We undocked at 9:30 in Tarpon Springs with strong SE winds from a dock that you had to hold your breath to exit. Bob did a masterful job maneuvering our little single engine, no bow thruster Baby Grand. It is overcast, sticky FL humid at 68 degrees and I know that any of you in the northern climes would trade places with us now that you have snow and cold.
It is a short trip of 23 miles to Clearwater along the Gulf the Intracoastal Waterway—so glad to see you again. We have missed your protected waters and signposts to keep us out of danger. We could have stayed a few more days in charming Tarpon Springs, but with storms forecast for tomorrow, we decided to move on. No hurry today so we cruise at 8mph which is way less than our last diesel guzzling trip at 10mph.
We pass Anclote Island and Light which marks a dangerous reef. Here’s a picture of a Spoil Island made from dredge—in a few years, you will probably see a realtor’s sign advertising home sites at outrageous prices. We passed under the Dunedin Causeway Bridge which has a clearance of 23 feet—we are 21 feet so we went through slowly, looking up all the way. Here’s Bob checking the paper charts, Chartplotter and depth sounder—who says that men can’t multi-task.
We pull into Clearwater at 12:30 and were greeted by a multitude of boats. We had a reservation at the Clearwater Municipal Marina and chose it as they had Valvtect diesel fuel at $1.86 with tax and Boat US discount—that is a deal. There are a lot of Loopers here and it was great to catch up with everybody and meet new Loopers. Everybody was busy washing their boats to get rid of the encrusted salt residue. After the work was finished, we went over to Sunset Pier to walk the beach and enjoy a glorious sunset and full moon.
It is a short trip of 23 miles to Clearwater along the Gulf the Intracoastal Waterway—so glad to see you again. We have missed your protected waters and signposts to keep us out of danger. We could have stayed a few more days in charming Tarpon Springs, but with storms forecast for tomorrow, we decided to move on. No hurry today so we cruise at 8mph which is way less than our last diesel guzzling trip at 10mph.
We pass Anclote Island and Light which marks a dangerous reef. Here’s a picture of a Spoil Island made from dredge—in a few years, you will probably see a realtor’s sign advertising home sites at outrageous prices. We passed under the Dunedin Causeway Bridge which has a clearance of 23 feet—we are 21 feet so we went through slowly, looking up all the way. Here’s Bob checking the paper charts, Chartplotter and depth sounder—who says that men can’t multi-task.
We pull into Clearwater at 12:30 and were greeted by a multitude of boats. We had a reservation at the Clearwater Municipal Marina and chose it as they had Valvtect diesel fuel at $1.86 with tax and Boat US discount—that is a deal. There are a lot of Loopers here and it was great to catch up with everybody and meet new Loopers. Everybody was busy washing their boats to get rid of the encrusted salt residue. After the work was finished, we went over to Sunset Pier to walk the beach and enjoy a glorious sunset and full moon.
