Tis the season!

The Holiday spirit has reached everyone here in Clearwater!! The Admiral had to find a new hat, the neighborhoods are decorated, and everyone is in a festive mood!

We have also been invited out for a few dinners!

I frequent the Cruisers Yacht Owners Club on the internet, and have gotten acquainted with a guy here in Clearwater. Jeff and his wife Andrea have a boat in the Clearwater Municipal Marina, and he was the one who recommended this marina as a stop. We are in a slip right next to them. Not only has Jeff carted us back and forth to the grocery store, West Marine for an oil and filter run, out to the beach bar for lunch, but they also had us over to their house Fri. evening for a delightful dinner!  Pictured are Jeff & Andrea with Grandma, and their son Jeff Jr. Missing is older son Brad, who I believe was busy on the computer, mapping out the route we took from Minnesota to Clearwater. 

We quickly discovered that Ford likes his ears scratched! But we are wondering about something. Jeff calls his Ford Mustang “Wilber”, and calls the dog “Ford”.

HUUUUMMMMMM!

And if that wasn’t enough, they had us over to their boat Sat. morning for brunch. Their French Toast made with chocolate & white pound cake, drizzled with chocolate syrup, strawberries, and whipped cream is nothing short of decadent!! YUMMMMM!




And  all of Clearwater must have heard we were hungry. Pats friends Wanda & Ted came to the boat and picked us up for dinner at their mother's house on Sat. night. Wanda & Pat worked together for years. It was so nice to see some other areas of Clearwater. Ted & I went for a long walk at a park near their mothers house. The land was owned by a citrus grower, and they gave it to the City, with the stipulation it not be developed, but be a park. There were trails and bridges through the woods, and over numerous ponds.

Ted and Wanda Rogers

Today we took a long dinghy ride. Just north of us is an area called Caladesie. Much is a State Park, and there is a peninsula full of water front homes.

We followed the shore line up to the end, where we were told there is a small sand beach we could pull the dinghy up on, and a short walk through the park would take us to the Gulf side. 

We finally found the spit of sand at the end, but the water was much too shallow to get the dinghy up to it. So, we just pulled it through the water, until it was sitting firmly on the bottom.

A short walk through the mangroves, and we came to a beautiful beach! The shore was lined with thousands of sea shells, and the surf was lazily rolling onto the sand. Pat saw some bird prints in the sand, under the water.

Down the beach a ways, we found a bush decorated with seashells. We walked and walked, and when it came time to go back, we could not remember were the path came onto the beach!!

A number of false starts, and we finally found it.

However, when we got to where we left the dinghy, it wasn’t there! And I didn’t remember the water being this far up on the sand toward the mangroves??? DUHHHH! The tide is coming in - it floated the dinghy off the bottom!! We have been on our first floating dock in weeks, and forgot all about the tide. Oh well - Pat didn’t have to wade out too far to retrieve it! And NO! That does NOT count for a Wing Ding Dam Award!

On the way back, we rode along the other shore line with all the houses. These houses sit on a peninsula, and have the Inter-coastal Waterway on this side, and the Gulf on the other.

Some people down here sure want to get places fast! That’s 1,050 HP on the back of that 32’ boat!

The boat on the right is a new 51’ Regal. It was at the City docks we are staying at the other day.

The back trunk opens as the walk in access to the stand up engine room. As an added bonus, there is a 12’ dinghy with a 30HP outboard stored in there. It sits on a launch ramp for easy deployment, and has a winch to pull it back in. 

 All for now. The excitement has me worn out! See you all next time!

                                                Captn Ken