Saturday 3/2/19 – Crystal River, Florida

Had a wonderful night at anchor last night. Up this morning at about 5:30 to see lots of shrimp boats going out and a beautiful sunrise. Pulled anchor about 7:30 and headed for Tarpon Springs.

On the way out the river channel we had lots, probably 20 or more, of small fishing boats whizzing by us on both sides. It felt a little like the Daytona 500 racetrack. Again, we had very skinny water so much so that at Crystal River channel marker #1 we touched bottom. We were going slow and Michael backed down so no-harm-no-foul but it definitely got our attention.

About three hours out the crab pots showed up again in full force. We had a bit of a chop and were motoring into the sun so the pots were extremely difficult to see. We actually did run over one but cut power and went in neutral quick enough that thankfully there was no damage to us or the pot. It was one of those pots on a “short leash” so one second you see it and the next it submerges. Where are all those crabs going? There seem to be enough pots to feed the world!

We arrived at Tarpon Springs Yacht Club around 2:30 to lots of folks on the dock to greet and help us tie up in our slip. It’s a lovely quiet little Yacht Club of mostly volunteers and very friendly people. We are way down the channel right next to a draw bridge so there’s very little traffic here except for small boats, kayakers, canoers. Once tied up and settled in we hopped off the boat with the doggies, took a walk, then had some food and a drink on the Yacht Club patio overlooking the water and our boat.

Sunday, 3/3/19 – Tarpon Springs Yacht Club, Tarpon Springs, Florida

This is where we start deciding where we WANT to go rather than where we HAVE to go. We think we’ll spend a few days here to mull it over – the price is right with lots of opportunities to re-provision.

Michael washed down the boat then we headed up to the Club for brunch on the patio. Met some lovely people. The folks on the boat two boats down from us are getting ready to start the Loop next month. After brunch we went for a walk-about thinking we were going to a small market but found ourselves smack-dab in the middle of tourist town! We ended up on the waterfront where all the sponge boats take tourists out for cruises along with rows and rows of trinket shops. The sidewalk was so crowded people were spilling into the street at times we could hardly get through with Snooki and Duke. Tarpon Springs is famous for Greek food and sponge diving and we decided the wait for food would be too long for the pouches and we have plenty of sponges.  Just a little too touristy for us so we made a bee-line back to the boat. That’s the beauty of this adventure – diversity.

On the boat we decided to order groceries on-line. I am not particularly a person who orders anything on-line. I prefer to see/touch/experience what I am buying but getting to a grocery store either on foot, bicycle or Uber can be a challenge. Then getting back either on foot, bike or Uber with 24 bottles of water, wine, beer, a 12 pack of paper towels and toilet paper plus the food stuff (and two dogs) can be difficult so we thought we’d give it a try. It felt like a “test” to me at first – trying to find all the products, then scrolling through the different brands, sizes and prices – but I finally got through it and placed an order of 21 items.  We got confirmation that the order was received and being put in our cart. Then a confirmation that the order was complete and being delivered. Finally, a phone call from the delivery girl, a very nice young lady, who we met in the Club parking lot and we retrieved our groceries. All went smoothly but I was a little surprised by the size of a couple of the items and they forgot our eggs! No eggs for breakfast in the morning!  That said, we will definitely order online again. It’s great for the heavy things and staples. We will still have to shop ourselves for stuff you have to “eyeball” like fruits, veggies and meat but that’s doable on foot/bike/Uber. I want to experience the flavor of grocery stores in different areas anyway.

Monday, 3/4/19 – Tarpon Springs Yacht Club, Tarpon Springs, Florida

Woke up this morning at 2:30 to rumbles…..Got up to see tremendous flashes of lightning and loud claps of thunder, followed by a big heavy downpour of rain. Cleared by the time we got up. Of course, this is nothing compared to the awful loss of life and property caused by the tornados in Alabama. Our hearts and prayers go out to them.

The Yacht Club is closed Monday through Wednesday so it’s pretty quiet around here. We just took this time to complete some projects. Michael worked on our ice maker and ordered a part for the final repair and I ordered a new-to-me camera. More on-line shopping.

I’m afraid these posts may start to get a little boring. We won’t have any tugs/barges to deal with for a while, we won’t have any locks to go through for a while and we have made the big open water crossing. So now it’s just skinny water, crab pots, wonderful warm weather, beautiful clear water and interesting places to visit…. Darn, how boring.  One thing of interest – apparently there are 384 Looper boats currently cruising the Loop. It is a counter-clockwise route and the idea is to time your trip to be in each geographic area during its preferred boating season. That means that all of us will be going in “sort of” the same direction about the same time. It could be a bit of a challenge to find a place to park at night. We’ll see…

Tuesday, 3/5/19 – Tarpon Springs Yacht Club, Tarpon Springs, Florida

Up this morning early and let the dogs out to do their business. We have a fake grass mat in a tray on the aft deck that alleviates their urges prior to their morning walk. Duke stayed out a little longer than usual and suddenly began barking to alert us a stowaway had snuck aboard during the night. We found he had cornered a juvenile pigeon on the port side walkway at the step up to the forward deck. We corralled the dogs with a breakfast enticement and Michael blocked off the walkway access used by the pooches.  He then took the dogs for a walk after breakfast and it started raining just as he returned and continued until about noon. All this time Snooki was up on the sofa looking outside to see what “Tweety” was up to. Those of you with terriers understand what I am talking about. Watching “Tweety” it was obvious he had a balance problem. We figured he ingested fermented fruit or something by the mess he made on the deck. About 10:30 Michael corralled him into a shopping bag and released him on the Yacht Club patio. Good news is “Tweety” sobered up and the last time we saw him he was up in the rafters at the Yacht Club bar. We stayed inside all morning working on boat projects. Also thinking about where we want to go when we leave here.  Have friends who would like to meet us in Ft. Meyers and in the Keys. We’ll have to see if we can make that happen.