Christmas in Tarpon Springs

Monday, December 24 - Thursday, December 27, 2012

I registered us for a couple day stay at Turtle Cove Marina in Tarpon Springs and Mike finished securing the Irish Attitude to the dock. Now it was time to sleep! The day did not turn to night before we were up again. Two other looper boats (Great Laker and Fandango) were in port but their owners had gone to visit family for the holidays. We had finally caught up to Ann and Larry but we still missed them! Joyce and Bill, on Carried Away had invited us to share their traditional Christmas Eve dinner with them. Joyce is a great cook and we were happy to accept. Both families were grateful to have good friends to share the holiday with. I don't know how Joyce had the energy to serve up such wonderful meals. Never sleeping must be the key. Actually, it all came down to planning. Menus were discussed and groceries were purchased in Apalachicola. It was delicious! Everyone enjoyed lasagna, salad, garlic bread, wine and even ice cream for dessert! Surprisingly, we talked until quite late, rehashing the crossing.

Tree Ornaments!

The next morning was Christmas. (No exclamation point needed.) It would have been a dismal day for me if not for Joyce and Bill's company. We were treated to another Craig tradition, cream cheese coffee cake with cinnamon swirled through it! To Die For! Add a sausage and egg casserole, conversation and we were fat and happy again! Mike and I headed back to the boat and did some chores. I saved the laundry another day! We Faced Timed Kris and Clint and Jen and Jared. We left Rob a message. It would be a busy day on the job for him. Tomorrow would be a better day to catch up.

Sea Hunt IV had Exterior Christmas Lights



Christmas dinner was aboard Carried Away. They have much more space than we do and a much bigger refrigerator! Glazed ham, carrots, green bean casserole, rolls and cheese cake for dessert! Joyce did most of the meals the last couple days. Our contributions seemed meager. Honestly, we do not have the space needed to pull off such a special holiday feast. Thank you!, Joyce and Bill for making this a Christmas to remember!

Wednesday turned out to be a poor travel day. The winds were kicking up. Our girls would be flying into Florida on Friday and Mike and I hoped to get further south. Sunburns have not been an issue so far on our adventure. Wind burn, maybe! After some chart plotting we settled on Clearwater Beach. Sun, sand and surf, a good combo! I gathered up all the laundry and put the basket in our cart. It was a hike. It soon began to rain and Mike brought me an umbrella. I pulled a chair up to the window and worked on our blog. Inserting the pictures takes awhile. The rain came harder matching the winds. Turtle Cove Marina is a 'rack-a-minium'. There are 4 huge building filled with rack stored boats. Just call them and the forklift removes your boat from storage, places it in the water and they will even gas it up for you, added to your account of course. It's a busy place but not intrusive. To bad the weather was so nasty. The pool and hot tub looked inviting.

Rack 'em Up!

Pool Side



Rainy Days

Laundry With A View

Fountains in the Pool

Joyce and I walked into town. Tarpon Springs is another 'Old Florida' town and it has the highest population of Greek Americans in the U.S. They immigrated here as sponge divers. Red Tide algae all but wiped out the sponges and the dock are now shops and (mostly) Greek restaurants plus one fantastic bakery! Fishing and shrimping replaced diving for sponges. There is more to Tarpon Springs but that is all I had time to see. The four of us ate out at Rusty Belly's that night, opting to skip the Greek cuisine.



A Memorial to Tarpon Springs Sponge Diving Heritage

Our departure time on Thursday was pushed back a few hours. First, it was too cold! Second, it was low tide. A boat next to us, Gypsy, I believe, was crossing the gulf, heading the opposite direction from us. There final destination was Nashville. The tide was so low, their keel was in the mud. Better to wait for the tide to come up. That is something we don't worry about in Michigan! Clearwater Beach was only 18 miles down the ICW so an early start was not imperative. Mike and I said good-bye to Bill and Joyce and motored out of Tarpon Springs about 11:00 a.m.

Mangroves, A Sure Sign Of Florida