Day 95: Saturday, December 8, 2012
Port to Port: Tarpon Springs
Underway: 0:00 am Motor Off: 0:00 pm Miles Traveled: 00 Stayed At: Marina
First Things First: First marina party.
Mile to Mile: Today was a nice balance of work and play. I got up early, grabbed the computer and our logbook and hiked across country to the pool/clubhouse to try to get a good internet connection and find a comfortable table and chair to catch up on the blog (and do a quick load of laundry). Luckily the clubhouse was open and the lights were on at 7:00 am in the morning. This is a beautiful facility. They have been decorating for the Christmas season so there are plants and lights and decorations along the bar, at each table and all around the outside by the pool. An extra bonus was a wonderful music soundtrack playing all morning. I sat there in quiet solitude for over five hours catching up on the blog. I never saw another person come into the clubhouse bar. I was very productive and almost caught up to about five days ago in my writing and was even able to upload four or five completed posts and pictures. Cindy stayed on the boat and wrote a bunch of cards and notes. Time to party.
Well, not quite yet. Cindy and I walked a couple miles over to Port Tarpon Marina to help Gil and Marina on Truthsayer remount one of their chainplates that needed to be replaced. Truthsayer is a classic old 50+ foot sailboat with lots of teak brightwork. (A chainplate is usually a flat stainless steel bar which is bolted to a bulkhead inside your boat with a tab sticking up through your deck where the stays (cables) that hold your mast up are solidly connected). On Aurora, the chainplates on each side are about 1 1/2 inches wide and 12 inches long holding up our 25’ mast. On Truthsayer, triple chainplates on each side hold up an enormous 45’ mast. The new main center chainplate was 4” wide and 1/2” thick and 30” long and probably weighed more that our anchor. Luckily, the chainplates were mounted on the outside of the hull and easy to access. With Gil on the inside and me on the outside holding a long wrench, we were able to quickly (for a boat project) get the new chainplate securely fastened and have time to relax and chat for a while.
After getting a quick dinghy ride back to Turtle Cove, Cindy and I got spiffed up and ready for the Christmas Party sponsored by the marina starting at 6 pm – they even invite the transient boaters to their parties. Nice. What a blast. We relaxed, had drinks at the bar and chatted with some local boaters and started getting into the Christmas spirit. They even provided a buffet of snacks and hot food so we joined John (Summer Breeze), our neighbor in the slip next to us and had a wonderful dinner of pasta, brocolli and salad overlooking the pool. Rough life. John was extremely helpful in giving us info on places to stay on the way down the intracoastal. Thanks John. We also met Bob and Nina who have a slip at the marina but are currently boatless. They were very interested in our trip and the Great Loop and even came back to Aurora to see our humble home.
What a great day. Tomorrow we plan to move on but Turtle Cove is a place we hope to get back to someday.
