We drove home for Christmas on December 19th and flew back to Tampa on the 29th. Our friend Kris picked us up at the airport. We decided to stay in Tarpon for New Years as there was just to much to see to leave yet. On New Years Eve we took a trolley to Clearwater beach and bummed around on our bikes. We then boarded the trolley again and stopped in Dunedin ( pronunciation is Dun -ee-din. Clearwater beach sand was a beautiful white and there were lots and lots of people!! Dunedin is a quieter village on the water with upscale shops and a fresh fish shop where I bought lobster tail and grouper to grill for our New Years Eve dinner. Then back on the trolley again to head back to Tarpon. It was a beautiful warm sunny day filled with fun! A 10 minute ride back to the marina from the sponge docks and a quiet evening on the boat completed our New Years Eve.
On New Years Day I went to mass at the Greek Orthedox cathedral which was a beautiful church and service. Then we tied the kayaks to the dingy, loaded them up with fishing gear and lunch and headed to Anclote Key for the afternoon. We soon realized that it was much further than we thought and the boat wakes were causing havoc for us sooooooooooo we turned around and headed for a little beach. We fished and sat in the sun, or at least I did. Tom scrubbed the kayaks.
Our plan was to leave Tarpon on Monday January 2nd But the weather turned ugly with high winds gusting to 35 miles per hour by evening. It was a good choice to stay as we rocked and rolled all night. the waves on the Gulf were said to be 14footers! In fact the winds broke the bolts that secured one of our bumper holders on the bow of the boat and the force of the wind flattened one of the bumpers we had between our boat and the dock. We will leave on Wednesday when the winds are predicted to calm down and the Bay won't be so rough.
I caught this Black Drum off the side of the boat. We had him for dinner that night.
He was really good! Also caught a stingray but cut him loose!
The fog started to roll in on the beach at Clearwater but it was a busy beach!
Lunch at the beach
The pier at Clearwater is lined with venders
Downtown Dunedin
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