January 10-12 Punta Gorda

Our stay at Punta Gorda; As we approached the mooring field we came upon about 30 small sailboats in the area we had to cross. There were several larger boats with them as well as smaller runabouts.  Thankfully they passed by before we arrived. We were the only boat in the mooring field which surprised us for thirteen dollars a night.  It was a short dingy ride to the marina dingy dock and the marina was buzzing with activity.  A few of those one man sailboats were coming in. some with an escort boat, now I was really curious. There were sailboats tied up all along the small dock, lots of people, and several large tents along the shore. Obviously it was some type of regatta, I thought but why do so many of the boats have escort boats?  We found a small spot and tied up.  As we passed the sailboats they had names of countries on the side of them and there were wheel chairs at the end of some of the docks. The marina was hosting the National Para-Olympic single man sailboat races!  How awesome is that?  I was really excited and in awe of the strength, agility and attitude these men and women had.  I was also impressed with the ingenuity that went into the retrofitting of these boats.  One morning we witnessed one of the sailors in his wet suit scoot off the dock and into the water and proceed to scrub down the outside of his boat. It just goes to show you that you are only as handicapped as you allow yourself to be!
We tootled around Punta Gorda on the free loaner bikes the marina had, checking out the downtown area and fisherman's village. Fisherman's Village is filled with shops and resturants. It was an enjoyable stay, the staff at the marina are wonderful and everything is in walking distance or a bike ride away.

                                            One of the sailboats competing in the Paraolympics

                                        Be sure to look closely at the adaptations made for the sailors

                                                All the flags from the nations competing

                                                One of the bridges that we had to wait for

                                                 Waiting for the swing bridge to open

                                                      All by ourselves in the mooring field

                                                                 The USA team boat

                                                        A competitor and his escort

January 9th - Sarasota to Punta Gorda

Back to basics; we left the resort marina bright and early on Monday the 9th of January.  Another morning that I was thankful we had a new chartplotter. The sun was bright and directly in our eyes so Tom watched closely for crab pots as I kept my eyes on the track line which took us back to the ICW exactly the way we came in. Cruising down the ICW we were in awe of the number of homes, hotels, etc. along the way that had empty slips and docks. There seemed to be hundreds if not thousands of them. Tom was really bothered by it and I wondered why people didn't put a sign at the end of their dock advertising that you could tie up for a small fee.  We anchored in a cove that had some very nice homes along the shoreline. We shared the water with a sailboat and a few dolphins. The evening was beautiful the water like glass so we did a little fishing while watching the sunset.  We hoped to pull into Punta Gorda early enough to spend some time in town so we were up and at um early.  There were several bridges ahead of us that had to be raised for us to pass through.  We arrived at the first and realized it was on a schedule and we were 15 minutes early. This gave me an opportunity to to practice my piloting skills, keeping Laughter in the middle of the channel. Once we arrived at Charlette Harbor and turned in towards Punta Gorda we realized we realized it was 22 miles from the mouth of Charlotte Harbor to the mooring field. No worries, no schedule!  Thankfully we had great directions from the marina as the markers into the area had been knocked out during Hurricane Charlie and never replaced. 

Sunset on the cove anchorage

dolphins playing

Four great days in a luxurious marina in Sarasota

On Thursday, January 5th we pulled up to the T-dock assignment at the Hyatt Regency Resort Hotel in Sarasota.  It is a small marina with the Hyatt on one side the Ritz Carlton on the other and private high rise condomininiums directly in front of us. A tremendous thank-you extended to our friend Captain Rich for arranging our stay!!  We had access to the pool, hot tub, fitness room and because we were on the T-dock we had our very own large patio with chairs provided.  We had a ball in Sarasota. We rode our bikes downtown to the shops and to a motorcycle rally held called Thunder On The Bay.  We walked peanut to a nearby beach to watch a sunset and hunt shells.  Our friend Chris came in by car from nearby Bradenton and took us to Mote Aquarium and shopping for some needed supplies and with the return of warm weather we enjoyed sitting in the sunshine on our own little deck visiting with the curious who came to talk with us.  Tom spent one afternoon with a local charter captain, Captain Mike.  Captain Mike helped us get our depth finder set correctly and successfully reprogram the alarm for it. He walked us through the charts giving us anchorage ideas from Sarasota to the keys and he was took a look at our generator to see if it was the selenoid switch as suspected that prevented it from starting.  As it turned out the generator started on every try which was a relief to us but we are still going to order another celenoid just in case.

Tarpon Springs to Sarasota

We arose bright and early on Wednesday, January 4th wanting to pull out of Tarpon by 9am.  We checked the tides on a local website and felt we should be good to go.  We had a short side channel to pass through before reaching the main channel on the Anclote and out to the ICW.  I saw that we were stirring up mud so we inched forward. Unfortunately we still found the bottom.  The current was strong so in a few minutes we were afloat again.  It was apparent that we were not getting through so it was back to the dock. The dockmaster indicated that he felt the storms and high winds the day before affected the water levels. This time I checked the tide app on my IPAD!! The morning peak tide for Tarpon would be at 10:10 am, so at  10:05 we tried again, I stood on the bow this time, watching the water as we crept through the same area. Success!  Exiting the Anclote was much quieter and calmer than our entry.  No boats speeding passed us.  No boats speeding towards us!  No boats at all, must be to cool for the locals. The sky's were clear and the sun bright but definitely cool enough that we had to keep the plastics down for comfort on the fly bridge. We had heard there were quite a few bridges on the ICW and that for sail boats and some power boats having to wait for each bridge to open was annoying.  We passed under nine bridges today with the lowest being 23 ft at center. Since we need 19 feet to clear we had no waits today. Much of the day was spent at idle speed as required, but no matter, as it gave us more time to gawk at the mansions, interesting homes, islands etc.  Our search for  a suitable anchorage began about 3p.m. We chose Boca Ciega Bay because of its size and proximity to the ICW.  Can you say twice in one day!! We entered the bay to anchor in the six foot charted white water as directed in Skipper Bobs book. Although the chartplotter and paper chart indicated we were there the depth finder said 18ft so Tom kept moving forward and guess what?  We found the bottom again!! This time we were stuck. We had been pulling the dingy behind so Tom used it to pull us back into the charted area.  We anchored for the night an hour and a half after we started!  Lesson learned, believe your charts and chartpotter!  The sunset over the bay was pretty and the lights from all of the buildings made for a beautiful evening, unfortunately it was to cold to sit out on the aft deck and enjoy it. Finally settled in I attempted to start the generator without success. Down in the engine room went Tom. Nothing a little bungy chord wouldn't fix temporarily! Two things to make sure you have lots of on board, bungy chords and duck tape!

                                           a sample of some of the large homes we saw

                                                 sunset over the town at our anchorage

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.