Sarasota 1-10-09

With a full moon, there is a low low tide which meant that we could not leave Anna Marie Island until 11 a.m. as evidenced by a number of boats aground in the marina and at anchor. Since we had such a late departure, we decided to take the short hop of 15 miles to Sarasota.

Rose’s Pick joined us again today as we headed out again onto the GIWW which is supposed to have a minimum depth of 6 feet, but with shallow sections bordering it, it is good to be vigilant. We hit 6’2” feet at mile marker G39 but otherwise, had comfortable depths of 8 to12 feet. We pulled into Marina Jack’s Marina which is an upscale marina at $2 per foot but provides great service and amenities. We were glad to meet a former Looper on Lyssa Lin and current Loopers, Jim and Sandy on Footloose.

Saratoga is a very inviting, boat friendly city with a lot of restaurants, shops and points of interest within walking distance of the marina. There is a walking and bike trail and plenty of outdoor dining, even a Tiki Bar along the park. We had a fantastic dinner at Barnacle Bill’s and I highly recommend the bouillabaisse. There is a Whole Foods within walking distance as well as a Saturday Farmer’s Market.

We decided to spend another day here and go to the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens on Saturday. It offered a lush verdant garden along the Gulf complete with a Tea Café and mansion showcasing local botanical art works. The only downside in town was the Harley Davidson rendezvous complete with oldster Wild Hogs revving it up to ear-splitting levels and outdoing each other in leather outfits.

On the Water Again (Anna Marie Island) 1-8-09

Well, it came time to shake off the barnacles and get back on the waterway again today. It was made easy by having a clear, low humidity, sunny day with a start of 61 degrees which is just perfect for us northern boaters. Gary and Rose on Rose’s Pick decided also to leave today and we traveled together for 44 miles to Anna Marie Island.

This trip entails going under 10 bridges. Bob had lowered our tall antennas for this (19.6') as we were going after low tide but all had a clearance of at least 21 feet. I should mention for fellow Loopers that the bridge tenders monitor Channel 9 which was not immediately apparent to us at the first bridge ( Bellaire)which also had important numbers missing on their sign that the central portion of the bridge span is 4 feet higher. Do not plan on making a lot of speed on this portion of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) as there are a lot of no-wake zones and some crab pots. You will have plenty of depth in well-marked channels and be accompanied periodically by curious dolphins.

As we neared Anna Marie Island, we saw a Coast Guard rescue practice mission with helicopters and boats which was made more real by the CG radio announcement later that an EPIRB (emergency beacon) had deployed in the area. It’s good to know that the technology works and that the CG is there.

US Today did a feature story on Anna Marie Island a few weeks ago and described it as the real Florida. It is a narrow island 8 miles long and is remarkable for the lack of hotels, hi-rises, shopping malls and box stores. We loved the laid-back feel and the 1950’s style Mom and Pop stores and restaurants. Cortez and Coquina beaches merge and provide miles of sand and Gulf waters ribboned by a walking and bike trail. Gary and Rose opted for the early evening spaghetti feed at the Moose Lodge, and Bob and I enjoyed a glorious sunset and full moonlight walk on the beach. The Manatee Trolley bus shuttles between here, Longboat Key and the mainland which makes the area accessible, but for now, it is still forgotten.

As we move south, the boats and people are getting more colorful. Would you guess that this colorful boat used to be a 1963 sedate 41’ Hatteras? The owner Rick is not done yet and plans to add another level of red and purple to “really bring out the color”. He shares the space with his cat and 2 African birds that talk and make girlie whistles. For a special treat, Rick lit all the Christmas lights and decorations for which he won 1st place at the boat parade, and that together with the neon glow of the boat, made it possible for us to do without inside lights that night.

Farewell to Clearwater 1-8-09

Welcome back faithful readers. Our boat has been docked at the Clearwater Beach marina for the past month and we have really enjoyed our time there. Most of our blog has focused on the traveling parts of our trip but some have asked what did we do daily in Clearwater for 3 weeks.

I am an early morning person and like nothing better than walking a beach for 1-2 hours at first light with my winged friends. I asked the pool staff at the Hilton Hotel if I could use their pool to do my water physical therapy program and they graciously let me use their pool early in the morning. There is a municipal pool in Clearwater but it is not open until March.

There is always something going on down at the docks and it’s always fun watching whose coming in and out. The pirate ship would regularly go by our dock at 4pm and start the song, "Who Let the Dogs Out", and then we were conditioned to start panting and sing the song also. Bob and I are not suntan people as you can tell from my still pasty white color that I have worked hard to maintain with sunscreen 45 and 55, but we did take our chairs down to the beautiful Clearwater beach every day at 2pm to read. After dinner, we would often head back to Pier 60 for a leisurely walk along the beach and catch a beautiful sunset.

Christmas in New York

We left sunny 70 degree Tampa on 12/25 for cold frosty Albany NY but were warmed there by the love of our family. My sister and brother-in-law, Maureen and Kevin, live there and graciously open their home and hearts to 16 family members who roll in with suitcases, laundry bag, sleeping bags, blow-up mattresses and food for 5 days. Did I mention liquor as this is an Irish family. It is quite a production with non-stop food, conversation, fun and games. Kevin good naturedly tries to tell us that family like fish stinks after 3 days but we continue to stay. The twenty year old cousins were invited to a number of parties but opted to hang with the crazy aunts and uncles probably to get stories and pictures to bribe us with later.

Catch the picture of Bob trying out Guitar Hero. OK—Norwegians do have to work a little harder at the rhythm thing but he was psyched by it and wants to get one for the boat. Our family loves the interactive game Mafia in which family members secretly plot to off each other—it really helps the bonding Soprano style. With rounds of Dance Revolution and American Idol, I can honestly report that there is a lot of “talent” in this family.

It is always hard to say good-bye but we always take with us our love for each other. We will see the whole gang again on the East coast this summer. We had an 18 hour trip back to Tampa through snow and sleet but did get to Clearwater beach at 12 midnight to catch the New Year fireworks.

Happy New Year and may 2009 bring you much joy and happiness.

Happy Holidays from Clearwater Beach 12-15-08

We have decided to stay here for a month. We will be flying from Tampa to NY to see family from 12/25 to 12/30, and with a monthly marina rate of $15 per foot, this is a great option.

Clearwater Beach is a wide, white sand, expansive beach and the boardwalk area has recently been refurbished with lush landscaping and Pier 60. There are plenty of shops and restaurants nearby as well as a Publix grocery store 1 mile away. The Jolly Trolley offers area transportation for $1 and there are bike paths also. The Clearwater Recreation Center offers yoga 3 times a week.

We rented a car from Enterprise for the weekend and toured St. Petersburg’s museums. The Salvador Dali Museum is extraordinary and offers the largest collection of his works in the U.S. The Museum of Fine Arts and the Holocaust Museum were very thought-provoking and all can be reached via the Looper Trolley bus.

We had wanted to go to Honeymoon Island and Calidisi Island State Parks with our boat but were concerned about water levels so we did the next best thing—packed a picnic, brought our beach chairs and hiking shoes and drove there. Definitely worth a visit.

Bob and I want to wish you a happy and joyful holiday season. We will start blogging again in January when we start heading south to Marathon.

Back in the Intracoastal Waters Again (Clearwater) 12-10-08

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.

Tourist Time in Tarpon Springs 12-9-08

We slept so well last night. I woke up anyway at 5:30 because I am on that clock again. It was 50 degrees and I decided to cook the Spice-Rubbed Pork loin and potatoes au gratin that I couldn’t cook yesterday due to all the crab pot duty. It is supposed to get to 75 today so using the oven in the early morning makes sense too.

We moved from Port Tarpon Marina to Tarpon Landing Marina which is downtown as we wanted to explore the area and be tourists. A better option would be the Tarpon Springs Municipal Marina but they did not have space for us this morning. Tarpon Springs is is an authentic Greek fishing village complete with sponge and dolphin tours, plenty of Greek and seafood restaurants to tempt you and lots of shops to explore. There is even belly dancing at Zorba’s. You can take the Tarpon Trolley bus for $1.00 and get a narrated tour of the town and then decide what you want to do.

We had great gyros at Santorini’s on Dodecanese Blvd. We also visited the Shrine of St. Michael where Greek icons of the saint are located and are believed to help the sick. The Safford House is a mansion museum that looked very interesting but is only open on Wednesdays and Fridays now. The painter, George Inness, Jr., has several large paintings on display at the Unitarian Universalist Church and tours are available. His works have a remarkable ability to capture light.

Spring Bayou Park is an amazing place to while away an afternoon. There are 14 manatees residing there and here is a picture of a mom and calf. It is a great place to people watch and enjoy the lush scenery. The Pinnellas Trail is now a 34 mile bike and walking trail to St. Pete’s but it will be expanded to 75 miles in the near future. We didn’t do that much distance but did feel entitled to a treat. My internal GPS (Get Peggy Sweets) got us safely to the National Bakery where we had a healthy serving of baklava.

Tarpon Springs is the “sponge capital of the world” and we toured the factory and learned about how Greek divers harvest them. One boat reportedly was out for 2 months harvesting, returned with 18,000 lbs of sponge, but if it had rained heavily, the sponges onboard may have kept absorbing water and sunk the boat. I am doing a lot of boat washing down here in salt water land and decided to get a deluxe natural sponge. Maybe it will make the job easier?

Bloomin’ Flower Field of Pots 12-8-08

Golden Lily, Highlander and Baby Grand were all aground this morning at 6:30 am in the Twin Rivers Marina. It is a stressful way to wake up but we quickly devised a plan to depth sound the marina and the Salt River channel by going out in the dinghy and using a premeasured boat pole to get depth readings. Bob and Jim brought back the good news—the entrance was not as bad as we thought; the bad news—since high tide will not come until 12 noon, it may be difficult to get to Tarpon Springs before dark.

Our plan was to keep pulling our stern boat lines to see if we could wedge the boat out slowly with every inch of tide water coming in. Baby Grand only draws 3’10” and by 8:15, we could inch her back safely enough and then turned on the engine to power off—success. Plan was for us to go first and give depth readings to Golden Lily and Highlander. Shell Island was reading 5’—it looks pretty in the picture but can snag you. The other boats tried to leave at 10, but Highlander, unfortunately, found a shallow spot and grounded again in the marina. With the help of a Boat US tow, they got off and went safely to another marina and will try again for Tarpon Springs tomorrow.

By this time, we were already on the Gulf on the way to Tarpon Springs and were confronted with yet another challenge—mine fields of crab pots with floating lines that wiggle just below the water trying to grab our propeller. It was a blooming flower field of pots out there in assorted colors, usually dark which were harder to see especially when the sun is in your eyes and you are hand steering.

Dodge and weave was the sport of the day all the way to Tarpon Springs. We let down our guard just before approaching the Anclote River and ran over a lurking gray one. We shifted immediately to neutral, held our breath and both wondered aloud who was going to dive under the boat and free the propeller. We looked under the boat from the swim platform and could not find any debris or line. Maybe we lucked out and the cutters and/or the "shoe" extension from the keel worked. Bob started up the engine slowly and I looked for problems--none. Phew, were we lucky!

We were rewarded for our hard efforts today by many visits from dolphins. Here is a frisky one who played in our bow wave for 10 minutes. We made it to Tarpon Springs by 5pm and tied up at Port Tarpon Marina fuel dock for the night. We are tired, very tired.

Would it have been easier to take the overnight 160 mile trip from Carrabelle to Tarpon Springs instead of the 3 legs from Carrabelle to Steinhatchee to Crystal River to Tarpon Springs? Fast trawlers certainly have this as a possible option, maybe we should have. It would have taken us 20 hours away from land and if there were engine problems with a single engine boat….

Anxiety and Fun in Crystal River 12/7/08

The day started with a jolt when one of the Looper boats discovered that they were aground in the Twin Rivers Marina. This was very disconcerting as we had all asked the water depth and were assured that there were no problems. Being aground in the marina also raises questions about getting out safely back through the 7 mile channel to the Gulf. High tide came at 10:42 but the Looper boat did not really float until after 11 am and then was aground again. We had to wait for tomorrow to go anywhere so what to do?

Enter Tom and Debbie, our Looper friends who live in this area. They devised a perfect day of fun and entertainment to showcase the beauty of this area as well as offer local information about the tides and challenges of boating in this area.

We looped with Tom and Debbie from Joliet to Alton. They were transporting their 32’ PDQ catamaran from Lake Michigan to Crystal River, FL. They are a new couple together with so many adventures between them and they inspire confidence with a “can do” attitude. Sometimes you meet people in your life and you instantly think, “these guys are great”—that’s how we feel about Tom and Debbie.

When we last saw them, their sailboat, Catrina, had the mast down to get through all the locks and was running on 1 outboard engine. She has now morphed into this beautiful butterfly sailboat with mast up proudly and fully rigged. Tom and Debbie took Jim and Barbara from Golden Lily, Jeannette and Charlie from Highland and Bob and I for a ride on Catrina to explore the beauty of the Crystal River Wildlife Refuge. What a treat! We did see dolphins and manatees, but again, my camera was not quick enough to capture the moment.

Tom built his own home, complete with a 360 degree cupola overlooking the canals and wetlands, in Crystal River and they graciously gave us a tour. He is definitely a Renaissance man which is so nicely complimented by Debbie’s sense of fun. We topped off the day with an early dinner at one of their favorite local restaurants, Crackers.

Thank you so much for giving us such a great day.

92 Miles to Crystal River 12-6-08

Jim and Barbara from Golden Lily, Jeannette and Charlie from Highlander and Bob and I met this morning at 6 a.m. to review the forecast and decide if this is a go day. It is an agonizing process as there is no real right answer for everybody. Today’s NOAA forecast looked great for our immediate area but mentioned west winds building this afternoon which would mean beam seas. NOAA forecasts have not always been right the past few days and when this happens, you tend to question their accuracy. We evaluated that most of the day looked good, so let’s go for it. However, if we stayed, there was going to be a pancake breakfast in Steinhatchee as well as the holiday parade so no choice was totally bad.

We left with gray cloudy skies and a light East wind with a 1 foot chop on the Gulf. Here’s a picture of crabbers setting their pots and we did find a number of them. Baby Grand is the slowest boat and the lead was taken by Golden Lily, followed by Highlander and the boats initially had a 1 mile spacing which increased to 6-10 miles as the day wore on. All of us stayed connected on Channel 69. The cloudy, sometimes foggy day, was brightened by a solar breakthrough which cast a halo on the water ahead and urged us forward.

We monitor Channel 16 and heard 3 distress calls to the Coast Guard and towboat companies from boats in our area that were “dead in the water”, “having engine problems” and one from a 13 foot hydrofoil with kids aboard with no insurance. We began to have some concern about our situation when a Boat US Towboat operator interrupted us on Channel 69 and advised us that the tide charts that we were using for Crystal River were not accurate, that there was less water in there and that boats with a draft over 4 feet might go aground.

This created immediate panic and problem solving. Our boat, Baby Grand, only draws 3’10”, so we volunteered to go into the 7 mile channel first and scope it out and relay our depths to Highlander and Golden Lily. Here’s a picture of them following us through the notorious Shell Island section. We did find a few 5’ sections in the channel, but generally, there was plenty of water depth. Here’s a picture of us approaching the Twin Rivers Marina at 5:30 at sunset. We made it.

This day had a relaxing ending when Tom and Debbie, who live in Crystal River and are former Loopers, met us at the marina and took us all out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant. There is goodness in the world.