Tarpon Springs

Long way from home

Longer way from home

Longest way from home, Perth, Australia

Rescue number 2

Back of Tarpon Springs YC

Working boats

Huge work in progress

Tourist boat out to cruise the river and delta

Sponge docks from the water

Museum boat

This is a shrine to St. Michael the Archangel. The parents prayed for St. Michael to intercede with God for a miracle cure for their son. When the miracle happened, they built a shrine to honor St. Michael.

Lots of sponges

Fish camp-Florida style

This is now a private residence-used to be a church

Bridge about 200 feet away. Sounds like a great part-time job

Bayou near the club

We arrived in Tarpon on Saturday morning. We have wanted to visit the yacht club here before but thought it was too shallow. After meeting other cruisers who had been in here we decided to give it a shot. We have to navigate the channel at high tide but that just means a little more attention to planning detail. The club is worth it. Very laid back and friendly. A lot like our home club. Tarpon is a different sort of place. Definitely a tourist place but not completely. The part where we visit is still very much a working seafaring community. The main business is sponge diving with fishing and shrimping thrown in too. The marinas have boats from around the world and the yards can handle huge projects. This is all in the same area as the tourists shops. Definitely not Disneyland! The locals are nice people and like to share their culture. The predominant group are the Greeks. You hear Greek spoken in all the shops and one store sells talking toys that speak Greek as well as a wide selection of books and videos.

We went out for a dingy ride after Mass this morning and we must have listened to the sermon on helping others because we became a tow boat for two sets of stranded boaters! Okay, since I started this, the number is now three! Our first boat was mom, dad and 2 kids stranded not too far from their marina. In the process of towing them to help, this guy with 2 jet skis asks for our help so we take him back to a boat ramp where a buddy could get him out on a trailer. Tonight we were watching the sunset with a glass of wine and this large boat with lots of family aboard died right in front of the boat and couldn't get restarted. So they became rescue number three. Nice to be the answer to somebody's prayer since nice people have been the answer to ours in the past.

Tomorrow we plan to ride the bike trail to a nature preserve then pack up and leave on high tide to anchor off Anclote key and head back to the panhandle Tuesday morning. That's at least the plan to post the changes to right now.

Anclote Key

Powerplant at the mouth of the Anclote River delta. This is a great landmark when arriving from the gulf. After long hours of sailing, you know you're almost there.

Park welcoming committee

Tidal flats

Tidal creek

Sea of grass

Egg shell

Lighthouse picnic area

Ibis hunting

Dry tidal flow bed

Trees downed by storms

Those little brown spots are crabs

Crab's sand balls

Full anchorage

Is this a new breed?

We now have another favorite place to visit, Anclote Key. We anchored behind the island on our trip back to FWB when we first purchased the boat. It was still a scary thing to us and it wasn't that great a stay. This time was nicely different. I suppose 6 years experience on the boat and hundreds of times anchoring made a bit of difference. We have a good chart and chartplotter so we were able to get fairly close to shore. In fact, there were about 8 sailboats in the same area and none of them came any where near us. Our location was a great advantage since we weren't as affected by the current and stayed with our bow into the wind. Since we count on the windscoop to keep the boat cool, that makes a difference. Once settled, we dingyed to shore to explore the state park. We tried walking to the light house but were attacked by mosquitoes. Again, we didn't think to bring spray. We're just not used to thinking about the bugs except at dusk. Hopefully we'll eventually learn. Anyway, we did see some really cool stuf as we slapped the little devils. We escaped to the dingy and went to the end of the island. The sea breeze kept the bugs at bay and we walked over to the gulf side. This area is a tidal flat that is completely covered during high tide. Lots of stuff to see. There were many sand sculptures left dry by the water's ebbing from high tide. Crabs dig holes with abandon and leave behind little balls to sand. Just before dusk and the return of water, the little crabs make a mass exodus from the beach to the area above the high tide mark. We haven't seen this since Okinawa. They scramble up the banks by the thousands and make such a racket. We also saw several osprey chicks poking their heads above the sticks. They are getting too big for mom to force them to stay down. We made it back to the boat in time to get our anchor light on and promise ourselves a return trip some day.

Clearwater YC-phase 2

Holy Mackerel
Flying the colors
Clearwater Beach skyline
Big shrimper in the gulf
We started out the day with plans to anchor about 25 miles south of here but the sailing was so great we just kept going. First we adjusted our goal from Pass-a-Grille pass to John's pass to finally Clearwater Pass. We were able to fly the spinnaker and run the engine very little. It feels good to be a sailboat again instead of having to break in the engine! David even caught a nice Spanish mackerel for supper. The YC had a spot so in we came. We met some nice folks at the outside bar and gave one couple a tour of the boat. Theirs is a similar size and they wanted some ideas of getting her ready for cruising. We plan to head up the waterway towards Tarpon Springs. We have reservations at the club there but need to go in on a high tide. This week that happens in the morning so we'll be close by and hopefully make it in without the assist of Towboat US.

Sarasota Yacht Club

Our slip neighbors
Van Wezel performing arts center-it looks like a circus tent from the water
Famous statue
Beautiful art in the park
Front of new clubhouse
Back of new clubhouse
Houses across from club
Downtown Sarasota
We decided to go out the Venice Inlet and sail along the coast to Sarasota. We had been to the club two years ago on our last trip. They had torn down their old building and had something grand in the works. It is indeed grand. There is nothing casual about this new club. As elegant as it is, I wonder if some of the members wouldn't like to go back to the tent. I guess time always moves on.
We didn't have much of an opportunity to explore last trip due to rain. We didn't have much time this trip, but we crossed the very TALL bridge in search of bread and sight seeing opportunities. We rode along the waterfront on both sides of the bridge then back over the VERY tall bridge to settle in.

Venice Yacht Club-Phase 2

Don't make me mad!!
Bird owners of club
Front of Venice YC
Look under mama on the right-2 little heads
David's delicious spotted trout
All that action just for us

We had a nice motor-sail to the Venice Yacht Club yesterday. More emphasis on the motor. The trip up involves a lot of bridge openings to let us through. It always amazes me that our little boat can cause traffic to hold up and either a swing or draw bridge to be activated. I finally got some pictures of the pair of birds who own this yacht club. The male is especially territorial and spends most of his time puffing up and chasing away the competition. The female just wanders around the pool deck begging food. We only had one day to spend here but we did get to have dinner with Terri and Steve. Always great to see them and hopefully they can make it up our way some time. We plan to go to Sarasota YC tonight then anchor out the next few nights. With the holiday weekend coming up, there is no room at the inns. We do have reservations at the Tarpon Springs YC for Sat. We have to go in at high tide but that shouldn't be too hard. We really like the town and didn't have a chance to visit on the way down. The real world is starting to beckon so we probably won't be spending a lot of time in any one place. Of course, that could change!!

Cabbage Key

Steps up to water tower platform
They're serious about saving water!
Water tower with osprey nest on top
The main house and restaurant
Garbage day at the key
Approaching the key
Beautiful bush
The mosquitoes own this path!
We jumped on another weather window to get back towards the mainland. This time we weren't
disappointed in the wind. We were able to sail over 90% of the way back. The wind started
to fade after sunrise so we were able to fly the spinnaker for the first time this trip. We
only had to motor about 7 hours of the entire trip and most of that was maneuvering around
channels. We had planned to head back to Fort Myers beach but the wind took us to Boca
Grande pass. We wanted to visit Cabbage Key anyway so it worked out well. We ended up
staying at the dock there. We thought we would be able to refill our tanks and pump out but
it was not to be. The key is a privately owned collection of cottages, trails and other
amenities. It was once a family's winter haven but now is open to those wanting to
experience the old Florida. Water comes from a well and supply boat so it is a precious
commodity. The sign at the shower house is not a joke! They also don't want to take your
trash since that also involves a big expense for them. We did enjoy a great dinner and
breakfast in the restaurant and met more interesting characters. We planned to climb the
tower and walk the paths before we left but only made the tower climb. We walked less than
200 yards down the path before we were swarmed by mosquitoes! You'd think we were in the
north woods! We didn't expect them to be so thick at 8 am. We beat a hasty retreat and
decided to cast off for our next destination-back to Venice YC.