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.

Day 94: Friday, December 7, 2012

Port to Port: Three Rookers Bar to Tarpon Springs

Underway: 9:40 am      Motor Off: 11:50 pm      Miles Traveled: 9.4      Stayed At: Marina

First Things First: First time going backwards to a port.

Mile to Mile: Three Rookers Bar is a beautiful anchorage fairly well protected from all sides except an east breeze. Guess which direction the wind came from overnight? After a lumpy night with intermittent sleep we awoke to light fog and overcast skies – what the heck, I thought we were in Florida.

Today is an extremely short day compared to our normal travel day – less than 10 miles to Turtle Cove Marina – but it still took more than two slow hours against the outgoing tide and wind (while towing the dinghy). We averaged only about 4.5 mph – a lot slower than our normal slow pace of 6 mph. But at least we were in marked channels most of the way and could relax and not worry about crab pots. We are obviously getting back to civilization, though, as many more boats are passing through the channel.

With many marinas to pick from in the Tarpon Springs area, it looks like we made a good choice. The staff at Turtle Cove are wonderful and the showers are amazing. There is a Christmas party tomorrow night at the Marina and Tarpon Springs is having a celebration tonight with food booths, hay rides, Santa, live reindeer and real snow. There is even a lighted boat parade. We spent a couple hours organizing the boat, cleaning the ugly, months-long scum line off Aurora’s waterline and taking long hot showers. Now we are ready to have fun.

It always amazes me how friendly and helpful people are in marinas. We met our neighbor John (The Cable Guy) soon after arriving. He lives locally and gave us lots of information on places to go and had suggestions for places to stay down the way. Thanks John.

We caught up with Loopi Kiwi here (loopykiwi.blogspot.com). We figured they would be farther along but they took the scenic route to get here. Phil and his wife Carolyn are from New Zealand and been Looping for a while. Phil is an amazing musician I guess. We met them briefly at Green Turtle Bay and we were disappointed that we hadn’t been able to enjoy his impromptu guitar concerts and sing-alongs at docktails. Maybe we will get the chance at Turtle Cove.

Even though the Looper community is relatively small, we do get around. As I was walking back from visiting with Loopy Kiwi, I heard my name being called and up running come Eddy and Linda from Spiritus. What a wonderful surprise. After hugs all around, we shared quick stories about the crossing from hell and learned they stayed here for over a week (loved it) and moved on to Dunedin where they have been for two weeks and loving it even more. They happened to be in town to visit an old friend and to see the festivities in Tarpon Springs. They randomly saw Cindy and I walking back from the showers and tracked us down – talk about a small world. It was wonderful catching up with them – hopefully we will get some more time to talk and laugh at Dunedin. We also reconnected with Gil and Marina on Truthsayer – we met them at Carabbell and they also crossed the gulf on the same day and night. His regular radio checks with us were a very welcome gift that night. They are staying at a different marina but we ended up running into each other in downtown Tarpon Springs wandering along the street enjoying the celebration. Amazing.

After exploring the shops lining the sponge docks (sponge diving and Greek food are major industries here), we wandered over to “Old” Tarpon Springs to see the Christmas festivities. The decorations, Santa’s, live music, real snow and crowds of families with kids are starting to get us into the Christmas spirit. What a wonderful night for a celebration. We decided to skip the lighted boat parade and went back to Aurora, made nachos and strawberry margaritas, relaxed and crashed by 9 pm. I know, we’re wimps but we’re happy wimps.

Day 93: Thursday, December 6, 2012

Port to Port: Bill and Kate’s Marina and Spa to Three Rooker Bar

Underway: 7:10 am      Motor Off: 0:00 pm      Miles Traveled: 23.7      Stayed At: Anchor

First Things First: First time fishing and I actually caught something too; First time shelling – Cindy collected a bucketful.

Mile to Mile: Well, the visit with Bill and Kate ended the way it started – with hugs and extreme generosity. We got to say goodbye to Kate before she left for work. Bill has fished a lot on the Gulf so I wanted a few pointers. In addition to some valuable fishing instruction, we ended motoring away with a fishing pole, a reel, several fishing lures and an amazing number of great memories. We will definitely cross paths again one way or another. Thanks for everything Bill and Kate. We’ll remember our visit forever.

Today is a welcome short day. After getting through the channel and turning south to Tarpon Springs we had a choice to make – should we fish or should we sail? There are still a few crab pots to avoid so we can’t make it too complicated just in case we need to take evasive action. So we decided to fish. Well, I cast out the simple rig that Bill had set me up with at 6:30 am this morning and expected a long boring morning. Within 10 minutes I had my first hit  – a nice 15” mackerel that surprised me and immediately fell off as I tried to bring it into the boat. Wow. That was fun. Let’s try again. I’m hungry. Five minutes later I landed my first fish of the trip – a nice 14” mackerel. Five minutes later I caught another 16” – this is ridiculously fun. We have enough for dinner now. We won’t starve. I texted Bill – he was proud. After resting for a little while, I decided to try for one more and after a whole 15 minutes, I caught the biggest one of the morning and decided to throw it back. I’m tired, I need to rest now.

After a fun and quick trip we were soon anchored 300 feet off a beautiful white sand beach at Three Rooker Bar. We enjoyed a long walk along the Gulf side of the island picking up a bucket of beautiful shells and soaking up the sunshine. We returned to Aurora with our treasures and had an amazing lunch of fresh caught, blackened mackerel, boiled red potatoes, island salads and champagne. Life is tough on the Great Loop.

Day 92: Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Port to Port: Hudson, Florida

Underway: 0:00 am      Motor Off: 0:00 pm      Miles Traveled: 00      Stayed At: Dock

Mile to Mile: We thought about leaving today but still had a few things that we wanted to do, high tide would make it an early morning ordeal and Bill suggested going out tonight to dinner and check out the marinas in Tarpon Springs. We really don’t want to leave so why would we say no?

We worked on the blog, went shopping again (there is always something we need like more green slime just in case), took another spin in the kayaks and got everything ready for our last voyage on the open Gulf. We were busy all day and got everything done so we could finally (and reluctantly) leave early tomorrow morning. And, miracle of miracles, the dinghy is still inflated. Whoo-hoo! We can tow it now and get to some beaches. Just in time too.

After Kate got home, we spent some time checking out some of the many marinas in the Tarpon Springs area and had a nice dinner at the Rusty Belly. We were full, tired, and melancholy knowing we were leaving the next day. Bill has Looper madness now. Since he first heard about our trip from Chip, he has been reading blogs, checking websites, and, worst of all, looking at boats online. Oh-oh. Sorry Kate. We didn’t mean to upset life’s normal routine but it is really something to look forward to someday – you might even meet someone like yourselves on your trip – a definite highlight of our trip.

Day 91: Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Port to Port: Hudson, Florida

Underway: 0:00 am      Motor Off: 0:00 pm      Miles Traveled: 00      Stayed At: Dock

First Things First: First time kayaking (for Cindy).

Mile to Mile: More of the same today. Went for a walk, had breakfast with Bill, continued cleaning, fixed a few things and went shopping (again). I put some green slime sealer into the dinghy to try to finally stop the persistent leaks. Hopefully this will work since it is impossible to get at the leaks from the outside.

Bill and Kate offered to let us use their kayaks so we went on a leisurely afternoon cruise through the many fingers of this channel community looking at all the boats, boat lifts, houses and wildlife. Cindy was nervous at first but looked like a natural. Now she wants kayaks someday. It was a blast.

We finished the evening with another great home cooked meal – Venetian shrimp with fresh caught scallops and pasta. A homerun ala Bill and another recipe added to the book. Bill and Kate’s Marina and Spa – homecooked breakfast and dinner included, courtesy truck, movie night, free use of power washer and kayaks, the best hot showers this side of Florida, free books to read and pass on, fast internet, great conversation and comedy hour every night – reasonable rates …. Sounds like a great deal to us.

Day 90: Monday, December 3, 2012

Port to Port: Hudson, Florida

Underway: 0:00 am      Motor Off: 0:00 pm      Miles Traveled: 00      Stayed At: Dock

First Things First: First time drinking Dark and Stormy’s – Cindy’s new favorite.

Mile to Mile: We slept like babies last night. We are tied up securely at a dock in a calm protected channel. Except for something nibbling on the stuff growing on our hull, all was quiet and good in our little world. We slept a little late and soon were having breakfast served to us at Bill and Kate’s Marina and Spa – eggs, bacon, fried potatoes and fresh coffee. (Kate took the day off from the Spa and went to her other job as an elementary school teacher). Can it get any better. Hmmm…maybe we are going to have engine problems soon – Boris just doesn’t sound right – we may have to stay a little longer to figure out what is wrong. Bill normally commutes to Chicago every week and is only home on the weekends. Well, we randomly picked a time when he is going to be mostly home for next month. What luck for us if this is a sign of things to come.

After breakfast, we did some power cleaning, organizing and shopping. Bill is in the power washer business so he has a few laying around so we borrowed one to wash Aurora, and, since I was having so much fun, I kept going and power washed his floating dock. Bill loaned us his truck (another big white pickup) to do some errands – Walmart is only a few miles away and get gas for Aurora.

After a very productive day, we treated our new friends to ebelskivers, bacon, fruit and orange juice/champagne mimosas for dinner. They introduced us to Dark and Stormies – a perfect mix of dark rum and ginger beer – an odd but strangely perfect preamble to brunch for dinner. Cindy has memorized the recipe. We ended the night watching Forever Young, a movie DVD we have with on the boat. Another day in paradise.

Day 89: Sunday, December 2, 2012

Port to Port: Crystal River to Hudson, Florida

Underway: 6:40 am      Motor Off: 3:40 pm      Miles Traveled: 49.6      Stayed At: Dock

First Things First: First time staying at a someone’s dock. Happy Birthday Mom!

Mile to Mile: After an early start on another beautiful travel day on the Gulf, we cruised south and east on the same course almost all day following the 10-12 foot depth line. Very light winds, warm sunshine and more dolphins balanced out the hassle of dodging crab pots. We were startled to see how clear the water was as we got closer to Hudson – we were in 8+ feet of water but it looked like you could touch bottom. We stared at the depth finder for a long time to be sure we wouldn’t hit something.

After an easy cruise down the coast and long trek up a narrow channel, we pulled up unannounced to Bill and Kate’s dock at about 3:40 pm to a very warm welcome. Who are Bill and Kate you ask? Well, this is a long and interesting story that started way back in Carabbelle. I was sitting in a rocking chair on the deck outside the marina office working on the blog and a couple with two dogs walked up out of the darkness and we greeted each other. They sat down to remove sand burrs from their dogs feet and fur and we started talking. This is how we met Chip and Traci which led us to a random dock in Hudson, Florida.

Chip asked a lot of questions about our trip and the Great Loop. You could see the wheels turning (Looper mania starting?). We talked for over an hour. By the time our conversation was done, we had exchanged information and they had volunteered to give us a ride to Tallahassee to get a rental car if we ended up being stranded in Carabbelle through the weekend (we had flights from Tampa to Minnesota a little over a week later that we needed to get to). Chip emailed an old friend of his in Hudson (a little north of Tarpon Springs) who lives in a channel community with a dock (this happened to be Bill). Well Bill emailed me back saying any friend of Chips is a friend of his and offered use of his dock – we could even leave the boat there while we went back to Minnesota. Wow. Amazing. Well, we thought this was a offer we couldn’t refuse. Not only did it sound like a great adventure, but Hudson made our planned crossing of the Gulf 3-4 hours shorter. So we emailed Bill back explaining our plans to cross soon and he wished us luck and safe travels.

Well, as you may know, our plans changed and we ended up in Steinhatchee after our Gulf crossing. We emailed Bill and Kate to tell them our change of plans and that we didn’t know when (or if) we would get to Hudson. They were relieved to hear we were safe and extended their offer again for whenever we got down there. We really appreciated the offer and told them we would keep in contact.

We ended up staying in Steinhatchee and never got a long enough weather window to run down the coast. We went home for Thanksgiving and returned to Steinhatchee. We didn’t know how things were going to go and we didn’t want anyone worrying about us – especially people we have never met – so we didn’t email our plans.

We cruised into their dock at 3:40 pm to an amazing welcome. Bill happened to be in the yard and made a wild guess when he asked, “Are you Mike and Cindy?”. (Actually, he saw the MN tags on the front of Aurora and made a pretty educated guess that this little sailboat from MN was the long lost Aurora). Well, that was the beginning of an amazing experience. We soon were tied up securely to their floating dock, enjoyed wonderful hot showers, shared an amazing dinner of roast beef, rice and gravy and hours of hilarious conversation with perfect strangers. It can’t get any more perfect than this and was well worth the wait. And, to think, we almost kept going to Tarpon Springs. Now we are definitely going to stay at least one more night to decompress, go shopping, clean the boat and enjoy more of Bill and Kate’s company. Before the night was over we had already planned an ebelskiver party for tomorrow night. Can the universe be any more aligned?

Day 88: Saturday, December 1, 2012

Port to Port: Cedar Key to Crystal River

Underway: 7:40 am      Motor Off: 1:20 pm      Miles Traveled: 32.8      Stayed At: Anchor

Mile to Mile: A beautiful day along the Big Bend part of Old Florida – sunny, light wind and warm. Today is a leisurely day – we are only 32 miles from Crystal River. We even had time to relax and motorsail for a while. The winds were light so the sail didn’t boost our speed but it just felt right to have the sail up and full as we cruised south and east dodging a stray crap float and being chased by multiple schools of dolphin. I actually think they are having fun when they come to visit. When one discovers us more seem to come in from multiple directions to join them to effortlessly cruise alongside or on our tiny little bow wake. I was able to capture several of their visits on video. It makes us smile every time it happens.

After a relaxing, quick and uneventful cruise down, we anchored in about five feet of water on the backside of the first island we came to – Shell Island – following the channel into Crystal River. It looks like we are in some kind of tropical paradise with a white sandy beach and palm trees only feet from our anchorage – or we are on the set of Gilligan’s Island. We don’t have the dinghy inflated so we can’t walk the beach but the view is still wonderful.

We could have kept going another 10 miles to the end of the channel where the town of Crystal River is located and potentially see a bunch of manatees congregating at the source of the spring feeding the river but decided we needed to take advantage of perfect travel weather on the Gulf. We want to get back to the intracoastal waterway before the weather returns to its normal unpredictable self.

We met David, a local resident out kayaking looking to get up close and personal with some manatee or a dolphin or two. He stopped by the boat and chatted for a while. He ended up in Cedar Key after bicycling from the Northwest US cross -country to the east coast and down to Florida. Now that is an adventure. He wants to bike back to the west coast. Crazy (fun).

After a gorgeous top-ten sunset that kept getting more amazing minute by minute, we made a simple dinner – steak, hashbrowns and fancy salads – read a little and crashed early to get ready for a busy day tomorrow. One more hop to civilization and the next phase of our adventure – Hudson, Florida here we come – we are only three weeks late getting to Bill and Kate’s dock (long story). Are you ready for us?