Tarpon Springs to Treasure Island

After our tough crossing from Carrabelle to Tarpon Springs, all 3 boats ended up at different marinas and all of us crashed for a day.  By the next day, Rhonda and I had recuperated well enough to get back in the sight-seeing mode.  We had been to Tarpon Springs by car several years ago but were looking forward to seeing it again.  About halfway through the day we ran into our friends from the other 2 boats.  You can imagine all the stories we had to tell because we still had not heard ALL of the story details from the other boats.  Anyhow, here we are, The Survivors.  Note everyone is back to smiles again.

There were 2 others elsewhere in the city that missed the picture, Tom and Marge.  Tony and Stephanie are traveling with Tom and Marge on  "Bluegrass" and Tony said at one point during the night when things were very rough that Tom came up from downstairs with his life jacket on!  I'm telling you, it was bad.  Heck, Tom may still have that life jacket on, impacted for life!

Tarpon Springs is all about Greek food and heritage, sponge divers, oils, soaps, lotions, shells, and clothes.  They seem to have quite a few naked statues around also, men and women.  Not sure what that's all about but they don't leave much to the imagination!  Here's a display of sponges - every store has some.

And a statue tribute to the sponge divers.

Rhonda and I had a hankering for something chocolate so we went to one of the many bakeries and later to Palaka's restaurant for a couple of gyros.

And Rhonda has decided I should post a picture of a Christmas tree from every stop now until Christmas so here's one along the waterfront in Tarpon Springs.

We departed Tarpon Springs this morning after a delay for fog and had a nice, easy 32-mile run to Treasure Island in the St. Petersburg area.  Remember our sailboat neighbor from the Ft. McRee anchorage that we have seen two more times since then?  Well, make it a third time.  Here he is again anchoring on the south end of Anclote Key.  Clearly, we are on the same travel schedule!

We are now in the land of condos and shorelines packed with home after home after home after home after......

Also lots of bridges from the mainland out to the beach area.  So far we have not been delayed by any.  We need 18 feet of clearance (with antennas down) and everything has been 24 feet plus.

We had planned to dock at John's Pass Marina between Treasure Island and Madeira Beach but a member couple in the AGLCA makes the dock at their home available to Loopers who are interested, and we were.  Our friends Rich and Mary Gano had stayed at the Wright's dock previously so they got in touch with Jeff and Suzanne for us and we realized it was just a few blocks from John's Pass!  So, we have a 2-night stay here at their dock, free of charge, close to the beach and anything else you might want to do.  What a nice gesture on their part.  Thanks again, Jeff and Suzanne!  We got our bikes out and rode to the beach, which is mighty fine compared to what we had in Galveston the past 2 years.

We worked up an appetite for pizza and one of the locals we ran into recommended Gigi's.

With plenty of energy restored after pizza, we rode the bikes to one of the causeways to see the boat parade.  Lots of these are going on this time of year and we had heard this was one of the better ones.  We counted 52 boats participating and here's our choice for first place.  It's my Christmas tree picture for the day also!

Since we were in the neighborhood, we decided to re-provision with a few groceries from Publix and called it a night.  All in all a very good day.  We're going to attend an early-morning worship service tomorrow in Madeira Beach and then sight-see the John's Pass area.  Later.

Carrabelle FL to Tarpon Springs FL

Carrabelle is a quiet and small fishing village and there doesn't seem to be much development or infrastructure (as in town) to speak of.  But those types of cities are nice also.  There was one little park area along the main highway through town with a memorial to veterans from there and it was very nicely done.  There were names as far back as WWI and up to current times.

We ate lunch at a restaurant straight from the 50s and 60s, nothing had changed.

Rhonda and I are still not sure what this means - it's a phone booth and bench marked "World's Smallest Police Station."  Ideas? 

Carrabelle is a jumpoff spot for boaters heading south to the lower gulf coast of Florida and vice versa.  The most common jump is between Carrabelle and Tarpon Springs, roughly 180 miles.  The obvious question is why not take your time and visit all the towns of the Big Bend area like Steinhatchee, Cedar Key, Crystal River, etc.? The inside waters of the Big Bend areas are generally inaccessible to boats with big drafts (depth) because of shallow water.  You have to hit it at high tide going in and coming out and the timing of that may not work with the hours of the day and weather.  Also, the Gulf weather this time of year is very unpredictable and is certainly bad more than good.  So, you may get in one of these locations but might not be able to leave for a while.  There have been many instances where boaters have been stuck for weeks, even departing Carrabelle, waiting for a good weather break.  Remember, we're not just talking sunshine and blue skies - you are 30 miles offshore for most of the trip across and the Gulf can be unfriendly with the wrong combinations of wind, current, tides, fronts, etc..  So, most just stage their departure from Carrabelle (going southbound) and look for a weather window and jump across in depths of water from 15 to 60 feet. The weather prediction is critical because once you are out there, you are committed!  There are even a couple of guys who have gotten pretty good at forecasting good crossing times, and for us it was Wednesday and Thursday. But remember, a forecast is just one person's prediction for what might happen.

The trip across is also complicated by the fact that most trawlers are running about 8 to 9 MPH.  It takes a while to cover 180 miles at those speeds, and that's with no complications.  Also, the general rule of thumb is to leave in the afternoon, run all night, and arrive in the morning.  The evening waters usually settle down in the late afternoon for a smoother ride.  Also, you don't want to arrive Tarpon Springs too early - if you arrive in the dark or before the sunrise gets up and out of your face, you can't cross a minefield of crab pots as you approach land.  I hope all of that made sense.

The forecast for our crossing was to leave at 11 AM on Wednesday, a little earlier in the day than normal, because we would need to run east for a while to hug the shoreline more than normal with some winds forecast from the east.  Two other boats were waiting to cross so we decided to buddy-boat with "Bucket List" from St. Louis and "Bluegrass" from Louisville.  Here's a good shot of Bluegrass, a 39' Mainship, as we were departing Carrabelle.

About 8 miles out we were already questioning the forecast with 2 to 4 foot seas.  That lasted till about 5 PM and things did settle down a bit so we were looking forward to a nice ride. Let me give you a sense of being about 30 miles out in the middle of the gulf just before sunset.  Here's looking west.

East

North

And South

Obviously nothing but water as far as you can see.  The sun is about to go down, and you are about to spend the next 14 hours in total darkness on a 44 x 14 piece of wood and fiberglass with nowhere to go but forward.  But prior to that I have a ton of pictures of the evening sunset sequence, just had to pick one to share with you.  Beautiful, huh?

Unfortunately, the smoother water did not last and about 9 PM the wind picked up and the seas and swells got progressively worse.  We were taking the swells on the port side (which rolls the boat big time) and since we had already adjusted our course east to minimize the intensity of these, we had nowhere to go further east.  The other option is to adjust course to the southwest for a while then back southeast to take the swells partially on the stern and bow for a smoother ride but you can do that forever and not make a whole lot of progress.  Ultimately you just have to suck it up and take it.  Let me just say it was not fun.

"Bucket List" had offered to lead leaving Carabelle and  about 9 PM Larry asked for some relief so I agreed to take the lead.  The seas by then were so rough that our autopilot would not hold a course so I had to steer the boat by compass and GPS with 2 to 4 foot seas and 15+ winds all out of the east.  That's not necessarily difficult but somewhat harder than normal with total darkness and the seas trying to take the boat every direction you don't want it to go.  I use my IPAD as one of my chartplotters and at one point the boat was rolling so much that the IPAD was changing back and forth between horizontal and vertical displays! Folks, that's a lot of roll.   To keep control of the boat in those conditions, all the while maintaining a steady course is very tiring.  The weather continued to deteriorate and I think the final count was 6 of the 9 people on the 3 boats got seasick (and I don't mean they just felt bad) and it was just a tough tough night.  I ended up at the helm for the next eleven hours without a break (thank goodness I don't get seasick).  The other boats had their share of difficulties as well. 

But, we made it and had a very welcome sunrise to greet us.  Thankfully, the sky was overcast and we had good visibility of the crab pots as we approached Tarpon Springs.  Also, our course at sunrise took us due east again and the swells were settling down.  After a long trip like we had (total of 21 hours), sunrise was a welcome sight to see.

I don't think I have ever been as tired as I was this morning.  Rhonda recovered quickly from her seasickness (I felt so sorry for her during the night) and we both just crashed once we got the boat docked at one of the local marinas. I should note that in 35 years of boating, Rhonda has never been seasick, so that should attest to just how bad it was.  As I look back on the trip, it was a little bit funny - Rhonda was too sick to help me and I was way too busy to try and help her!

We have visited Tarpon Springs once by car a few years ago.  It's a Greek heritage town and is known for its Greek food and the sponge divers.  So, we should be rested again and will do the sight-seeing thing, resuming our trip around south Florida on Saturday.

  

Port St. Joe to Carrabelle, FL

We spent a second day at Port St. Joe, attending the First Baptist Church's morning worship service followed by an afternoon bike ride around the town.  Port St .Joe continues to impress us.  Everyone was super friendly at the church and the sermon was outstanding.  The marina has bicycles you can use, so I didn't have to lower mine from the aft deck hardtop but Rhonda did need hers.  The city has about 6 to 7 miles of paved walking and bike trails throughout the area and they are lighted for nighttime.  Here's the beginning of the trail.

The trail winds through wooded areas along a bayou and there are several lakes and kids' playgrounds.  It then makes its way through the public school area before leading to an area dedicated to memorializing the location where the state constitution was signed.

Here's a shot of the marina in the distance from Hwy 98 along the shoreline.

We departed Port St. Joe on Monday morning and cruised through a narrow cypress-lined canal area, followed by a lake and then more narrow passages.  We passed two sailboats, "Trudy Mae" from Toronto, Canada and "Quadrille"  from Trego, Montana.  Rhonda spotted another bald eagle in this stretch.

And remember our "neighbor" from the anchorage at Ft. McRee?  We passed him once on the way to Panama City and here he is again, anchored at Appalachicola.  

Appalachicola would have been a nice stop but we decided to press on for Carrabelle.  We have a 160-mile crossing of the Gulf coming up in the Big Bend section of Florida and there's a great weather window opening up.  Good weather opportunities are infrequent in this area in December so we decided the priority was to get to Carrabelle (the departure point for the crossing) so we can be ready.  I'll cover more details on this crossing tomorrow.  As we passed Appalachicola we entered the open Gulf again in Appalachicola Bay and Saint George Sound.  There was a huge fog bank in the distance but we turned east again before reaching it.

Here's the cut where we will depart when making the crossing.  Note the white sandy beaches on each side. 

Carrabelle is about 8 miles from the cut and makes a great stop for refueling, provisioning and getting  boat/engine/mechanical checks completed before making the jump across.  Here's the arrival into Carrabelle.

It's primarily a fishing village and shrimp/fishing boats line both sides of the waterway

We docked at The Moorings, went ahead and refueled today, and we'll get more preparations done tomorrow.  While on the docking topic, I'll note that each facility is different, the wind and current is always coming and going different directions, and it really makes a proficient boat driver out of you.  Rhonda was impressed with my parallel parking today and said I should post the picture of it.  Here you are.  (Hey Rich, the 42 Grand Banks is for you)!  There's a huge Florida Fish and Wildlife boat in front of us.  We are also very conveniently located right next to the washer/dryer, restroom and lounge area in the building to the left.

I really need to get that moustache off of the boat!

Panama City To Port St. Joe

WHAT AN AWESOME DAY, THE BEST OF THE TRIP SO FAR!  So much to cover, where to start?  How about sunrise?

After a second day with Rich and Mary, we departed their home and dock at 5:52 AM to get out before low tide.  Sunrise was at 6:22 AM.

Shipbuilding and shipping activity outside of Panama City.  Home port for this one, Limassol, Cyprus.  Never heard of it.

Remember the sailboat anchored with us at Ft. McRee?  Here she is again, nice pic I think -The "Pacific Quest" out of Seattle, WA.

After that, a dolphin joined us on the port side riding along just ahead of our wake for at least a couple of miles.  I took about 20 pics trying to catch it above the water but never was able to get the timing right.  Every now and then he/she would tilt his/her head to the right as if looking right at us.  Pretty cool.  Soon after the dolphin, we saw a bald eagle up high in the trees (sorry no pics).  And then, this heron followed us in the canal area (coming up) and would fly ahead of us a few feet or a few hundred feet, then perch somewhere and wait on us along the shoreline and take off again as we approached.  That went on for at least 5 miles.  

We decided to get our Christmas decorations out, consisting of a Little Debbie chocolate Christmas tree cake.  Not long after this pic, Rhonda ate it (but we have more!).  It's a silly tradition for us from 2 years ago on the trip from Muskogee, OK to Galveston. 

We ran a narrow canal for about 20 miles similar to a couple of days ago but this was a bit more scenic with the waterway winding through lots of marshland and some nice waterfront homes.

Looks like this fishing boat may be due a refurbish job or a trade-in!

What a cool town we found at Port St. Joe.  The whole town is neat (as in very clean and organized), quaint,  and inviting.  Definitely in contention for "I could live here" cities.  Here's the marina office and a small cafe'.

Here's "Help Me Rhonda" docked with 2 other "Looper" boats.  "Prime Time" is from Wisconsin and "Bucket List" is from St. Louis, MO.  By the way, if I haven't mentioned "Loopers" prior to now, check out www.greatloop.org - they can do a better job of explaining it with lots of details.  Here's the short version:  one year trip, about 6500 miles, FL and Bahamas in the winter, up the Atlantic coast in the spring, Great Lakes and Canada in the summer, leave the Great Lakes in early fall via Lake Michigan through Chicago, down the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers, hang a left on the Ohio River, turn right on the TN River, another right on the Tenn-Tom waterway to Mobile, then left along the Gulf to Florida.  Our completion of the trip will be official when we hang the left on the Ohio on the way back to our home on the TN River. If you happen to have noticed the white flag (burgee) we are flying, it's the America's Great Loop Cruisers Association (AGLCA) flag.  Those who have completed the entire route get the honor and recognition of flying the gold burgee.

An overall view of the Port St. Joe Marina.

It is positioned right on the Gulf.

We started the day with a beautiful sunrise.  How about we end with a huge sunset.

But not just yet.  We have a Christmas parade to go to!  The city has a small population of about 4000 people.  All 4000 were there.  The parade opened with all of the police, fire, and other emergency vehicles making quite a racket and flashing lots of lights.

Then the sequence included local businesses, ROTC and the high school band, classic cars, churches, dignitaries, horses, etc.  I took about 25 pics but this was one of my favorites.

Lots of others with bright lights.

And of course it ended with horses and then Santa himself.

We struck up a conversation with a couple next to us at the parade.  They spent most of their life in Kentucky, then decided to move to Destin, finally decided to get away from the rat race and settled on Port St. Joe.  They said they like it here for all the reasons and pics already noted, but also because they were looking for a quiet life and "there's nothing to do here" but enjoy the laid back atmosphere, the Gulf, and nice beaches.   Rhonda just got back from doing laundry and had a long discussion with the cleaning guy.  He grew up here and later moved to Lubbock, TX but came back after getting in the business of flipping houses.    (Didn't say if he did well, went bust, or somewhere in between).  He also likes the quiet life, now has a cleaning service for 250 houses and 4 businesses.  He also noted that Port St. Joe has a strong Christian history that is still evident today.  Everyone we met today was pleasant, courteous, helpful, and just seemed to be enjoying life.

NEW "I COULD LIVE HERE" LIST - TOP FOUR

1.  Port St. Joe, FL

2.  Panama City, FL

3.  Ft. Walton Beach, FL

4.  Morgan City, LA

We're going to spend an extra day here, church in the morning at First Baptist just a few blocks away, then on to Appalachicola and Carrabelle.