Adventures of Tom, Jan and Peanut: 01/03/12

New Years and Beyond in Tarpon

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

Dec 17th - The city of Tarpon Springs

Tarpon Springs is known as the "Venise of the South" It is hailed as the sponge capital of the world, established in the 1800s by Indians and early settlers. Later Greek immigrants came to the area to continue their traditionally trade of sponge diving which greatly enriched the area. It is said that Tarpon Springs has the largest Greek community in the United States. The original downtown area is filled with antique and resale shops. The "Sponge Docks" area is the tourist area along the river. The streets are lined with Greek restaurant, shops and bakeries. If you want good old American pizza or a burger you are hard pressed to find it along the Sponge Docks. I enjoyed going in and out of the shops and Tom enjoyed sitting in the sunshine and talking with fellow loopers who came from Clearwater by Trolley.
We rode with our friend Kris to pick up our car in Tampa which made exploring the area easy. Another of our friends Smitty came to spend a day exploring the area with us. There is lots to see and do in Tarpon!

Baskets of sponges outside one of the shops

One of the sponge boats along the wall at the sponge docks

December 16th - Our arrival at Tarpon Springs

We broke off from the caravan at about 9:00 am to begin our course into Tarpon. I was concerned as we had been told not to arrive before 10 am. The sun is still low enough in the sky before ten that it prevents boaters from seeing the white crab pot markers. Fortunately we choose a course that brought us straight in rather than at an angle. This was definitely a good decision as the sun was still low but off to our starboard corner rather than straight on. OMG the crab pots! Our fellow boaters definitely did not exaggerate and they were everywhere!!! Regulations indicate that crab pots are not to be in a navigational channel, BUT, the lines of them came directly to the edge on either side and extended as far as the eye could see! Until we were in the actual navigational channel on the inside of Anclote Key we really had to rely on our compass and course to keep us in a straight line and free from entanglement in the traps. We were relieved to finally come to markers for both sides of the channel headed for Anclote River and the Tarpon Springs Yacht Club Marina. When we entered the river I slowed down. This caused some serious problems as we about got run over!! Boats were coming from behind passing us on both sides at full throttle. At one point two fishing boats came straight at us. I felt like I was playing chicken because I was not moving over out of the channel!! The boat coming directly at me cut the other off and passed. You can imagine the wake! Whatever happened to manners and a slow pass? Definitely not the norm here. About a mile in we passed a no wake sign and everyone finally slowed down. Believe it or not a lady yelled at me from a restaurant to slow down!? That was wild. The Yacht Club is about 4 miles down river just before a low bridge. It is very quiet. All in all it took us about an hour and a half from the time we turned until we docked.

Florida's Forgotten Coast

Florida's Forgotten Coast is located along the Gulf of Mexico in the North Florida's panhandle along the Big Bend Scenic Byway. It consists of Apalachicola, St. George Island, Eastpoint, which is a stones through away from Apalach and areas surrounding them. We visited this area by car and now by boat. They are rich with history and as quaint as can be. Gone are the tall condo's and hotels seen along the panhandle and in South Florida. What you will find are fishing villages, beautiful old homes, great shops and lots of yummy sea food.
Apalachicola was established in 1831. Shipping cotton was it's biggest industry and it soon became the third largest port on the Gulf. By the 1950's the waterfront was lined with brick warehouses used to handle the shipping of cargo for Europe. Now they are quaint shops and resturants. The industry soon turned to lumber from the areas cypress forests and then to oysters and seadfood. Apalach(as the locals call it) is known as the Oyster capital of the world. Their oysters are known to be the cleanest and healthiest that exist and Tom can attest to their beauty! Apalach and its neighbor Eastpoint make up Franklin County. They harvest more than 90% of Florida's oysters and 10% of the nationwide supply. If you enjoy a layed back vacation without the fancy beaches and hotels you may want to check out Apalachicola. They have lots of great events throughout the year and a very active theatre that brings in major plays and concerts.
St. George Island is really a tourist area. The island is long and consists of many rental houses along with a plantation of very large summer homes for stars. Once on the island everything is there that you need and you can get around by bike rather than car. There is a great park at one end of the island for hiking and exploring. We spent a spring break there and really enjoyed it as it never felt crowded, we could walk to the local watering holes, restaurants and shops and we had the gulf on one side and ocean on the other.
Carrabelle is not really an official part of the Forgotten Coast but there is so much history there and it is a quiet sleepy little town so I chose to include it. The town of Carrabelle was incorporated in 1893. It had an eclectic beginning which included the production of turpentine, maritime shipping, sponge diving, moonshining and military training. Carrabelle was the sight of military training for WWII's landing at Normandy. As we stood by the plaque on the beach commemorating the training sight it wasn't hard to imagine the boats and men charging the shore over and over again in preparation for that historical event. Carrabelle is also the home of the worlds smallest police station. It was actually used as a police station for years. The shops there are interesting and the area fun to explore.