Week 23

 

Week 23

Dec. 15-22

Monday

The temp dropped back down to the low 60s today. We're sure glad we swam with the manatees yesterday. There's a chilly breeze too.

We had a lazy morning. Then we walked to a commercial district with Susan and Griff. We went to the laundromat, lunch, grocery, west marine, and a sonic for a dirty diet coke. It was amazing that all of that was in the same strip mall!

I spent the afternoon cleaning the white non skid decks and windows. This salt water makes the boat dirtier and salty. I sprayed the outside of the boat too. Just a rinse to get off some of the salt.

After dinner we went for another walk in the nearby neighborhood.

Tuesday

We walked back to west marine this morning. When Ed was checking the engine he found we have a shaft seal leak AGAIN.

We had to wait until the tide was rising before we could leave the dock as we had only 3.5 ft of water.  We left at 11 am to head to an anchorage at Anclote key. It took us 5 1/2 hours to go 70.5 nautical miles. Ed went fast much of the time so we would have enough daylight since we couldn’t leave until 11am due to tide. It was a remarkably smooth water passage but there were sooooo many crab pots!!! It wasn't very protected waters and was quite rolling. We got waked by something really big. We rolled hard about 10 times.  It was late about 10pm and huge like a fast moving ferry or something.  Massive waves at least 5 feet. 

Wednesday

We pulled up anchor and traveled just 5 nautical miles to the Tarpon Springs city marina. We got fuel for a huge discount of about $1.50/gal less than usual. It's a super nice marina. The city of Tarpon was settled by greeks. It has the highest population of greeks in America. That's what we were told anyway. It's also known for their sea sponges. It's the sea sponges capitol of the world. There are over 5000 varieties of sea sponges worldwide. What we see and buy is just the skeleton of the animal. It's quite a process that it goes through from being harvested to being sold. We went into a shop that had a video about this process-very interesting.

We walked the main waterfront street  on the sponge docks browsing and of course got a late lunch at a popular greek restaurant. We went into a greek pastry shop and bought a variety box along with some ice cream and one other chocolate pastry.

We were dockee right by a bar that had live music we enjoyed.

We went for a walk in the evening. This place shuts down around 7:30 pm. It was weird that all the shops and restaurants and bars were closed. We ended up in a little greek neighborhood that was super cute. It feels like we've left the U.S. and have gone to Greece.

Thursday

We got the scooters down using the dingy davit. It sure saved Ed's back from lifting.

We went to an Ace, to play tennis, around Craig park that was decorated for Christmas so cute, and where the manatees hang out.

We rode to historic downtown that was darling. We went to the greek orthodox cathedral. It was beautiful. Then we stopped at a sidewalk café, Nico's, for a wonderful greek lunch.  This place was legit with el3 old Greek men at the sidewalk tables smoking and talking in greek.

It rained all afternoon. It stopped in time for dinner, so we walked to a super popular greek restaurant, Hellas. We walked around a bit. The air is so fresh after all the rain and the lights are so festive.

Friday

We traveled 17 nautical miles to Clearwater Harbor FL marina. It's a super nice marina. We did all our chores today, so we don't have to do them while Elise is here. Ed put the new set screws in the shaft seal and fixed the chips in the fiberglass.  It was our warmest day in FL so far until the clouds rolled in and dropped the temp 15 degrees.

We walked almost a mile to the grocery. Then we walked back up to town to eat in the cute downtown district. Clearwater is a big city, but super nice.

Elise didn't arrive till after 11 pm. Her flight was delayed by several hours due to bad weather in Denver. We were so excited to see her and that she arrived safely! 

Saturday

First thing we went to see a boat that is for sale here in Clearwater. We are considering getting a new boat. We really liked this boat. It was emaculate.

Then we hopped on the jolley trolley to go back up to Tarpon Springs to show Elise that darling town and eat wonderful greek food. We walked to Craig park and watched the manatees for awhile. Elise was so excited to see them for the first time. They were very active. It was a perfect weather day and we did a lot of walking.

We hopped on the trolley and stopped in Dunedin pronounced Dun-eden. It's another darling coastal town. There were several fairs going on in Dunedin and at our marina. We listened to a fantastic guitar street performer from Spain.

We got back to Clearwater at dinner time. We went back to the same restaurant as last night. Their food was so good.

On the boat we watched a movie and called it a night.

Sunday

We got an uber ride to church. It was up in Dunedin. The people that we met are just so friendly. They're so shocked to hear that we live and are traveling on a boat.

A comment on our you tube video today asked for the brisket mushroom soup recipe!!! Hilarious!

We took a trolley ride over to Clearwater Beach. You have to take the causeway to get there. It was a beautiful day. We walked up and down the beach collecting seashells. The sand is so fine, it's like powdered sugar.  Allison and Elise also went shopping for hours.  Later, We were up on the flybridge waiting for dinner to cook, when i saw some dolphins. Elise was so excited she ran down to the end of the dock to take pictures. It was a mom and her baby dolphin!

After dark we went walking around this big Coachman park that is here by the marina. It's all decorated with Christmas lights. There's fountains and cascading falls. It's really pretty.. We then watch Grand Turismo movie and went to bed.  

See you next time!