11/30 - 12/8/22 Tarpon Springs to Clearwater Beach, St. Petersburg, FL

Wednesday, November 30, Anclote Key to Tarpon Springs (4.1nm).  We were the last to leave the anchorage around 11:30, hoping to take advantage of a slack tide going into MAR Marina.  Nebo let us know that several Loopers were already there: Arabella, It's About Time, Knot Dreaming, Kraken, Hele Aku and Sail La Vie; a few more were down the river at the Tarpon Springs Municipal dock.

• MAR Marina is a boatyard, that recently changed ownership.  The new owners decided to take advantage of an additional revenue stream by offering transient slips.  They're new to this, so we'll give them some consideration.
• When we arrived, we learned that despite our reservation, they didn't actually have a slip for us.
• Shane greeted us and it was decided we would tie up in the Travel-Lift Pit!  Brian skillfully threaded Port-A-Gee between Arabella and Hela Aku, then quickly steered her into the pit.  I can't believe I didn't get a picture - it was very interesting.
• It was a bit of a challenge stepping over the bow rails to get on and off the boat, as evidenced by several bruises on my legs.
• On the positive side, we were well-protected and had power and water.
• Free Laundry was a nice perk too.
• MAR had a nice bathhouse with 2 private heads, and 1 shower room.  The heads were very nice, but the shower had seemingly been neglected by the cleaning crew or a while.
• $2.00/ft was fair enough, but $25 for pump out was pretty steep!
• 
  Now for the fun part! The Loopers that arrived on Tuesday, rented a 6-passenger Golf Cart.  They invited us to join the Looper dinner at Rusty Bellies.  It took 2 trips to transport 10 passengers the 2-miles to the restaurant.
• After dinner, Capel (Arabella) took the 1st group back to MAR, then came back for the 2nd group.  While he was transporting the 1st group, the Municipal Dock Loopers joined us in the bar (Next Chapter, Knot Dreaming & Odyssey).  After a final nightcap(s), 9 Loopers left Rusty Bellies and found a spot on the 6-passenger Golf Cart!  I'm sure we were quite a sight, 9 "seniors" hooting and hollering through Tarpon Springs - It was a great night!

CREWS OF:  Arabella, Knot Dreaming, Kraken, Port-a-Gee, It's About Time

7 of the 9 passengers!

Thursday, December 1, MAR Marina to Tarpon Springs Municipal dock (1nm).  We were very excited about being able to get 1 night at the coveted Tarpon Springs Municipal Dock.  We had to wait until 11:00 for the slip to be available, so about 10:45 we had all hands-on deck as Brian sterned Port-A-Gee out of the PIT and threaded her through a narrow opening - cognizant of the of the shoaling outside the marina.  Despite Brian's anxiety, he handled the boat expertly and we were on our way without a single issue.

• The Tarpon Springs City dock is shared by the Sponge Dive Boats, and they were festooned with Christmas decorations.

• Inked Mermaid and Table Six greeted us as we arrived at the Municipal Dock.
• Mick, the dockmaster was very helpful getting up into our slip. When I went up to do the paperwork, Mick surprised me with news that we can stay another night.  This meant we could go to the" Snow Place Like Tarpon Springs" Christmas event on Friday- Whoo Hoo!
• 
  We walked around town and ate as much Greek food as our stomachs would allow.  Of course, we had to buy some sponges.
• We had a delicious dinner at Costas, and oddly, the drinks got increasingly larger - LOL

Friday, December 2 - Tarpon Springs Municipal Dock - WE LOVE TARPON SPRINGS!

• Our 2nd day in Tarpon Springs was even better than the first.  I asked Mick which direction would be best for a run.  His reply was, "Go to the light, cross the street, and you will find 58 miles of the Pinellas Bike Trail - Wow, Tarpon is a running/biking paradise.
• 
  Late afternoon we checked out another restaurant, Dimitri's On The Water, - just had appetizers and drinks. It was a nice setting and oozed Greek authenticity.
• A 1/2-mile walk brought us to downtown Tarpon Springs to check out "There's Snow Place Like Tarpon Springs".

• The streets were lined with vendors, and they were making a sledding hill.  We've gone to considerable lengths to avoid snow this year!
• We were impressed with the beautiful neighborhood flanked by old Victorian homes - Did I say we love Tarpon Springs?
• BONUS - our slip gave us a front row view of the Christmas Boat Parade. It was truly magical.  Being lifelong Chicagoans, this was an entirely new concept, and one we could get used to!

Saturday, December 3, Tarpon Springs to Clearwater Beach (17.5nm).  We hated to say goodbye to this fun old-Florida city, we will definitely go back.

• We enjoyed a scenic trip to Clearwater on a gorgeous day.  I'm so confused about what time of year it is!  Lots of dolphins jumping and riding in our wake - it never gets old.
• Clearwater Beach's skyline came into view, we haven't seen one of those in a long time - Back to the City life.
• 
  Clearwater Beach Marina is home to many fishing charters, excursion boats, and dinner cruise ships.  The whole place was buzzing, as boats of all sizes cruised past us.

• We pumped out and Brian expertly sterned Port-A-Gee into our slip, while I tried to catch the pilings at the bow.  Docking in Florida is a real skillset - we're getting better at it.
• Lots of Loopers were at the marina, we met new ones and reconnected with others.  We are never lonely!
• We had been hearing about the Jolley Trolley since before we got to Tarpon.  It is a city service that you can ride all day for $5.00.  It runs between Clearwater Beach and St. Petersburg.
• At first, we tried to figure out the "schedule", but quickly realized if you stand by one of their many signs, you'll get to where you need to pretty quickly.  The drivers are very helpful.  We used it to get provisions on Sunday.
• On Monday, we took the Jolley Trolley into Dunedin. It was a cute town, bigger than Tarpon and quainter.  Since it was Monday, many of the restaurants were closed.
•   However, we did find Iberian Imports - a real life Portagee Store!!!  Brian and the shop owner exchanged stories of their Portuguese families, as well as our trip to Portugal in 2015.

• More Loopers arrived in Clearwater while we were in Dunedin, and a Docktail gathering was scheduled.  Our chairs lined both sides of the dock for a loooong way - probably close to 30 Loopers.  It was fun exchanging stories and learning about people's lives.
• I don't know of another time in my life when I engaged with so many new people on a daily basis.  It's really quite extraordinary.
• After docktails, we walked to dinner at Crabbies with Dan & Chris (Long Gone2).  The rooftop restaurant provided a stunning view of the lit-up city.
• Afterwards we walked out on Pier 60 - in front of us in darkness was the Gulf, behind us was City Lights.

• We enjoyed our 3-day stay at Clearwater beach, and appreciated all it had to offer, but prefer the character of smaller towns.
• The Marina Staff was very helpful, although their electronic systems replaced the need for human intervention.  What did we do before we had smartphones???
• The boater bathroom/showers were unlocked via an App. It is a large marina, full of boaters, serviced by 1 men's and 1 women's shower; surprisingly, we never waited for our turn.  They were pretty basic, seemed to be cleaned daily, but felt very "public".
• 2 washers and 2 dryers were also run off an of app - $3.00 to wash, $3.00 to dry.
• The Bait House is adjacent to the marina.  A cute family-run restaurant on the water.  The Drunken Shrimp was delicious!

Tues/Wed December 6-7 - Clearwater Beach - Boca Ciega Bay Anchorage - Gulfport (20.4nm).  Yet another gorgeous day on the West Coast of Florida.

• We passed our final destination in St. Pete by a couple of miles, because this anchorage was recommended by our friend, Alex Ertz. 3 other Loopers had already found it, so had lots of company.
• This huge anchorage features a mooring ball field for sailboats.  The panoramic view provided an unobstructed view of both sunset & sunrise.
• We did get rocked quite a bit by passing boats, but it quieted down in the evening.

• We used these 2 days to do some cleaning and apply a coat of was to Port-a-Gee's top side.  The Florida sun will steal the shine really quick!
• You can easily dinghy into Gulfport from this anchorage.  Our plan was to do that but decided this was a good opportunity to detox our stomach, liver and credit card!

Thursday December 8, 20202 - Gulfport (back) to St. Petersburgh (2.6nm) After savoring the views at Boca Ciega all morning, we pulled the anchor around 12:30 and turned back to Pasadena Marina. This will be our home for a couple of months, as we will go home for the holidays and then return to stay through January 2023.

• The channel into the marina was narrow, and we were seeing water depths as low as 3.8 (we actually have another 1.5 wiggle room).  The red & green channel markers were pretty close together and did a good job guiding us into the marina.
• We had been calling Benny, the dockmaster, almost weekly - for various reasons.  He was always very helpful and patient.  Benny was standing on the dock to greet us and helped us tie up in our slip.  Brian, once again, sterned Port-a-Gee into her slip with expertise.
• Carl is the "do everything" guy in the marina, and he went out of his way to show us around and make sure we had everything we needed.  He even offered his bicycles for our use while we are here.
• Pasadena Marina is older, but very well kept.  My first impressions:
• The shower/bath houses are immaculate and cleaned daily.
• The pool and deck will definitely be something we'll use often.
• Every tenant is entitled to 10lbs of ice everyday - there's a hotel-type ice machine, pretty cool!
• I spied 2 washers and 2 dryers - $2.00/load
• Wifi is  . . . good enough
• 1-mile to St. Pete Beach
• The moon tide removed most of the water in our shallow slip - we were thisclose to sitting on the bottom this morning.  Tides are something we're still trying to figure out.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!

LEG STATS:

Miles: 81.6 Nautical Miles (41.1, 17.5, 20.4, 2.6)

Locks: 0

Marinas: (4) MAR Marina, Tarpon Springs Municipal (2 nights), Clearwater Beach Marina (3 nights), South Pasadena Marina (60 nights)

Anchorages: (1) Boca Ciega (2 nights)