What We See Along The Way

On the west Coast of Florida we see a lot of skinny water in the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW) which is where we general travel.  As opposed to going "outside" into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.  Traveling the ICW mean bridges, lots and lots of bridges. 


The signs (and also our charts) tell us how much clearance we have

The Sunshine Skyway in Tampa

Bascule Bridges that open
 

Big Bridges

 

It also means houses and condos of all shapes and sizes.  I sometimes think that it is ironic for a homeless couple to critique houses - but that doesn't stop me from doing so. 


Old Style Florida Homes



Beautiful New Homes

Then There are the Mansions

Beautiful Condo Buildings

 

 We see lots of "skinny" water, and some tow boats pulling stuck boats off of the shoals in the shallows

 

Small Container Ships by the Sunshine Skyway

 

Beautiful Boats


In general we see lots and lots of sunsets

 



Circus, Circus - No we're not in Las Vegas

Sarasota is a beautiful city and our mooring field is just south of the Ringling Bridge; just a quick dinghy ride to downtown.  If you want to shop you can choose from lots of chic shops and trendy boutiques.  If you want to eat…well there is no shortage of interesting looking places, although we did not sample them during our short stay.  If you need groceries Whole Foods is nearby, with selections to please any palate.

Our first night we rendezvoused with our friends Jerry & Sally aboard “Encore” in time for happy hour at O’Leary’s with the crew of Dos Libras.  If you are coming this way O’Leary’s is sooo forgettable – they serve $5.50 wine in plastic cups, the fries looked greasy, and the music was loud and the vocalist was awful.  Other than that it was a fun time with friends.

Our mission this trip was to go to the Circus and it was, at least for this day, simply the Greatest Show on Earth.  The only problem was we had too much to see and too little time.  We were able to catch a city bus from downtown and we were off to the Circus.

We had been told there was “a lot to see”, but we no idea what that really meant – talk about an understatement!  The Ringling “experience” is so overwhelming we quickly realized the need to decide on the fly where to focus our attention.  Read – “what can we skip”?  We decided the two high points were the Miniature Circus and the Art Museum with a quick peek at the incredible Italianate bay front mansion that John & Mabel built in 1926 as a winter home.

The Miniature Circus was created by a man named Howard Tibbals, thus it bears the name of Howard Brothers Circus.  The detail and size is simply amazing.  The incredibly detailed display is the size of a football field and contains everything, from unloading the rail cars the circus traveled on, to the dining tent where the performers and crew were served by waiters at tables set with china plates, to the impressive Big Top that is lighted in such a way that it simulates both daylight and the lighted night time performance. 

 

In the U.S. the circus heyday was in the late 1800’s to 1938.  The Ringling brothers, all five of them, started the Ringling Brothers circus in 1884.  Ten years later they were the main competitor to the famous Barnum & Bailey Circus; in 1907 the Ringlings bought out their main competitors.  In the current age of travel & technology we forget that in the early part of the 20^th century many people, especially those in rural communities, people had never seen elephants, and camels and zebras.  There was no TV, Netflix, or Internet so folks looked forward the glamorous costumes, exotic animals, and the excitement of the big “Show” when the circus came to town.  We were so enamored of the miniature circus that we didn’t allow time for the Circus Museum, but you can learn more about it by clicking on the gray colored text.

Night lighting

 

Daytime lighting

Who knew that there was so much money in the Circus?  John Ringling, the last surviving brother was reportedly one of the wealthiest men in America before the Great Depression of 1929.  In addition to being instrumental in developing Sarasota he was an avid art collector and amassed an incredible collection, much of it from Europe.  I mean, how many private collections include Rubens – more than one!   The art museum (along with the entire property) was bequeathed to the State of Florida upon his death.  We could have spent a day in the art museum alone.  Alas, the problem (if you can call it that) was, there was so much to see that we had to look quickly and move on.  

The next time you’re in south Florida, be sure to stop in beautiful Sarasota and see the Ringling – just allow more than a single day, you’ll be glad you did!

Cruising is Full of Surprises

We left Clearwater yesterday, as planned, but before we left we woke up to an unpleasant surprise.  Our battery had run down so much that the head - a toilet to you landlubber's - wouldn't flush.  You see our toilets flush by means of electricity, 12v electricity that is produced by our batteries.  Houston we have a problem!  Actually we had observed that we were having to run the generator longer than usual to charge the batteries but were hoping to postpone any action for a month or so.  However when things don't work properly we can't "defer" the item, we have to act.  Thus our planned one night stop in Gulfport became a two night stop so that we could deal with replacing the batteries.

We belong to two boating organizations geared to cruising boaters and both of them provide a support system for cruising members.  In Clearwater the AGLCA Harbor Host was kind enough to provide Larry with a ride to Depco Pump so that he could purchase some spares without the bother and expense of having them shipped.  So when we arrived in Gulfport yesterday we looked in the MTOA Port Captain list and found that we were close to an old friend that we had traveled with on the Loop in 2008.  We called Les Emery for guidance on a local supplier and he and Judy came in a flash; he located two batteries for us, hauled us a long way to pick them up and even helped Larry wrestle the new batteries aboard.  Boaters are simply the best people you will ever meet.

So we had two surprises in one day, the pleasant connection with old friends, and one that was, well, somewhat of  a pain and expensive!

By the time we were finished with all the battery commotion - and a bit of dinner with our friends - it was late and things still weren't reconnected so we decided to extend our stay by a day.  Today Larry connected the batteries and we are good to go.  We also walked a mile to the Laundromat to catch up on our pile of dirty clothes, now we are good to go for a while. 

Providing the weather cooperates (read no fog and no thunderstorms) we will leave in the morning for Sarasota.  See you there.

Lying at Anchor in Clearwater

We spent five lovely nights anchored in Clearwater Beach and playing with our friends before we all scattered off to different destinations with different plans.  We had dinners ashore, happy hours on board one boat or the other, and trolley trips to lunch in another little town up the coast.

For us time at anchor is the very best time boating.  It is quite, we can be lazy, and we tend to suspend chores and just enjoy being there. When anchored our dinghy becomes our "car".  We crank up the "dink" to take out the trash, to go sightseeing around the anchorage, and to join our friends.  In an urban anchorage such as we are in here we use it to go out to dinner, or to the Laundromat, or the grocery store.  Clearwater beach has all that a cruiser can want only a short dinghy ride away.  There are city maintained docks where we can park the dink and walk a few blocks to Publix for groceries, this forces me to be mindful of how much I am picking up because it needs to fit into our backpacks for the ride back. 

In urban areas, but not on the rivers, we can also use public transportation to get around.  Saturday we dinghied to the city dock and walked to the Jolly Trolley stop.  We waited - which is the negative part of public transport- for the trolley that runs up the coast on the weekend and rode it to the little artsy town of Dunedin.  Yes, we were in a marina there for a couple of nights - but we were tired when we arrived and busy the next day cleaning off the salt and doing a little laundry.  Besides it was about 2 miles from the downtown section and we didn't want to put the bikes down for only one day so we took the Jolly Trolley while we were anchored in Clearwater.  We arrived hungry and by the time lunch was finished we had missed the farmer's market, but the town was a fun visit.  One business owner/dog lover /artist has painted the local dogs on the walls of his establishment.

The "Dogs of Dunedin" wall!

The trolley system in amazing because you can catch it at Publix and go North or South on the beach side or over to Clearwater.  Oh what the heck - splurge on the unlimited day pass and for $2.50 you can ride from one end to the other all day long.  On weekends you can go over to Clearwater and then north as far as Tarpon Springs.


 

 

The Jolley Trolley

 

 

We had one rainy day at anchor and a couple of foggy mornings.

 

Our last night together we splurged for pizza at a local spot, a good time was had by all.

The crews of Encore, Journey, Lauren Grace and a buddy, Jim.

 



 



 



 

CROSSING TO THE "OTHER SIDE"

We've been talking for several years about returning to visit the Chesapeake Bay.  This month we finally put the talk into action.  This past Monday we traveled from Apalachicola, FL to Clearwater.  Doing this requires crossing a corner of the Gulf of Mexico which is a big deal to most boaters because it is about 170 statute miles from the jumping off point in the Panhandle to arrival on the west coast of Florida.  At our speed it takes us about 16 hours to travel this distance.

During the time on the open water there is no land, no marinas, no lights, no one to depend on in an emergency.  Lauren Grace is not fast enough that we can make this distance in daylight so it requires us to travel overnight, which we normally never do.  The trip requires watching the weather and planning in order to avoid (we fervently hope) high winds and rough seas, I am happy to report that the planning paid off.   Our trip across was nearly flawless, only negative was about 4 hours of two footers on the beam.  Not a bad ride at all.  The weather cooperated by creating a high pressure system during the full moon so we had a beautiful lamp up there lighting our way.  Miss Lauren Grace never missed a beat as she carried us safely into Clearwater Pass.


First light on the horizon




We are lucky it is so clam out here

 We were lucky to have some company on the ride Sunny Days a 44' Marine Trader and her Captain and Admiral Terry & Lola Fitzpatrick traveled from Apalachicola with us.  The Fitzpatricks are from Nashville and the same marina where our friends Roy & Elvie from "the good ship Royel" are staying right now.  The cruising community is a small world and it is so easy to find friends.

After a stop in a marina to wash off the salt we accumulated on the voyage we are now anchored in a spectacular urban anchorage at Clearwater Beach.  Barely had the hook down when friends we met up on the river this fall dinghied over to share the lay of the land here!  We have several friends here and are delighted to be here with them enjoying dinghy exploring, happy hours, and fun before we all go our separate ways again.

Stay tuned for updates, I'm planning to be more disciplined about keeping things up to date since we are covering new ground again.

Our anchorage for now

Funny Papers or Real Life.

You know the tired old routine in the funnies where the punch line is that dinner is done when the smoke alarm goes off? Well I have realized that sometimes life does imitate art, at least if you think the Sunday funnies are art.


Let me explain. This morning as Larry was making breakfast, while I was sitting on the sundeck cross-stitching my heart out, I heard the smoke alarm sound. I didn’t panic, I simply thought ‘time to quit because breakfast is ready’. You see aboard Miss Lauren Grace the toaster is directly under the smoke alarm, the last thing either of us does when we make breakfast is put the toast in and when it is almost finished the smoke alarm blares. Thus I knew he was going to say “ready babe” before he even called. So I came in laughing and Larry asked what is so funny. I told him our breakfast is like the funny paper cartoons; breakfast is done when the smoke alarm goes off.

I like predictability in life!

Living on the "Hard"

Life on the “hard” is ….tiring, challenging, chilly, frustrating? Actually it is all of those things. Last Friday Miss Lauren Grace was lifted out of the water and set on the parking lot with blocks under her keel and jack stands supporting her hull.


Those with a good memory may recall that we were also sitting “on the hard” last November during Hurricane Ida, and you would be correct. We had our bottom painted last fall and this summer we discovered that the paint is failing so here we are again.

I am trying hard (no pun intended) not to complain about… climbing up a 8’ ladder every time I need to go to the bathroom (because our toilets require water from the river to flush properly); getting up early to be ready for the workers (who start at 0730) to start, scrubbing, sanding, painting (pick one) and then finding out that they have slotted several other jobs ahead of us and they won’t start on our boat until after lunch; getting up in the cold because our heaters need water to function and having to wait for an electric space heater to warm things up; having to be frugal with my use of water for dishwashing and hygiene because it drains out onto the ground under the boat and creates a mess. If all of this was not frustrating enough I am fairly well pissed that we paid for this job to be done just a year ago and now they are finding all sorts of reasons, some even partially valid, why it is not “their” fault that the paint failed.

Apparently our bottom has “blisters”, think of them as pimples on the surface of the fiberglass. This despite the fact that before we bought her someone had gone to the expense to apply an epoxy bottom finish. Now we learn that those jobs generally last from 5-7 years, so it appears ours is at the expiration date.

Now we have to decide if we want to spend several months with the boat hauled out of the water “drying out” or if we just want to put a band aid on the situation and deal with it later. So far we are leaning toward the band-aid approach.

On the bright side (if you look hard enough you can generally fine a tiny ray of sunshine somewhere) it is not raining and the sun heats the boat up nicely by noon and it is stays warm until a couple of hours after dark. Also the temperatures are forecast to warm throughout the week and the nights won’t be so cold in a couple of days.

Hopefully we will have the band-aid in place and be back in the water by next weekend. Meanwhile we had dinner tonight with friends Paul & Stacy who are sitting right next to us here “on the hard”.  I guess life isn't really all that bad.