yes dear …

November 30, 2018 Friday   Clearwater Beach Marina, FL  0.0 nautical miles

27°58’33.6″N 82°49’29.4″W
27.976002, -82.824836
Elevation: 0 ft

For those of you who don’t really know Margo, you should know she likes to collect interesting rocks and put them in her pockets. On other vacations she has collected soooooo many rocks I’ve wondered how she kept her pants up.   No problem here. Mary and Margo are in search for the perfect shell. There are so many little ones to choose from.  Margo is so busy collecting shells she has NOT picked up any rocks so far on this trip.

Shelling (a.k.a. too much fun to collect rocks)

Margo – Clearwater Beach – Shelling – Big bird looking for lunch

Margo – Clearwater Beach – Life Guard Station. Imagine that….. Margo said it was too cold to swim. Mary’s going to make her before she leaves! (Ugh. That means Mary is going with her. Stay tuned to another day.)

Sunset

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Margo wanted me to share this YouTube video I’m Disco the Parakeet and I know it. It is one of her favorites.

November 29, 2018 Thursday   Clearwater Beach Marina, FL  0.0 nautical miles

27°58’33.6″N 82°49’29.4″W
27.976002, -82.824836
Elevation: 0 ft

Margo’s pronoia makes here a wonderful boat guest.

Our start of the day was a road trip to Tarpon Spring, about 17 miles north of  Clearwater Beach. Unfortunately Mary and Margo’s time in Tarpon Spring was cut short because Mary forgot her wallet at the boat.  They did have a good time looking around at everything though.

We discussed a variety of topics on our road trip, but mostly how Florida and Alexandria are alike. For example, you see monster motor homes in both places, they both have Walgreen stores, the towns have Christmas decorations …. 🙂  New York was tossed in for comparison too.

Upon return, a quick nap and then to the BEACH and feed the birds.

Trip to Tarpon Spring

Tarpon Springs was named for the fish found in abundance in nearby waters. But it also is known as the “sponge capital of the world”.  The sponge industry was founded in Tarpon Springs in 1880s.  In 1905, John Cocoris introduced the technique of sponge diving to Tarpon Springs by recruiting divers and crew members from Greece. It industry soon became one of the leading maritime industries in Florida.

In 1947, a red tide algae bloom wiped out the sponge fields in the Gulf of Mexico, causing many of the sponge boats and divers to switch to shrimping for their livelihood. Eventually, the sponges recovered, allowing for a smaller but consistent sponge industry today.

Clearwater Beach

When we were done feeding the birds we walked out to the end of the Pier 60

 

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Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US.

Pronoia : The opposite of paranoia. It’s the sense that the world’s out to help you and everything’s coming up roses.

November 28, 2018 Wednesday   Clearwater Beach Marina, FL  0.0 nautical miles

27°58’33.6″N 82°49’29.4″W
27.976002, -82.824836
Elevation: 0 ft

Margo, did you have to bring cold weather with you from Minnesota?  It’s 51 degrees and 18 kts wind.

The weather didn’t stop Margo and Mary. They spent the day walking south on the beach and looking for shells.

At the end of the beach they walked back north wandering through the shops and taking pictures with almost every dolphin along the way.

After an afternoon nap they were back at it again and Dale joined them. The sunset was at 5:33 pm.  We wandered down the street in and out of shops and then out to the beach for sunset.

And then back to Frenchy’s for supper.

Back to the boat!

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A sea turtle can not retract it’s head into its body.

Loggerhead sea turtle nests are the most commonly found nests on the beaches of Florida’s gulf coast. On average a Loggerhead sea turtle lays about 100-120 eggs at one time.  The temperature of the sand around a nest can determine whether hatchlings will be males or females. Oh gosh!

November 27, 2018 Tuesday   Clearwater Beach Marina, FL  0.0 nautical miles

27°58’33.6″N 82°49’29.4″W
27.976002, -82.824836
Elevation: 0 ft

Margo – Welcome to Clearwater Beach!

Margo had a long travel day getting to Clearwater Beach. She got up at 6:00 am after a restless night sleep because she was so excited about the vacation. She started her trip by taking the Alexandria Rainbow Rider shuttle to Perkins for a great breakfast. All of us know how important a great breakfast is. (Our mother’s told us). From there at 9:00 am Margo caught Executive Express to the MSP airport where Jake met her. When Jake helped Margo get her ticket he also got a non-ticket security pass so he could escort her to her gate. The two of them cleared security and had some lunch.  I even heard some rumors the 2 of them were spotted dancing by the elevators!

Margo had a nice flight. Almost unheard of, she had the entire row to herself! Her plane arrived 30 minutes early, almost unheard of again!

Mary and Dale were about 300 feet from the gate when found Margo headed towards the baggage claim with a new found friend from the plane ride.

We were in the car with baggage collected before 8:07 pm, the scheduled arrival time her plane.

We went to Frenchy’s in Clearwater Beach for their $1.75 taco special. Dale had 2 fish (Grouper / Snapper), Mary had 2 shrimp and Margo had 1 of each. 🙂

Then to the boat and to bed at 9:30 pm!  Unpacking is saved for tomorrow.

 

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About 20 million people travel through the Tampa International Airport each year, about 250 departures daily.

Tampa International Airport prides itself on ‘sustainability’: alternative fuel vehicles, recycling, energy and water use reduction.  Approximately 40% of the Airport’s vehicle fleet runs on alternative fuels, such as compressed natural gas, electric, and hybrid engines. This has saved more than 517,000 gallons of gas since they first went into service in 2012.

November 26, 2018 Monday   Clearwater anchorage to Clearwater Beach Marina, FL  5.5 nautical miles

27°58’33.6″N 82°49’29.4″W
27.976002, -82.824836
Elevation: 0 ft

We are docked at Clearwater Beach Ground Zero for the next week. Mary’s sister Margo is coming tomorrow, Tuesday, for a week.  Not that we haven’t been tourists for the past week, we are really going to be tourists for the next week while Margo is here. Mary might not be posting daily and if she does it there will be a lot Margo photos for the family to check out and she can show her friends when she gets home.

New Digs for the next week

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American counties directly on the ocean shoreline account for less than 10% of the continental U.S. land mass. Yet, about 40% of our population lives in those counties.

2017 Population of Pinellas county, FL (Clearwater, Tampa, St Petes):  970,637

November 25, 2018 Sunday   Mandaley Channel, Clearwater, FL to Clearwater Harbor Marina. Clearwater, FL  4.7 nautical miles

27°59’07.0″N 82°49’13.9″W
27.985279, -82.820529
Elevation: 0 ft

Wish you were here?   

We wish you were too.  Just a reminder…. You can copy the above coordinates and past them in Google maps to see exactly where we are at the end of day location.

Departure

Made it.

Relocation and Low Tide

We qualified (planned) our route and set off to an anchorage across the bay. Charts typically identify mean low tide so there should be enough water. We draft about 3.9.  The depth finder was suddenly reading 3.2 but we weren’t churning any sand or mud. The depth finder at the stern read 1 foot. Ugh!  We’ve never calibrated our depth finder but NOW felt like a good enough time to do so.  With the engine in neutral Dale stuck a docking pole into the water off the swim deck.  5 Feet!  Looks like we have about 1-2 feet of grace in our depth finder readings. WHEW.

Low Tide – in route to Mandaley Channel anchorage

Neighbors

Out and About to the Vikings Game

Forward thinking … Dale checked out locations to watch the Vikings game yesterday.   Frenchy’s is it. Frenchy’s has a secure patron/commercial fishing dock. He told us it would be no problem if we parked are dingy and went to watch the Vikings game at Frenchy’s.

The Frenchy’s marina is across the street from one of Frenchy’s restaurants.   When we returned to the dingy the marina was locked and chained for the night. We could not get to our dingy!!!!  Panic stricken we returned to Frenchy’s  restaurant to see if there was any one who could assist. WHEW! The manager was just closing up and had a key. She graciously walked us over to the marina and let us in.

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Clearwater holds the Guinness Book of World Records for most consecutive days of sunshine at 768, an average of 361 days per year. Recent years since 2015 have somewhat cut back on this record.

November 25, 2018 Saturday Clearwater Harbor Marina. Clearwater, FL  0 nautical miles

27°57’60.0″N 82°48’18.3″W
27.966663, -82.805074
Elevation: 0 ft

Our mission for the day was to bike over to the Clearwater Beach side and check out possible anchorages for tomorrow night.

Choices

Live is all about choices. Some good ones and some not so good.

The 5 mile bike ride back to our marina was uneventful but Mary did to to bed a little earlier than usual.

Along the way

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Aquamarine is the gemstone of the sea, and it’s supposed to be a cherished object for mermaids. In addition to being treasure, people once believed this gemstone came from the tears of mermaids, and it used to be thought had the power to protect sailors when they were at sea, or when they fell into the water.

November 23, 2018 Friday   Clearwater Harbor Marina. Clearwater, FL  0 nautical miles but a another great bike ride!

27°57’60.0″N 82°48’18.3″W
27.966663, -82.805074
Elevation: 0 ft

I feel like I’m on vacation! Another slow and lazy day. The weather was beautiful. Today we took our bikes north to Dunedin. The name “Dunedin” comes from Dùn Èideann, the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.

Neighbors

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Wombat poop is square.

November 22, 2018 Thursday   Clearwater Harbor Marina. Clearwater, FL  0 nautical miles but a great bike ride!

27°57’60.0″N 82°48’18.3″W
27.966663, -82.805074
Elevation: 0 ft

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope all of you connected with friends and family, enjoyed a delicious meal and counted your blessings.  Dale and I enjoyed a simple day together, a far different experience from the huge family Thanksgivings we had at our home in Lake Elmo. There was one year we topped out at 49 for dinner and 51 for desserts.  Today it was just the two of us.

We miss and love your all. Plan on us for next Thanksgiving!

On the Road

We headed south on our bikes to Belleair Beach Causeway, the next bridge down. Our path first took us through the Scientology version of the ‘Vatican City’ in downtown Clearwater. It was strangely quite. It appeared the 100’s of uniformed worker bees that are usually walking around had the day off.

From the Belleair Beach Causeway bridge we headed west across to Sand Key, north across the Gulf Blvd Bridge (entrance to the Gulf) to Clearwater Beach and then east back the marina we are at.

Along the Way

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You know those post-Thanksgiving Dinner stomach sounds? There is a term for that:
Borborygmus – a rumbling or gurgling noise made by the movement of fluid and gas in the intestines.

November 21, 2018 Wednesday   Clearwater Harbor Marina, Clearwater, FL  0 nautical miles

27°57’60.0″N 82°48’18.3″W
27.966663, -82.805074
Elevation: 0 ft

Perky and Bruce left today 🙁

Mary is looking for new crew. Must like chocolate. Tom ate M&Ms with Mary, Ray – Snickers bars, Bruce – Dove chocolates.  Anyone like Butterfingers?

We had planned to leave the Clearwater Harbor Marina today around 11:00 am.  The weather was so rough we asked the Harbor Master if we could stay past the 11:00 am checkout time in hopes the water would lay down later in the day.  It got worse. Argh! We paid for another night…. and at that point another $40 would hit the weekly rate. Good news/Bad news. The Harbor Master graciously adjusted our bill so we got the weekly rate (saved us about $200).  We are now here till Sunday morning.     ☹No anchoring out but we do have electricity.

The bikes come back off the boat tomorrow.

Along the Day

Less than exciting things to do…

This is the MOST expensive laundry room yet at $2.00 per load. Most are $1.50 or less.  Our washer at the moment is not working. Yet another item on the boat to fix.

Floccinaucinihilipilification           

Avidazen. German phrase meaning until we meet again, used as a farewell.

November 20, 2018 Tuesday   Clearwater Harbor Marina. Clearwater, FL  0 nautical miles

27°57’60.0″N 82°48’18.3″W
27.966663, -82.805074
Elevation: 0 ft

Top O’ the Morning

We got our $5 worth on the Jolly Trolley

Floccinaucinihilipilification           

Clearwater is known as the home of Scientology, which has purchased many buildings in the downtown area. Scientologists from around the world come here for training—much to the chagrin of local non-scientologists. Because they are a church, they don’t pay property taxes on many of the buildings they own—another reason most of the locals are not huge fans.

We walked around downtown Clearwater. The Church of Scientology must easily own 8+ blocks of prime real estate and water front.

Waterfront Buildings

Other Buildings

…. and there were many more.

November 19, 2018 Monday   Clearwater Harbor Marina. Clearwater, FL  0 nautical miles

27°57’60.0″N 82°48’18.3″W
27.966663, -82.805074
Elevation: 0 ft

What a blast! We never left the dock all day.

Top o’ the Morning

Neighbors

Boat Cleaning

Besides washing down the boat, Joseph had to go around and tighten screws attaching is bridge to the lower boat frame. All the rocking from last night flexed them out.

All Day Parade

We are in a great location for watching. It has been an all day parade both in the marina and the no wake zone outside the marina. Every one has to pass by to get to the other side the bridge.

Fishing

Good Night

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Why did the Pirate give his ship a coat of paint?
Its timbers were shivering.

November 18, 2018 Sunday Dog Island, FL to Clearwater Harbor Marina, Clearwater, FL   151.5 nautical miles

27°57’60.0″N 82°48’18.3″W
27.966663, -82.805074
Elevation: 0 ft

Eddie’s Weather Wag predicted a Do-able crossing.  It was Do-able but I’d like to review Eddie’s definition of Do-able.

It started OK, got rough and kept getting rougher.  The prediction was for 1-3 foot waves. WRONG!  For most of the passage a 3 foot wave was average. We saw 4s, 5s, 6s and ????? Things were sliding and flying all over the boat. People included.

Dale and Mary took turns trying to sleep in the upper helm while the other was navigating. No sooner than we would fall asleep and we’d go flying off the bench and land on the floor looking up at the Bimini top. Seasick Perky went down to the salon to sleep it off.  Meanwhile over on BRIZO, Bruce and Joseph were stuck on the upper helm as there was no safe way to get inside the boat for food or potty breaks with the voracity of the waves.

At some part in the night the dingy on YES DEAR started breaking loose.  Now that was interesting trying to secure it up. The wave would roll one way and we would try to tighten the line.  If we weren’t quick enough the dingy would forcefully roll back the other direction.

The trip across the Bend from Dog Island to Clearwater took about 23 hours. We didn’t travel as fast as we had planned as the water was so rough. For the most part we ran at 7.2 kts towards 140 degrees True. After sunrise we dropped down to a little under 6.0 kts.

The night was mostly clear. We saw shooting stars.

You get to see BRIZO pictures because in the middle of the Gulf we didn’t have much to look at except BRIZO.

Gulf Bend – Sunrise and rough waters

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The Suwannee River is located in the bend area of Florida and dumps into the Gulf coast at the town of Suwannee, FL.

Stephen Foster, who wrote “Old Folks at Home,” Florida’s state song, never even saw the Suwannee River, nor did he ever step foot in Florida.

November 17, 2018 Saturday   Apalachicola, FL to Dog Island, FL  27.8 nautical miles

29°46’47.3″N 84°40’42.8″W
29.779804, -84.678558
Elevation: 0 ft

We start crossing the Big Bend today, heading to Clearwater Harbor Marina, Clearwater, FL. It was 27.8 nautical miles from Apalachicola, FL to Dog Island. Dog Island to Clearwater is about 150 nautical miles (170 statue miles).

We entered the Gulf around 3:00 pm at the west end of Dog Island, joining the end of a slow moving Looper convoy.

Why this time of day?  We plan to travel between 8 nts (about 8-10 miles per hour) so it will take us 18+ hours.  We don’t want to get within 40 miles of Clearwater until 10:00 am.  There are a lot of crab traps in the area all the way out to about the 40 mile range.  At 10:00 am the sun is high enough that you aren’t looking directly into it while looking for crab traps.

Morning Walk About in Apalachicola

12:00 Noon and we are off!

Bruce is riding on BRIZO so Joseph won’t have to cross the Bend alone.

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As the Crow Flies: The most direct route from one place to another without detours. Before modern navigational systems existed, British vessels customarily carried a cage of crows. These birds fly straight to the nearest land when released at sea, thus indicating where the nearest land was.

See you on the other side!!!

November 16, 2018 Friday   Pearl Bayou, Pensacola, FL   to Scipio Creek Marina, Apalachicola, FL    54.6  nautical miles

29°43’57.8″N 84°59’23.5″W
29.732731, -84.989847
Elevation: 0 ft

34 degrees this morning. Kinda of reminds me of sleeping in the porch at our house in Lake Elmo. There at least we could run inside to get warm.

Hurricane Michael damage

Bruce, Perky and I must have taken 500 pictures between the 30 of us. I’ve cut mine down to about a dozen. The homes are mostly east of Pensacola, FL just before we entered the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) canal.

Mexico Beach, ground zero for the eye of the hurricane, is just to the south of these pictures (the canal we are traveling on).

Apalachicola, FL

Apalachicola is still recovering. Only one marina is functioning and only one fuel station is functioning.

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An average annual commercial harvest of Apalachicola Bay oysters produces enough meat to cover a football field three deep.

November 15, 2018 Thursday   Bluewater Bay Marina, Niceville, FL to Pearl Bayou, Pensacola, FL   58.7 nautical miles

30°06’10.2″N 85°37’25.2″W
30.102832, -85.623678
Elevation: 0 ft

34 degrees this morning. Is this Florida? It’s frigging COLD! Frost warnings out for tonight. We had the heaters on all night and they barely kept us warm. YES DEAR is NOT designed for cold weather.

We were underway for most of the day as we need to get in the Dog Island, FL area by Saturday if we hope to make the crossing at the next predicted opening.  We couldn’t run the heaters unless the generator was running. Being true Minnesotans we toughed it out.

About noon it started to warm up and was sunny by 3:00 pm. (We still kept our jackets on.)

Along the way

Niceville, FL Choctawatchee Bay    Sea smoke and fog. We left Bluewater Bay Marina in sea smoke, fog and mist only to discover the RADAR on the upper helm was not working!  While underway Super Hero Dale swapped out the lower helm unit with the upper helm unit so we could use the much needed RADAR for navigation.

Hurricane Damage

Good Night

There are 5 of us in the bayou here tonight. It is COLD and windy. We aren’t getting as much shelter in the gusting 20+ mph wind as we had hoped to because all the trees are stripped and damaged.

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Fits the bill – A Bill of Lading was signed by the ship’s master acknowledging receipt of specified goods and the promise to deliver them to their destination in the same condition. Upon delivery, the goods were checked against the bill to see if all was in order. If so, they fit the bill.

From the prior Poet Laureate Tom Fly

Hope better weather comes around
Discontinue running aground
Wishing you calm seas and clearing skys
And a happy tday from the family of Flys

Thanks for the warm wishes Tom!

November 14, 2018 Wednesday   Bluewater Bay Marina, Niceville, FL   0 nautical miles

30°29’45.8″N 86°26’48.8″W
30.496063, -86.446880
Elevation: 0 ft

High of 51 degrees today. The Air Force munitions guys were busy this morning.  I bet they shot off a couple hundred rounds by noon today in the training area about a mile away. Then the fly boys came out to play.

We take the thrills where we get them

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Bitter End: The last part of a rope or final link of chain. The end attached to the vessel, as opposed to the “working end” which may be attached to an anchor, cleat, other vessel, etc.

We secured out bitter end in the chain locker.  Good thing. We were down to our bitter end once and it would have been truly bitter if it had not been secured. (We now have a longer anchor rode)

November 13, 2018 Tuesday   Bluewater Bay Marina, Niceville, FL   0 nautical miles

30°29’45.8″N 86°26’48.8″W
30.496063, -86.446880
Elevation: 0  ft

Cold wet and rainy. Didn’t do anything all day. Squat. The fly boys sure are busy though with all the double sonic booms. Sounds like cannons are firing at us!

Well, maybe we did do something. We took the courtesy car to Walmart.

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No room to swing a cat – The entire ship’s company was required to witness flogging at close hand. The crew might crowd around so that the Bosun’s Mate might not have enough room to swing his cat o’ nine tails.

November 12, 2018 Monday   Bluewater Bay Marina, Niceville, FL   0 nautical miles

30°29’45.8″N 86°26’48.8″W
30.496063, -86.446880
Elevation: 0  ft

Cold wet and rainy. Didn’t do anything all day. Nada. Mary is really getting good at Wordscapes on her cell phone and Dale is stellar at Poker. We had just confirmed reservations at Clearwater Beach Marina Nov 26 through Dec 6 when lightning hit the marina office and blew out the internet.

Floccinaucinihilipilification

No Room to Swing a Cat: During the whipping punishment using the “cat o’ nine tails,” all hands were called on deck to witness. With a full crew, the deck could be so crowded that the cat o’ nine tails was difficult to use without hitting other crew members. In other words, there was “no room to swing a cat.” Today the expression is used to indicate crowded or packed surroundings.

November 11, 2018 Sunday   Bluewater Bay Marina, Niceville, FL   0 nautical miles

30°29’45.8″N 86°26’48.8″W
30.496063, -86.446880
Elevation: 0  ft

We’ve extended our stay at Bluewater Bay Marina until Thursday 15 Nov. A weather window for a crossing is still about a week or more out, Once a weather window looks in site we are going to head to Carrabelle, FL. We’ll take about 3-4 days to get there and go through the hurricane havoc wrecked areas (~150 statute miles).

Bluewater Bay Marina

The marina restaurant  honored veterans today for Veterans Day by serving free brunches to all veterans. The rest of us walked up with Dale and bought our own.

Road Trip to Destin, FL Board Walk

We made it through the whole day without stopping at Walmart but we do have items on the list for tomorrow.

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Mind your P’s and Q’s: Sailors would get credit at the taverns in port until they were paid. The barman would keep a record of their drinks on a chalkboard behind the bar. A mark was made under “P” for pint or “Q” for quart. On payday, the sailors were liable for each mark next to his name, and forced to “mind his P’s and Q’s.”