Holiday Break

We are taking a short break from looping and blogging as we have flown home to Maryland for the holidays.

Are we crazy .... what were we thinking????? The day before we departed, Maryland got this .......

2 feet of snow. Here's our friend's walkway all decked out for Christmas

A few weeks ago, we were sitting in chairs on a sandy beach enjoying the warm sunshine. Now we have lawn chairs covered with snow

Most loopers do the Chesapeake Bay during the late spring or early summer. Not us ... we're doing it in the winter.

After shoveling we were rewarded with hot buttered rum .......

.... and a seat in front of the cozy fire.

We send best wishes for a happy holiday season to all our family and friends. We'll return for more adventures the first of the year.

Gerry and Linda

Monk's Vineyard

December 19, Day 189 - In Clearwater

We didn’t sleep too well last night – something about strong wind, changing wind directions and changes in the tide. All combined for lots of “bumps in the night”.

When morning finally came, we got up and went to breakfast. Then Gerry took our rental car back. At the same time he took another looper couple over to pick up their car and then they brought him back.

Most of the rest of the day was spent trying to find and pack “cold weather clothes” to take to Maryland. As luck would have it, they are currently getting a couple of feet of snow (yes .. not inches – FEET). It appears that all of the flights today were cancelled. We’ll see what tomorrow brings. Gerry also spent a lot of time trying to update software on the computer we’re taking home.

Late in the afternoon we took a walk over to Island Way, which is just across from us. There is an aquarium over there plus a really neat restaurant called Island Way Grill for which we just received a gift certificate! Our friendly dockmaster knocked on our door this morning with an envelope. Inside was a gift certificate from our friends, Steve and Karen (our company in Georgian Bay). Thank you, thank you, thank you. We will use it as soon as we return from Maryland. Next we walked over to Pier 60. They have a mini festival every night around sunset with vendors, entertainment and the like. However, between the fog, wind and rain there hasn’t been much going on the past few days. However, tonight there were quite a few people there. It is still breezy, but it’s in the high 70’s -- quite delightful.

Gerry made dinner on the boat (dirty rice – from a mix we got in New Orleans). We finished packing, checked Maryland weather (still sucks) and went to bed early. We’ll see where we end up tomorrow – in Maryland or still in Clearwater.

This morning when we were at breakfast, we noticed lots of kids walking through the marina lobby area. Some were in Christmas-themed attire, but most were in pirate outfits. It was apparent they were all going to a birthday party. We thought it was kind of early for a party, but later figured out they were going out on this pirateship. It had an early morning departure.

Here's another boat that was going out -- the Sea Screamer -- very fast boat

... and a slower boat, the Calypso Queen

Took some pictures of flowers -- It's December 19 and these flowers are just blooming. Probably won't see any flowers in Maryland

Mural on the wall .... notice anything ... the artist is actually painting the scene and is kneeling in front.

Here's the sign at the Island Way Grill -- we received a gift certificate from our friends for this place so we'll eat here after the new year

A shot of the restaurant

There were a few more people on the beach today ... it was actually a pretty nice day

This is some kind of swing ride at Pier 60. The kids seemed to be having a good time

A shot of the waves (with bird flying by)

More of the waves .... not as big as last night ... but still neat to watch

This was a group of guys doing some kind of physical training. Here they're doing push-up in the waves

December 18, Day 188 – In Clearwater

We slept in this morning. It was windy and very rainy -- one of those mornings where you just want to roll over and go back to sleep. Since we had nothing we absolutely had to do today, that’s exactly what we did.

We had a leisurely breakfast on board and then took care of a few things we didn’t want to leave until our return – like sending in the rebate for our new MiFi system. By the way, the report on this is that it works great. Gerry is very pleased with it. When we’re at a marina that has WiFi, we’ll still use their system, but if none is available we’ll use our new MiFi and we’ll both have internet access at the same time.

Later in the afternoon we went out and about for a little shopping and then dinner. When we returned the wind had changed directions and was blowing around 25-30 knots. We had to readjust lines on the boat. We walked down to the beach and out on Pier 60 to look at the Gulf. The waves were incredible; would have taken a picture, but it was too dark.

Back at the boat we watched a movie and then off to bed.

This is a picture of a dinner cruise boat leaving the marina. As you can see it is decorated for Christmas. Also, you can see our neighbor's looper flag blowing straight out .... it was very, very windy.

December 17, Day 187 – In Clearwater

When we woke up this morning we took a long walk on the beach. It was a little breezy, but quite warm. We made our way back to the marina and had breakfast …. Then our day of chores began.

Gerry took everything on the back (bikes, fishing polls, cooler, etc) and moved it to the flybridge. While he was doing that, Linda scrubbed down the deck and the topsides (using her new sponge from Tarpon Springs). All of that took us the better half of a day, but the boat is much cleaner now.

Linda sent out Christmas cards and Gerry printed out new boat cards, which took him a lot longer than it should of because he couldn’t find the copy of his latest one on the computer.

Dinner on board was salmon linguine, using the last of the salmon Gerry had caught in Lake Michigan. Then we took an evening walk through town and rewarded ourselves to some “homemade” ice cream from a little shop that was still open. After that it was back to the boat and off to bed. It hadn’t been the most fun day ever, but it had been productive. Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy and very windy.

We had a very low tide this morning. Here you can see how prolific the oysters are, as the pilings are covered.

Our walk on the beach was pretty relaxing. Here you can see it's not too crowded; of course, it was early Thursday morning

What's Gerry up to ..............

.... why, he's cleaning ! ! !

December 16, Day 186 – In Clearwater

We woke up very early this morning. It was breezy and there was a very low tide. The lines were stretching, so Gerry got up to check them out.

After a quick breakfast we headed for Crystal River. It was pretty slow going as it is not freeway and it’s about 80 miles north. We were able to see our friends, Michel and Carole on Emotion III. They are at the Twin Rivers Marina in Crystal River for the next several days. It was great to see them again. We shared stories for a couple of hours about our adventures crossing the Gulf and there’s getting across the Big Bend. We hope to be able to link up again after the holidays.

We were hoping to see manatees, but the weather really didn’t cooperate (cool and windy) and one of the places we planned on visiting was closed Mon-Wed.

On the way back home we stopped at the Verizon Store and purchased Verizon MiFi which should allow us to create our own WiFi Hot Spot so all of our systems can connect. Talk about high tech on the high seas. (A report will follow on how well it works).

The weather seems to be changing. We might be in for a couple of days of cold, wind and rain (getting us ready for home).

No pictures today .... except one of sunrise to prove we were up early

December 15, Day 185 – In Clearwater

This morning we woke up to mostly sunny skies … a little fog here and there, but not too bad. Michael and Jana came by to say good-bye. They were heading south today to a friend’s house/dock and wanted to leave early in case the fog rolled in. They are going home to Colorado for Christmas, but hopefully we’ll see them again somewhere along the way.

We went to the local marina café for breakfast. You just can’t get a bad meal there. We had planned on going for a road trip today, but we had kind of a late start, so decided to devote the day to chores. We did lots of things on the computer (we have fairly good WiFi here) and then spent about 2-3 hours doing laundry at a laundromat in town. (Well, actually Linda did laundry while Gerry went to a few stores for some other “things” we needed.)

Back at the boat, Gerry tried to set up a router system for the computers (got the wrong thing so he’ll need to return what he bought and get something different) and Linda put away all of the laundry, setting aside all the cold weather clothing because we’ll have to take it with us to Maryland. Later we set on the back of the boat with a nice glass of wine and watched the fog roll through and the pelicans doing fly-bys. Very relaxing.

We had dinner on the boat …. some chile that Jana had given us. She had made it a few days ago, but it was too spicy for them. WE LOVED IT ! ! ! ! After that, we took a short walk. It was a nice night. Back at the boat we watched a little TV (using Slingbox from Utah) and then to bed.

Second Star departing

A shot of Monk's Vineyard at the marina .... we are sort of in the middle of the picture

This is a shot of an interesting fog bank. One minute it's perfectly clear and then a minute later you look out the window and can't see a thing. Here you can see the boats and the area next to us, but the building in the background is shrouded in fog.

December 14, Day 184 – In Clearwater

We woke up early this morning as we were going with Dan (of Biddi and the Beast) to Enterprise to pick up a rental car. He was returning his, so we rode over with him; then he rode back with us. Worked out well.

Back at the marina we met up with Jana and Michael for breakfast at the marina café. Once again, great food for a great price.

After breakfast we all headed out for our Segway tour. We had taken the Segway tour in Chicago and had been trying to talk the crews of Second Star and Emotion III into going on one with us. Unfortunately Emotion III is not with us right now, but the crew of Second Star decided they’d like to give it a try. We took the “extended tour” which lasted 2 ½ hours. It was great fun and we certainly covered a lot of territory. We went over both the Clearwater Memorial Causeway Bridge (the bridge we crossed under when we arrived in Clearwater) and the Clearwater Pass Bridge which crosses the pass to the Gulf of Mexico. In addition we rode through some of the very ritzy neighborhoods in Clearwater, rode along the beachwalk and through Sand Key Park.

After the Segway tour we went shopping at various places (Office Depot, Sams, West Marine, etc.) We each had a few items we needed to pick up.

Back at the marina we watched the arrival of many boats, most of them loopers that had just made the Gulf crossing. They were all very exhausted, but exited to have made it. We went out to dinner with Michael and Jana and another looper couple, Rick and Betsy on Rick ‘n Roll. We’d seen them at several other places along the way.

Gerry ended the night fishing from the boat. He caught quite a few fish, but released them all; then it was off to bed. It had been a busy, but fun day with perfect weather – low 80’s and sunny. Life is good!

Segways down the road

Michael, Jana, Gerry and Linda on the Clearwater Memorial Causeway Bridge. Notice Linda's Segway is decorated for Christmas

Another Causeway picture

Down the bridge ramp comes Gerry

.... and down comes Linda

One of the homes in the very ritzy neighborhood. The tour guide said living in this area came from "old money"

Looking out at the Gulf of Mexico from the Clearwater Pass Bridge

Another view looking out at the Gulf

Here we are at the top of the bridge

A view from the fishing pier

and another view from the pier

We rode past Hulk Hogan's house

Here we are taking a break on the beachwalk

Gerry and his nightfishing catch

Click here to see us having fun on our Segways

December 13, Day 183 – In Clearwater

We awoke to fog this morning. Glad we didn’t have to go anywhere.

Once we finally got moving, we decided to try the marina café for breakfast. Proved to be great food and service. After breakfast we took a walk for several miles along the Beachwalk. The fog soon lifted and it warmed right up. This is a very nice area and there seems to be lots to see and do.

Back at the boat we did on-line Christmas shopping, reserved a rental car, set up a shuttle to the airport, and so on. Thank goodness for the internet. This afternoon the fog rolled back in and you couldn’t even see the other side of the marina. It stayed that way until after sunset. We heard several boats on the VHF talking back and forth about not being able to see a thing. We are thankful we’re not out in it.

Later we had a nice dinner on board – mahi mahi that we had bought at the fish market in Tarpon Springs. After dinner we took another walk, browsed in some of the shops and got some Italian ice cream. The weather was very pleasant … in the 70’s.

Our friendly neighborhood pelican first thing in the morning

It was pretty foggy in the morning and there were not many people on the beach

Then the sun came out -- the beach was very nice

The beachwalk along the ... you guessed it .... the beach

Small egret balancing on the dockline

December 12, Day 182 – Tarpon Springs to Clearwater

This morning was cool, but no rain or wind. We had breakfast and did a few chores. Gerry tried to help Michael with some electronic issues aboard Second Star and Jana and Linda went shopping.

Since we were in the “Sponge Capital” we decided to check out the movie about sponge divers and the different kinds of sponges. It was actually quite interesting and we learned a lot about the history of the industry in Tarpon Springs. We even bought a couple of sponges(supposedly great for cleaning the boat).

We left for Clearwater around noon. It had warmed up and we had a nice, uneventful trip down the intercoastal. However, by the time we got to Clearwater the wind had picked up considerably and docking proved to be a bit of a challenge as there were winds of over 25 knots hitting us across our beam. After a few failed attempts to back in stern first we finally came in bow first. Since we have doors on both sides amidship, it usually doesn’t make any difference so we do whatever is easiest.

After settling in we explored the immediate area a little and then just relaxed on the boat. Lots of boat traffic going by and much of it was decorated. Seems the lighted boat parade was tonight, so we got a front row seat as many of the boats cruised by.

We met friends, Rob and Gerri, for dinner. Gerry had worked with them in Annapolis, but they now have a home in the Tampa area. It was great catching up with them. After dinner they came back to the boat with us for a tour and a nightcap.

We have reservations at the Clearwater Municipal Marina for a month. There are several other looper boats here, also with month-long reservations as many are going home for the holidays.

A shot of the sponge docks from the water as we were leaving Tarpon Springs

Looking out the Anclote River

This is the main street by the sponge docks, Dodecanese Blvd.

We saw this very unusual looking boat heading towards us

We saw lots of islands covered with mangroves

Here's an osprey with its dinner ... fresh fish

We saw a large group of kayakers ... these 2 seemed to be traveling in tandum

Approaching the Dunedin-Honeymoon Island Bridge. It had a clearance of 25 feet so we didn't have to call for an opening.

Approaching the Clearwater Memorial Causeway Bridge. This bridge is relatively new, having been completed around 2005.

One end of the bridge has a "park-like" setting .....

while the other end is very commercialized

To get into the marina we had to go down a very narrow channel. You can see how shallow it really is .... on one side we have a fisherwoman

.... and on the other, you can see birds standing in the water .... very shallow

The shoreline by the bridge. Lots of palm trees .... we must be in Florida

The marina is home to many charter fishing boats and cruise boats. Here are some fishermen returning with their catch

Our friendly resident pelican at dusk

Santa and his boat .... no sleighs in Florida

A boat decorated as a dragon

... and a decorated sailboat