure to get together.   They drove over to see us in Sarasota and picked us up and drove us around to replenish our supplies and later that night we went to dinner at Barnacle Bills.  We had a great time and tried to get caught up on the past thirteen years.  Day after that Debbie and Jan went shopping and I went to the John and Mable Ringling estate and museum.   Now I can't speak for the shopping part except they had a good time, but the Ringling Museum was awesome.   If you ever been to a circus this is the place to go to learn the history and especially the Ringling Bros. history of the circus during the teens to the forty's.   The logistics of setting up, traveling by train, the animals care, the 1500 people that traveled with it was crazy. Next day we were headed to Venice to see Mike (Bubba) and Miss Gaile.  Can't wait to see what it's like being in a house again.

Sunshine Causeway bridge

Arriving in Sarasota

The girls and me in Sarasota

Ringling Bros. Muesum

John and Mable's estate

Chandler from the original Waldorf Astoria

Back of the house

Looking out the back

More Banyon Trees than you can imagine

The house of John

Memories

 

Colors of the water

St. Petersburg, FL

We were having a wonderful trip to St. Petersburg until we went into Tampa Bay and made a left to get to  our destination at the Renaissance Vinoy Marina.  It was an East wind and raining which made the bay rough enough to get salt water spray all over the boat.  Luckily we only had to go about 5 miles.  Once we pulled in we found out that the reviews we heard about this place were true.  If there is an East wind over 10 mph, which it was, you rock and roll, which we did.  Debbie arrived at 11:30pm and it was great to see our friend from home.  We stayed up till 1:00am before we all went to bed.  Panacea continued to rock and roll all thru the night and into the next day with rain the whole time.  Friday we did our laundry, had lunch at the Vinoy, and checked out the resort.  We found out that for fifty cents you could get on a trolley bus that took you around the city of St. Petersburg with the bus driver pointing out special pionts of interest.   Since it was raining we decided to take the trolley and do the whole loop and see where we want to go the next day when the rain stopped.  Saturday turned out to be wonderful.  The boat stopped rocking and the sun came out and so did the people.  We walked over to an annual art exhibit in the park with each artist showing their craft in individual booths.  There was some really cool stuff.  We then walked across the street, had breakfast, were Jan and Debbie went shopping and I headed on the trolley to the Dali Museum.  For all you people from Rio Linda, Salvadore Dali was a world renown Surrealist artist from Spain.  His art work was from 1914 to about 1986.  I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside, but some of his art pieces were fourteen feet high.  I also think he was either a genius or on the brink of mental illness.  It's amazing what he envisioned when painting.  After we all returned to the boat we enjoyed a nice steak dinner and settled in for the night.

Panacea at the Renaissance Vinoy Marina Resort

I guess we're not the only loopers

Art festival

Banyan tree

Made from Agave plant, unbelievable 

The pelican whisperer

To all our family and friends from Spain

Inside the museum, spiral staircase to heaven

Vinoy harbor

Jan and Debbie 

Walking back after taking Chloe to see the squirrels

This is a pic Jan took at the park, not sure what it is

Clearwater Beach Marina

After the tide came up we left Tarpon Springs at noon and headed to Clearwater.  Going into Clearwater we started to see many high rise condos and houses along the way.  It was raining with about 8 mph wind and we needed to work our way to St. Petersburg because our friend Debbie was flying in to Tampa to spend some time with us.  When we arrived at the marina, one of the looper boats that crossed over the same day as us, were there to greet us.  Mike and Lois have a trawler named "Inch N Along" and a new kitty named Adi.  They invited us over for a pasta dinner and we brought the wine.  We all talked about our crossing and how glad we were to have it over.  The weather stayed the same through out the day and next day and at 9:30am Thursday we left for St. Petersburg.

This was one of the nine bridges we went under to Clearwater

We didn't need to have any open 

Typical house along the way

Lot of rich people in Florida

Buch of birds in bushes

Mike, Lois. and Adi

Tarpon Springs

The first thing we did when we tied up in Tarpon Springs was to take Chloe for a potty walk and after that we tried to take a nap.  I think we had so much adrenaline still going we couldn't sleep.  So, I washed down the boat to get the salt off and poured myself a celebratory drink.  Later in the afternoon three other boats, that left Carrabelle the Wednesday before we left, arrived here at Turtle Cove and we all got together and celebrated making here.  The three boats that left on Wednesday did what is called the "Big Bend", which is going due East from Carrabelle to Steinhatchee, then South from Steinhatchee to Crystal River, and Crystal River to Tarpon Springs.  It's long day trips but pulling into a marina for the night.  You still have to watch the weather and be careful of the water depth pulling into these marinas.  Thought it was ironic we made it here before they did.  That night I took Chloe out for her final potty walk before going to bed and on the way back she tried to jump from the dock to the swim platform on the boat and didn't quite make it.  I pulled her back up and got a towel to dry her off.  By this time I was completely exhausted but knew I had to give her a bath to get the salt water off.  Finally got to bed and we all slept for about 12 hours.  Next day it was 75 degrees which called for shorts and sandals.  First time in a long time we've had warm weather since leaving Seabrook Texas.  Our new friends Barb and Ross joined us and we all walked into Tarpon Springs for lunch and sightseeing.  I may have mentioned the Tarpon Springs is the sponge capital of the world.  At least that's what the sign said.  We had a nice time walking around a seeing the many shops and sponge boats.  That night all us loopers got together for a pot luck bbq.  Everyone brought their own meat and some sort of side.  We stopped at the local fish market and got a couple of steaks of Amber jack.  Never had it before but turned out great.  Leaving tomorrow for Clearwater.

First nice day we wore shorts and sandals

Just hanging around

Sponges sponges everywhere!

Typical sponge boat

Dedicated to the divers

Steve and Meredith's boat.  They are almost done.

Ross and Barb,  They went across the Gulf with us in their trawler

Fellow loopers at Turtle Cove Marina having a BBQ pot luck

Bye Bye Carrabelle

Finally the time came when the weather and the experts said Sunday is the time to cross the Gulf of Mexico.  With our fingers crossed all seven boats waiting to go over were excited of the thoughts we would be 170 miles from here to the Western shores of Florida.  We had been in Carrabelle for twelve days now and have met many fellow loopers, some of them almost done with their loop.  We all met the night before and had a pot luck with chili, corn bread, salads, and adult beverages.  After going to bed I couldn't sleep with the thoughts of all the scenarios of the next day.  We met in the morning for coffee and it was still looking good and everything was a go. Four boats were going to leave at 10;00am and I decided to leave at 12:00pm.  The other two boats were at a different marina and one of them was a sail boat that left real early, because of speed, and the other boat was a trawler with a couple, Ross and Barb, from Michigan, we met when we were in Seabrook Texas who were going over with us.  At 12:00 we were on our way.  It was a beautiful day and we all had high expectations of calm seas.  We started out at about 7 knots and had about 2 foot waves but the swells were hitting us from the beam at about three to four feet giving us a rock and roll affect. To Jan and I we thought it was right up there with some of the other conditions we have encountered since leaving San Francisco which means it was uncomfortable.  For Chloe it was another "Chloe weather advisory", in which drugs were evolved, she also had to keep her paws crossed because she had to wait 23 hours. Speaking of 23 hours, it was a real challenge of endurance and continuous conversation to keep us awake.  Crossing the Gulf of Mexico from Carrabelle to Tarpon Springs is the hardest part of the great loop and one of the things you need to do is to make sure you are at least 15 to 20 miles off the coast of your destination in day light because of the crab pots that are everywhere.  With our coarse heading and time of arrival to cross the crab pot area we were too early of an arrival and had to slow our speed to 6 knots and go further South before turning in so we would be able to see the crab pots.  As daylight broke we were greeted with, non other than FOG!  Really!  Thankfully we made it thru and tied up at Turtle Cove Marina at 11:30am Monday.  YEAH!!!!!!

 Bye Bye Carrabelle

Great staff at The Moorings Marina

Dog Island, an outer barrier island from Carrabelle

Sunset on the Gulf

Sunrise on the Gulf before the fog