Sunday, December 13, 2009

It felt good to sleep in until 7:30 am and we awoke to a lovely morning with blue skies and temperatures already close to 70°F. Maureen finished cleaning and cutting vegetables for salad and then gathered up the laundry, computers and other items we wanted to take with us to Craig and Dawn’s today. Gale and Lucy took the dinghy out for an hour or so to see what the fishing was like. Gale caught and released at least 10 more trout and brought home two sand perch for our dinner. While he was out, he also hooked either a three-foot long King Mackerel or a Ladyfish that pulled him around in the dinghy, upwind, and for several feet. The fish jumped completely out of the water, danced on the ripples, and shook the jig right out of her mouth. It was a thrill, to say the least.



Craig picked us up at the marina at 11 am and we drove back to their home to relax and enjoy the day. This time Lucy was allowed to come along and she was very excited to meet her “cousins,” Sophie and Brody. Maureen brought all the fixings for a nice salad luncheon which we enjoyed first thing. We spent the afternoon visiting, doing laundry, working on the computers, watching television and just “hanging out.” Towards five o’clock, we ordered barbecued entrees from Sonny’s and topped off the meal with a little ice cream and some very tasty cookies.

Craig took us home after dinner and we sat out on the foredeck for an hour or so enjoying the warm and quiet evening. We reflected on what a wonderful weekend it had been and looked forward to the next time we could share our time with Craig and Dawn.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Craig and Dawn had originally made plans to be in Orlando this weekend. Craig had some vacation time to burn and they like to get out of town when they can but we were pleased that they decided to stick around home and leave their weekend open to spend with us. Today was our “shopping day.” Craig and Dawn picked us up at the marina at 9:30 am and we headed for the mall. We needed to find a new wedding band for Gale to replace the band with the missing diamond and were hoping to pick up Christmas gifts for each other along with a few smaller items. Our expedition turned out to be quite successful. Gale chose a very attractive tungsten wedding band with a small inlaid diamond that should work better for him with all of the “hands on” work he does. Maureen picked out a pair of polarized sunglasses as her Christmas gift and Gale found a pair of deck shoes as his.

Gale had made a date with Tom Saunders, our next boat neighbor in the marina, to meet at 3 pm and do some saltwater fishing. Even though Tom is legally blind, he had spent some years working aboard a charter fishing boat and was a very accomplished fisherman. Gale was eager to learn what he could from him and Tom was happy to share his knowledge. On our way back to the marina, we stopped at a local bait and tackle shop to pick up the items that Tom had told Gale he would need. Upon our return, Tom was getting his dinghy ready to go. Brandon, a 15-year old that Tom had “mentored,” was hanging around the dock during the afternoon and Tom invited him to go along. Gale lowered his own dinghy and they set out.

The fishing area they chose was just outside of the marina and in very shallow waters. Upon arrival, they rafted the two dinghies together and Tom showed Gale how to cast and jig for trout and redfish. Gale caught the first three fish – all speckled trout. Brandon caught the biggest fish of the day – a 25-inch speckled trout – and Tom commented that he had never seen a bigger one! All in all, Gale caught about 10 speckled trout and two sand perch. The trout were all released because the season didn’t open for another two weeks. He turned the perch loose because he wasn’t sure if they were in season either. Three very happy fishermen returned to the docks before sunset.

Craig drove back to Dunedin to pick Gale up and bring him back to the house. Dunedin was having its Holiday Christmas Celebration and the Christmas parade was slated to begin at 6 pm. Craig encountered quite a bit of traffic on his way in and out of town, but the men returned home and brought with them the wonderful boiled shrimp that we peeled and ate for our evening meal. Following supper, Craig and Dawn took us on a Christmas light tour around their neighborhood. There were many homes with festive decorations, but two places really stood out of the crowd. In fact, people made a point to visit these homes during the Christmas season because the displays were spectacular. We actually parked the car and got out to walk around the grounds at both places. By the time we’d seen the lights, everyone’s energy was beginning to fade so Craig and Dawn took us back to the marina for the night with the promise to meet up again tomorrow.

Friday, December 11, 2009

We were up by 6 am in order to take our showers, straighten things up around the boat and head up to the Farmers Market. We were trying to get all these things in before Craig and Dawn arrived to pick us up at 9 am for a day at Busch Gardens in Tampa. The Farmers Market was great – it had loads of produce, many sweet treats, hot items for breakfast or brunch, and a wide variety of other interesting offerings. We picked up some fresh produce, treats for the dogs and a wonderful sweet roll to share.

Craig and Dawn were waiting for us back at the marina when we arrived a few minutes after 9:00. The day was quite chilly and breezy so we dressed in layers and hoped the wind would be less of a factor within the park. By 11 am we were through the gates and into our adventure at Busch Gardens, a place where Craig and Dawn love to come regularly throughout the year. It had been many years since either of us had been to Busch Gardens and we could not remember much of anything about it. Craig and Dawn said it had changed so much we wouldn’t have recognized it anyway. We enjoyed the animals, the Christmas shows and other entertainment as well as a terrific meal and a fun ride around the park in the steam locomotive.
At about 5 pm we came by a stage that was just beginning its final performance of the day. Craig and Gale set out in search of some hot drinks while Dawn and Maureen found four seats together at the back of the outside seating area. We decided it was just too cold for us, so we opted to enjoy our hot chocolate inside the café and then set out for home. It was a great day shared with special people.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

As we slept, the wind increased and by morning it was blowing 15 knots – still from the south. Gale tried his luck fishing again and was catching the same little fish as last night. We got out the Sport Fish of the Gulf of Mexico identification book and determined that these little guys were Inshore Lizardfish and considered to be pests to most anglers as they will strike on anything and are usually caught while fishing for something else.


The air was warm and very humid to start the morning, but around 9 am the front came through bringing a little rain, strong northerly winds and falling temperatures. We spent the rest of the morning working on the blog and other correspondence. At 2:15 pm we pulled anchor and motored slowly back to our spot at the Dunedin Marina. Gale wanted to try trolling a couple of lines behind the boat to see if he could catch anything that way. It took only an hour to get to the marina which wasn’t long enough to interest any fish.



We settled into our space at the end of B Dock and around 5 pm Craig dropped by for a visit. Dawn was attending a function with several of her girlfriends tonight, so he was on his own. We had a few snacks, a couple of drinks and a lot of laughs before Craig had to leave for home.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Gale spent the morning on some maintenance chores including changing the engine oil and filter as well as the primary fuel filter. He also tried to determine why the alarm for the starter seemed to be malfunctioning – a good cleaning of the parts helped, but it will need further investigation soon. As we were going about our tasks, we saw a cruiser approaching that looked a lot like Ladybug, our friends from Port St. Joe. Sure enough, when they were closer we could see that it was Russ and Cindy so we hailed them on the marine radio. They had just completed their Gulf crossing and were headed back home to Tampa. They had been on vacation for the last few weeks but needed to get back in time for a graduation on Friday and to return to work next week. We said we would try to look them up whenever we continued on our way.

At 2:15 we left our spot near the Dunedin Marina to make our way to the Clearwater Municipal Marina for diesel fuel and to check out the anchorage near there. The winds were strong and coming from the southwest at the time, but forecast to switch out of the north later on. We finished fueling and found our anchoring spot at 4:15 pm. By then, we thought it was too late to take the dinghy out to do any more exploring, so we settled in and enjoyed the rest of the evening. Gale tried out some of his new fishing lures and techniques. He was catching a small fish on every cast, but he couldn’t immediately identify the type beyond that it had teeth and it was a predator. He did have a few hits by what appeared to be red snapper, but he wasn’t able to get any of those out of the water.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Another beautiful day in Florida! Skies were sunny, winds light, and temperatures forecast to reach 80°F in the afternoon. The first priority of the day was to find the laundromat and get that chore out of the way. We set off with our trusty cart and a bag full of clothing, sheets and towels, and when we were just outside the marina lot, Walt came by in the German guy’s Volkswagen and offered us a lift to the laundry.

We had our cart loaded up with clean clothes before noon, and began the one mile walk back to the marina. As we were passing a little coffee shop, Jess called on the cell phone to tell us that it had started to snow in Des Moines and they were expecting a major winter storm with 8 to 18 inches of snow and 45 mph winds. She was looking forward to tucking in all cozy and warm with her family at home while the snow fell and the wind blew.

Maureen and Jess talked for awhile as Gale went into the coffee shop and ordered a light lunch. After finishing our sandwich, we continued our walk to the marina and brought our laundry back to the boat. When the cart was empty, we grabbed it once again and went in search of the grocery store. It was another mile walk to the SavALot where we picked up a few of the items on our list. The store didn’t have everything we wanted, so we will be seeking out another grocery store in the next day or so.

By 5 pm, most of the groceries were stowed, we had taken our showers and checked out with the marina. We left the dock and motored a few hundred yards away to drop anchor near Walt and Diver Bill’s boats where we enjoyed a fantastic sunset on the bow of our boat.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Now this is the Florida we’ve been looking for! It was close to 70°F in the morning with sunny skies and flat water. The homes and businesses along the channel were brightly painted and the pelicans, gulls and dolphins were out enjoying the day.
We left our anchorage at 9:30 am and backtracked a few miles to the Dunedin Municipal Marina where we had secured a place at the end of one of their docks for the night. Upon arriving at the marina, we found it tightly packed with sailboats and a few small fishing and power boats. We made our way to the only available space that could accommodate us and secured the boat.

Maureen talked to Craig and made a date to meet tonight on Blue Heron and then go out to eat. We busied ourselves with the cleaning chores and headed to the showers about 3:30 pm. Craig arrived shortly after 4 pm and found Gale and Lucy on the boat. The three of them went for a short walk and waited for Maureen to finish in the showers. She was very excited to see her brother and they enjoyed a very happy reunion! Craig mentioned that Dawn was sorry she wasn’t with him tonight, but she wasn’t feeling the greatest and needed to rest.

Craig took us for a ride around Dunedin to help orient ourselves with the downtown area then we pulled into Sea Sea Riders for dinner – a place where Craig and Dawn like to eat. After a wonderful dinner and even better conversation and company, we parted ways with Craig and walked across the street to the marina. We took Lucy out for a little walk and ran into the toy poodle, Alexander, along with his master, whom Lucy had met earlier in the day. We introduced ourselves to Alex’ owner, Walt, and learned that he was aboard the trawler anchored outside of the marina. Walt and his 85-year old mother were living on his boat full time and had been in Dunedin for about three months. Walt’s mother was having some health issues and they had found a doctor at the hospital that they liked very much. We also met Diver Bill who was waiting for his girlfriend, Kathy, to return from the grocery store. Bill and Kathy were living aboard his sailboat which was also anchored off the channel near the marina. He offered to take us to the grocery store in his van whenever we wanted to go. We learned from Walt and Bill that there is usually a third boat anchored with them – a German nudist – but he had taken his boat to Key West for three weeks to attend some kind of festival. We hated to ask – Which festival??