Cults, Twerking and Who Let the Dogs Out?
The twerking cult let the dogs out. Just kidding. It has been an interesting few days.
Nov 10 – Shell Island- over night anchorage
Nov 11 – Anclote North Sand Bar – outside of Tarpon Springs
We pulled up anchor at Shell Island about 6am heading for Anclote. Our Gulf passage was smooth and uneventful except for the crab pots. Argh! We had to be constantly vigilant with watch to navigate around the dang things, constantly changing course.
Passage to Anclote
Arrived at Anclote about 4pm. This is a sand bar on which people camp and fish. There were quite a few campers here for Veteran’s Day weekend. The water was clear enough for us to see the grassy bottom about 12 feet deep. Took Ozzy to shore for potty/run time. There were hundreds of birds on the shore. People would chase them and take photos. I am sure years ago after a few beers, I would have done the same thing. Now, I feel sorry for the birds. Funny how our perception of things change.
Nov 12 – Saturday
The sunrise was the most amazing that I can remember seeing . It filled the sky and water with color. We decided to move from this spot due to incoming high winds. It would be very rocky in this anchorage. Luke needs to do a repair to the hydraulic lift on the out drive. We are headed to a marina.
Tarpon Springs City Marina is full, so we are looking a moving further south maybe to Clearwater. Then the marina called back, they had a cancellation. We are heading into downtown Tarpon Springs.
Arrived at the marina about noontime. The town is ramping up for their seafood festival so the marina is fill and the boat slips are very tight. The boats are about 10-12 inches apart, just enough for a bumper between. This was our first experience of 4 point docking.
Soon after docking, the folks in the next boat woke up and came on deck with music cranked up playing “Who Let The Dogs Out”. I normally keep a bark collar on Ozzy because he is loud. However, considering the song and the decibel level. I took off his collar and let him sing along with the music. It was pretty funny.
The festival was an interesting diversion, but I never found the seafood??? We did run across the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile and joined in with a few others singing the Oh I Wish song… The festival vendors were all resellers, no original art (bummer). We got a couple of items and yummy desserts from the local bakery. Also, at the suggestion Mike, the dock master, we went to the takeout Greek restaurant. I had the best gyro ever!
Sponge Docks
As we returned to our boat our neighbors in the marina were in full party mode. LOUD music and large older women twerking each other in front of their husbands (?). Very interesting. There was a time when we would have been the loud drunks on the block, but we changed our ways. I reminded Luke so he would not say anything to dampen our neighbor’s fun. It gets better… the next door outside bar started their live music. So, we had our neighbors music and the bar music competing with each other. This was our lullaby and goodnight till midnight.
Nov 13 – Sunday
I assisted Luke with the out drive repair. We were able to fix it without new parts. One of the lines had become pinched. Problem solved, so we can leave the marina tomorrow.
To prepare to leave we need to decide where we are going and do we need anything. I need to get some mail from my sister so we looked for a post office near to the water in Madeira Beach. Ooops! Sister is on a week long cruise and cannot mail my stuff. Hmmm, another plan B. Good thing we are flexible.
Plan B – go to Dunedin.
Sunday afternoon, I took the Jolley Trolley for a ride. It went from Tarpon Springs to Dunedin and through downtown Clearwater. The oddest thing I experienced was Fort Harrison, the headquarters for the Scientologist (cult). The members were walking in lines between buildings all dressed exactly alike like little robots. The Jolley Trolley is an open air bus and they would not even look at us. I had read the book “Beyond Belief” by Jeanna Miscavige Hill describing her life and escape from this group. Wow! Those poor souls.
The Tarpon Springs dockmaster, Mike, took us to Winn Dixie on his Kubota. Fun! Thanks Mike.
Winn Dixie front door service from Mike, dockmaster at Tarpons Springs City Marina
Shout out to Brian and Gerri on Raven! Great to meet you. Looks like you had a fun sail!
Nov 14 – Monday
I had a meltdown this morning… still trying to adjust to our new living quarters. All is good, it is just difficult sometimes.
Nice Lady got a well-deserved bath and so did we! High tide is at 12:30 so we left about that time so we had an outgoing tide on the river. Getting out of the slip was tricky with the wind and the current. The slip was maybe 15 feet wide and our boat is 14 feet. Every boat I watched leaving that marina had troubles getting out. Just part of the daily life.
We traveled down the ICW to Dunedin. In the channel we did not have to worry about the crab pots. Luke has contacted Aunt Grace to see if we can meet for lunch.
We anchored out from the Dunedin City Marina. We are within walking distance of the shopping district and a bike path. Looking forward to exploring Dunedin and seeing Luke’s family. Thankfully, I have not seen anymore twerking.
Brenda Osborne 