Tarpon Springs Florida to Clearwater Beach Florida - Nov 14, 2016

Nov 12^th – It was a warm and sunny day today.  We got up early so we could move from our Tarpon Springs anchorage to a boat slip in town.  We moved twice due to issues with the first 2 slips.  The first one was at Tarpon Springs City Marina where we got stuck between 2 wood poles since the slip was too narrow even though the harbor master told us it would fit a boat with a 15’ beam.  Since there were no other slips available the harbor master called a restaurant next door and we put the boat there, however Maria was unable to get off the boat due to the slip design.  We found a slip at Turtle Cove Marina and then moved the boat there.  It has a really nice clubhouse with a pool, hot tub, bar, games room, etc.  I washed the boat since it was totally covered in salt from our Gulf of Mexico crossing.  Once we got settled and cleaned up we walked into town which was very busy since we arrived during their Seafood Festival.  Tarpon Springs is known for their natural sponges and it appears that there is a heavy Greek influence which seems apparent from reviewing the menus of the local restaurants and bakeries.  We watched some street performers, had lunch at a place that had 2 for one drink specials and visited a number of local shops.   

Nov 13^th – It was another warm and sunny day.  One of our friends, Charlie, from the Lake Simcoe Yacht Club helped us investigate marinas in St. Petes and invited us to dinner at his condo in St. Petes on Wednesday.  Maria and I walked into town and enjoyed the Seafood festival activities and met up with Jim and Terri from Lucky Ducks and Max from Lazy Susan.  We went to lunch together and afterwards we checked out the marina facilities and went back to our boat for a cold one.  We plan to leave the marina at high tide tomorrow (about Noon) since the channel into this marina is fairly shallow and some boats have hit the bottom when arriving/departing  Our plan is to go to an anchorage by Clearwater Beach.

Nov 14^th – Today was a cool and cloudy day and it looked like it was going to rain.  We moved slowly this morning since we had to wait until high tide to leave the marina which was about Noon.  We travelled 22 miles from Tarpon Springs to Clearwater Beach Florida to an anchorage close to the Clearwater Beach Town dock which is a free dock for day use.  We planned to take the dingy over to explore the area, however it was too cool for Maria plus we didn’t want to get caught in the rain.  So we just relaxed on the boat which allowed me to get caught up on the blog in my shorts while Maria was covered in a blanket and looked like she was ready for winter!  (She’s a wimp ;) ) Hopefully we have nicer weather tomorrow so we can hit the beach!

We actually stayed up long enough to see the sunset after our 170 mile crossing

I was up to see the sunrise the day after our crossing in our Tarpon Springs anchorage

Seafood festival in Tarpon Springs

The view from our slip Turtle Cove Marina

Maria wants to hunt sharks

I think it's safer to become a sponge diver

A Houdini trick from a past America's Got Talent contestant

Heading towards our Clearwater Beach anchorage

View from our Clearwater Beach anchorage