DUNEDIN

Dec 12- We have been very fortunate that we wake to sunshine and warm temperatures as of late. It is usually cooler than this at this time of year they tell us, but we'll take it. Evelyn and I are heading on our bikes back to JoAnn's as she has to return something. The guys are busy with their electronics this morning so its a good time for us to go. There is a Christmas Parade in Dunedin today so we are jumping on the Jolly Trolly again at 4 pm to go and enjoy the festivities. We got there just as the parade was starting so we watched until Santa arrived then we wandered the streets. They had wagon rides and even a snow slide for anyone who was crazy enough to venture down the slopes. They had booths were the kids could sit down and do crafts and old fashioned games for the kids to try. We had something to eat at a cafe that had organic food (it was quite good) then we caught the Jolly Trolly back to the marina.

Dave's little Christmas Tree (with lights)

The Jolly Trolly (inside and out)

Downtown Dunedin

A candid picture

Downtown decorations

A few pictures of the parade

Horse and buggy rides after the parade

Snow slides for any daring sole

Dec 13- Another sunny warm day here. I think Sid and Evelyn have gone to Church as I have not seen them this morning yet. I am trying to catch up the blog as the wi-fi is terrible here and intermitten at best. We have complained bitterly and they tell us they are working on it, so when I get upset with it I walk away and do something else and then come back to it. Sid and Evelyn are back now and we have decided to take the dingys out for a while. We went down to Dunedin and went downtown for an ice cream then we walked back and headed back to the marina. Along the way we followed the shoreline and went into the little canals to explore what was down them. The huge homes seem to be along the shoreline and the smaller homes are down the canals. They are very close together and every home has a boat on a lift sitting at its dock.

Coming back from Dunedin

A couple little shacks along the shoreline

Down inside one of the canals

Dec 14- A cloudy but warm day today. Sid is getting his rental car today so he has asked Dave and I to go with he and Evelyn to Cedar Key which is about 100 kilometers from here. We took Koby with us as he is very good in the car and had not been off the boat for awhile and he needed an outing. We arrived in Cedar Key at about 2 pm and we were getting hungry. So we went downtown which is not that big, found a shady spot for the car and went to have a bit to eat. We wandered the little town there, got back into the car and drove around to get the lay of the land. We headed back to the marina and had dinner and a quiet night.

Downtown Cedar Key

Dec 15- Sid and Evelyn left this morning to drive down to Marco Island to check it out. We got a call from John and Pat saying they were coming over for a visit. We went to Walmart with them to pick up a few things, then when we got back to the marina we decided to take them out to Caladesi Island. We met Bill and Bobbi on the dock and asked them to join us as they had just gotten their dingy back after the repair. It is a dull overcast day but the water is calm.We tied up at the docks on the island and said hello to a fellow looper who is staying there called "Nearly perfect". We walked up to the office to pay for our dockage and then started the tour. The last time we were here we saw two turtles wandering around, but we did not see them today. We headed down to the beach but the dogs were not allowed on the beach so Dave and I stayed with the dogs while John and Pat, Bill and Bobbi took a look around the beach. It is looking like it is going to pour any minute so we are headed back to the marina. It sprinkled a little bit just as we were getting to the dock at the marina, but did not develop into any thing. John and Pat stayed for a bit and then had to get back and I have been at this computer catching up this blog ever since.

TARPON SPRINGS TO DUNEDIN

Dec 1- We were up at 8:00 am and off to take Koby out for a walk. John and Pat called to say they were coming over at 10:00 am to pick us up to take us over to Dunedin. We went to Marker 1 Marina in Dunedin so we could show Sid and Evelyn around to see if it would suit their needs as well. We left there and John took us back to Tarpon Springs to have lunch at a restaurant called Captain Jack's - a great local restaurant right on the water. After lunch we went back to our boats and John and Pat headed home. We decided to go uptown and see the sights. They have all their Christmas decorations up and it seems so strange to walk the streets in shorts at this time of year. We went back to our boats, had dinner then sat out on the dock talking with other boaters next to us.

The above is a look at downtown Tarpon Springs

This is next to the marina

This is a look at the river coming into Tarpon Springs

Sid getting ready to lower his dingy

Dec 2- We took Koby for his walk over to a vacant lot about a block away. Dave wanted to see if we could get a new American flag as ours has seen better days, so we walked uptown again. While we were there we stopped at a bakery and had a couple of goodies before we headed back. The day was a little overcast but warm. We decided to go for a dingy ride with Sid and Evelyn. We went to a marina across from us as a friend of Sid and Evelyn's had been towed into the marina by Sea Tow and they wanted to see if he was alright. We left there and went to a new marina called Turtle Cove where a lot of the Loopers had gone. We then headed for a park we had seen on our way in. It has a lovely sand beach so we pulled up to shore and let Koby have a run for awhile. We had just arrived back to our boats when Bill and Bobbi from Mist showed up and invited us to join them for dinner. We quickly cleaned up and headed for a restaurant called "Rusty Bellies". The food was great and the company even better. We took a slow walk back enjoying the nice evening.

Dec 3- We were up at 8:00 am as we are moving today to Marker 1 Marina in Dunedin. We will be staying here for a month as we are heading home for a couple of weeks for Christmas. John has said he will be checking on the boat for us while we are gone. We were just told there is going to be a Christmas boat parade on Saturday here. John and Pat are coming over to stay overnight so they are here for the parade. We are walking over to the Publix not far from the marina to get a few things.

Heading to Dunedin from Tarpon Springs

Heading into Marker 1 Marina at Dunedin

Dec 4- We were up early to begin cleaning the salt off of Manana. As we were cleaning Bill from Mist showed up in his dingy to say hello but unfortunately he got too close to a post covered with barnacles and he tore a hole in the dingy. The tube deflated so quickly I thought Bill was going to sink. Dave jumped in our dingy and pulled Bill's dingy into the dock by the shore. The marina lifted it out and placed it on a dolly and Bill went to have someone patch it for him. If it wasn't for bad luck he'd have none. The marina has now scraped down the posts so hopefully no one else has this issue. There are several boats around us that are decorated for the parade happening tomorrow. Many more people are arriving for the weekend and the marina is abuzz. It is pretty quiet during the week here.

Manana and Something Special without the salt

I tried to capture Christmas decorations on this boat

Dec 5- We were up early to get things cleaned up and ready for John and Pat's arrival. When they arrived we all hopped into the car. The guys are going to a boat salvage yard and they are dropping us off at a mall to shop. The guys picked us up after a couple hours and we headed back to the marina as they were having a barbeque today. They put on quite a spread and the employees were all dressed in Christmas attire. We had a great afternoon watching the decorating of the boats and the crews. By 6:00 pm the parade began to formulate on the water in front of the marina. They then headed down to Dunedin and back again. It was a cool windy evening so we didn't linger out on the docks for long. John and Pat stayed the evening with us aboard Manana. 

Dec 6- We were all up early and got ready to go to the boat show in Clearwater. We waited for awhile on Sid and Evelyn who had gone to church but as it was getting on we decided to go after all without them. We wandered through the booths in the buildings for awhile then we began to wander the docks. We went aboard a 37 foot Carver John wanted to see then boarded a 66 foot Choy Lee. It had five cabins - 2 forward and 3 in the aft. They all had full bathrooms with showers. It was quite the boat. We had seen enough so we headed back to the marina. Sid and Evelyn were back so we all decided to go to dinner at a local restaurant called "Franky's". The food was great! John and Pat left us there and we walked back to the marina.

Dec 7- We were up early this morning doing some odd jobs as we are planning to go for a bike ride. The bike paths are not far from the marina and they can take you to Dunedin, St. Pete's and Tarpon Springs. We decided we wanted to see Dunedin so away we went on our bikes. It was about a half hour ride over there. It is a very quaint village with many cute little shops, restaurants and even an ice cream parlor. We spent most of the day there going from shop to shop. The guys found a couple of benches to sit on and waited for Evelyn and myself. We got back just as it was getting dusk and it had gotten a lot cooler. We had dinner and called it a day.

Dec 8- Today is sunny but a much cooler day than we have had. We had bought a new collar for Koby but it was too small so we decided it was time to return it and get a larger one. We could not find one so we got him a new leash instead for now. We biked over to the Dollar General store as well and picked up a few things. We invited Sid and Evelyn over after dinner to play cards for a couple of hours but the bad guys won!

Dec 9- This morning is laundry and vacuuming day aboard Manana. Dave is in the bilge replacing worn out hoses on the generator and air conditioner. This is the time and place to do this. Evelyn and I are planning to bike three miles north to a store called Joanne`s, which is something like Michael`s in Canada. It was a good ride but it was all on the sidewalk not on a trail so it was narrow and quite bumpy. Dave has been saying he wants a small Christmas tree for the boat so I found one with lights already on it. I bought a rope garland and for the balls I just bought a couple of boxes of wine charms that looked like Christmas balls. When we got to the counter to pay everything was 60 percent off and then the cashier gave us another 20 percent off as well. As we were talking to the girl ringing us through we found out that she is from Oakville, Ontario (boy what a small world). I put up the tree as soon as I got back to the boat. I have it sitting on the bar in the salon. We decided we needed to have docktails so I went around and invited everyone to come over. We (all eight of us ) talked until it was dark and chilly. We all dispersed and we had dinner and I tried to get warm again.

Dec 10-We are usually up at 8:00 am as that is the time the forklift at this marina starts up. It runs all day taking boats in and out of the buildings up until 5:00 pm then things go quiet. We decided to take the dingy's out for a run but Sid had not dropped his yet, so he had to pull out of the slip and then drive back into his slip and then he could drop it. We headed out to Caladesi Island State Park to have a look around. There is a marina at the island and it is $1.00 a foot plus hydro if you want to stay there. The beach is white powdery sand and stretches for a mile or so. I unfortunately do not have any pictures as I left my camera behind. I am hoping we get time to go back again. When we go back we were invited for docktails at 5:00 pm by an American couple. Several of the new people who had just made the crossing that day were there. They had a much better crossing than we did and like us were glad that part of the trip is now behind us.

Dec 11- We are going to hop the Jolly Trolly today and are going over to Clearwater to have a look around. John and Pat are coming this morning to drop off a few parcels we have had sent to their address. They arrived around 10:00 am with Rick and Carmen on their way over to Tarpon Springs for the day. We visited with them and just as we were all leaving a couple from Tuscobia arrived so we went and had lunch with them and caught up. We left them there to catch the Jolly Trolly at about 3:00 pm. It's about a 20 minute ride to Clearwater and they drop you off at the pier there. We are on the beach side and the vendors were just setting up their wares on the pier, so we walked through then decided it was time to walk the beach. We walked for about a mile down the beach then headed over to the Municipal Marina as there are a couple of Loopers docked there. We walked the docks for a bit and met one of the Loopers coming back to their boat, so we visited with them for a little then headed to our stop for the Jolly Trolly to head back to the marina.