Monday, January 22, through Saturday, January 28, 2012

Here we are in Sarasota, again enjoying fabulous weather.  We are staying at Marina Jack's, which is
lots of fun & lots of really big yachts.  We docked between two very large yachts that made us look tiny in comparison.  Folks here are very friendly, so it's fun visiting & finding out where everyone is from & where they are headed.  This first picture is of yet another beautiful sunset, which we have seen every evening for the past 4 nights (note the dancing dolphins)!
  

 

 

Our first day here, we got asked by a 'filming crew member' if they could borrow our orange fenders for the photo shoot they were doing for a Belk Department Store Catalog.  So some pictures may be in the catalog with 'our' orange fenders, if anyone wants an autograph, just let me know, since we are celebrities now.  Wish we had our 'stretch limo' here to escort us around town.

B & B Fender - Lower Right Corner

These next few photos are of the famous Ringling Circus Estate.

 The estate is the legacy of circus entrepreneur & art collector John & Mable Ringling, which sits on 66 acres . Their Gothic mansion sits on the Sarasota Bay.

The Estate includes multiple museums, Mable's rose garden, theatres, restaurants, sculptures, the original Ringling Circus Museum, & The Howard Bros. Miniature Circus exhibit. 

Mable's Rose Garden

Every piece has been made by hand with such care to detail, it was fabulous!


The exhibit includes moving parts, lighting changes from day to night, & as you walk through the whole exhibit, there are corresponding sounds of the animals, wagons moving, & circus actors talking.




This is just one of the displays that rotated
continuously.













Also, I have several more pictures of the miniature museum, so if anyone wants to see more, let me know & I will e-mail them to you.



















FUNNY STORY ALERT! 

Okay, this Ringling Circus Museum was filled throughout with life-like statues of circus performers in full costume, including the many clowns that graced this circus over the years.  So this next picture shows Capt. Bob 'clowning around', excuse the pun.

After he finally somehow got himself into this clown car, he posed for me to take his picture, which meant that he did not talk nor move. At that exact moment, up walks a couple looking at the clown car that Bob was posing in. 

The wife got up real close to the car & leaned down to look at Bob, who she obviously thought was a statue sitting in the clown car; at that moment, Bob turned his head, looked right at her & said 'hi'! 

She proceeded to let out a very loud scream & must have jumped backwards 3 feet!  She started hysterically laughing & said that she had never been so startled in all her life.  It was funny, & I'm glad she didn't have a heart attack!




Capt. Bob 'Clowning Around'

We finally got our microwave repaired in Sarasota & was delivered back to the B & B on Saturday, so we headed to Venice on Sunday, January 29.  We'll update after we arrive.

                                                                      

                                                                                                                                                                        

Sunday, January 22

Hello Everyone,

We arrived in St. Petersburg Friday, Jan 19 & are departing this morning (Monday) around 10AM heading to Sarasota, about 3 hours.Plan on staying in Sarasota about 4 days. So here is my summary of our St. Petersburg stay - Fantastic!! they say a picture says a 1000 words, so here are my 1000 words!

Some interesting info about the historic Renaissance Vinoy Hotel: The property was purchased for $35 on a bet in the 1880's. The hotel opened on New Year's Eve, 1925. The hotel accommodated celebrities & dignitaries such as; Babe Ruth, Jimmy Stewart, Admiral Byrd, Calvin Coolidge & Herbert Hoover & famous families like the Pillsburys & Fleischmanns.

Today, it is named one of the "500 Greatest Hotels and Resorts in the World".  In the 1960's guest numbers declined, due to lack of air conditioning & repairs. It was saved by the citizens from demolition in the 1980's. With an extensive multi-million dollar renovation, it re-opened in 1992.

We found St. Pete to be a very walking and biking friendly town, with a water front that covers ~5 miles of trails along with numerous bike paths around the city.  Capt Bob and I unfolded the bikes on Sunday and toured for 10 miles +or-.

We even ventured via bike to dinner to a great Mexican style restaurant (Red Mesa Cantina).  The Red Mesa was recently noted as one of the top 3 restaurants in St Pete (per a Tampa food editor), it was definately worth the bike ride!

  

Here is a shot of the Vinoy Marina & the B & B.

  

My funny story for this leg of the trip goes something like this:

When we arrived in St. Petersburg my cell phone died.  So we went to the hotel to get a cab to take us to the nearest ATT store, which was only about 5 miles away.  The hotel attendant said they only had Town Cars available, which sounded fine.  A few minutes later, up comes a black stretch limo;  I thought I was going to die of embarrassment!   As we pulled up in front of the tiny ATT store, the people in the store were gawking.  It was pretty funny, actually.  I should have asked to have a Mimosa, since the limo was fully stocked!

We'll catch up again in Sarasota.

Monday, January 16

I was thinking about exercising when I noticed Sasha doing her morning stretching, she is so disciplined in her daily routine. She made me feel guilty, so I stretched too, out on the sofa & took a nap!

We are waiting for some mail to be delivered to the marina, then we will head to St. Petersburg for a few days.

Sunday, January 15

We grabbed the Jolley Trolley & began our tour of downtown Clearwater, Dunedin, Tarpon Springs, & the Sponge Docks. We were lucky because this weekend everyone was having Art Festivals, so we got to 'shop'! Ate lunch on the Sponge Docks at Rusty Bellies, very good seafood.

As we walked the dock area, enjoying the festival, we came upon this huge black dog, which at first, looked like a bear. The owner said he was a Newfoundler, & only 3 years old, wow!






On our return trip back to the marina, we decided to stop in Dunedin & take in their arts festival - more shopping! We ate dinner on the boat & settled in for the evening.

Saturday,  January 14

Now this is what I call the perfect view from the B & B of a beautiful Clearwater Marina sunrise! Oh my yes! (Capt Bob's note - sunrise is ~7:30am, which, for once, we got to sleep in & not have to jump out of bed to head out for a new destination!)

This pelican perched on the piling is the piling located about a foot off the port side of the B & B. In the picture I took from inside the boat, I just missed Misty with her nose pressed up against the front window, glaring at Mr. Pelican which from inside the boat, looked about this big to us, it was so close!



Here's another photo opportunity of our boat neighbors celebrating their completion of the Loop, by changing their 'white' burgee to a 'gold' burgee.
.


This is Drew, Liz, Sebastian, & Paisley holding their 'Loop' completion gold burgee.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

WE MADE IT!!!!  We departed Carrabelle at 6:30am, no fog in sight (is that an oxymoron?) & said our goodbye's to Kim & James.  I did have one last impression of Carrabelle, which is surely the most serene, I got this great sunset pic Monday night before we left on Tuesday morning.  Thought ya'll would enjoy it, too.

After 3 days of Capt Bob getting up at 3am to check various weather web sites, on Tuesday he slept in & decided to check the weather reports around 4:30am - no fog and favorable conditions offshore until late in the day off the Panhandle coast with calm seas approaching Clearwater.

The Admiral gave the "go for it" order.  As we entered the Gulf the seas were not quite as calm as we had hoped!  What else is new! The chop was fierce & had no sense of direction! (Capt Bob's note; seas were 2-3 feet and we were not in any immediate danger, retaining the option to abort the trip before the approaching front and return to Carrabelle for beer and oysters.)

We were heading straight into the wind (& the giant waves) for about 3+ hours!  I proceeded to put on my bruise protection gear, I looked like a football player, & strapped myself into my seat!  After about 2 hours, I decided to start eating anything I could find without moving out of my seat.  I had thought ahead, for once, & had plenty of stuff to munch on. 

The challenge came when Capt. Bob had waited as long as humanly possible, but now needed to use the head.  That meant the fearless Admiral had to take the helm!  This became another of my greatest fears! Here again, I surprised myself (& the Capt.) because I loved it!  It was like riding a bucking horse, a roller coaster, surfing, & taking the helm on our former sailing vessel in a storm, all at the same time!  Can't wait to do it again (NOT)!

The Gulf finally got it's act together and calmed down, which was a blessing, since we still had 7 more hours to go before we reached Tarpon Springs (this was a fuel stop as the B&B had work up a strong thirst for disel from our 10 hour trip).  It was a long day, but not over yet, to the chagrin of my kitties (Sasha & Misty).  A strong storm was forecasted for Thursday, so not to have a repeat of getting stranded again, the Capt. made the choice to go on to Clearwater. 

We left Tarpon Springs at 6PM, so it got dark soon after we started onto Clearwater.  Here again, another of my greatest fears, maneuvering at night through unfamiliar waters!  When will my 'worst fears list' ever end!  Anyway, we traveled slowly & with the GPS we managed like pros, even passing through 2 bridges!  (Capt Bob's note - I will not travel the ICW again in the dark, the channel is 6-7 feet with no grace outside it's narrow cut.) We arrived at Clearwater Beach Marina, & with the help of a boater already docked next to our slip, we tied up & headed to the local restaurant Crabby Bill's for 2 + well deserved martini's. 

As promised, around 3am the forecasted storm arrived, with stirring wind gusts & lapping waves rocking the boat for the rest of night!  Are we having fun - YET?  So, today we will 'see what we see' - 'go with the flow' - & 'let you know what we know'.   

  

Sunday,January 8, 2012

Well, we have yet to make it out of Carrabelle, this was day 3 & counting.  Every morning we have had such dense fog that by the time it rolls in off of the Gulf we can hardly see the front of the B & B. So Capt. Bob heads back to bed for a little more shut-eye.  Then he hooks the water hose back up to the dock, puts the emergency items back inside the boat, & we begin another day at the interesting town of Carrabelle. 

We do get a chance to enjoy our cup of coffee before we start out on our several walks a day.  This morning we passed this very interesting 'phone booth'.  This is the World's Smallest Police Station, which came into being on March 10, 1963. The city had been having problems with tourists making unauthorized long distance phone calls on its police phone. The phone was located in a call box that was bolted to a building at the corner of U.S. 98 and Tallahassee Street. Johnnie Mirabella, St. Joe Telephone's lone Carrabelle employee at the time, first tried moving the call box to another building, but the illegal calls continued. They eventually removed the phones from the booth & the 'station' remains standing for all of the Loopers to view when they stop off here in Carrabelle before continuing on their journeys! 
 

There was a very brief break in the fog this afternoon & the sun came out, so Misty decided she wanted to take a walk.  Things were going along fine, until this very friendly pelican decided to join us on the dock.  I thought Misty was going to have a heart attack, she immediately dropped to the deck, did not move a muscle, & the pelican got settled in it's spot, & the two of them stared at each other, seeing who was going to move first.  Finally, Misty got bored & we went back into the boat & the Pelican flew away.  That was pretty much our excitement for the day, except for our daily trip to the IGA grocery store.

We do look forward to the 'happy hours' that take place every night at our marina. The conversations range anywhere from politics, fish stories, weather, to local chit-chat. We have met some very nice folks, all joking aside. Tonight, several of the fellas that hang here every day went fishing, fog & all, and James, who works here at the marina gave us some of the sea bass they caught.  A couple that have been at the 'happy hours' invited us to take a tour of the town, which we really enjoyed.  It was nice to see more than, what I call a virtual 'ghost town', where we are staying at the marina.  It was quite interesting to learn from Susan & John who own 4 properties in Carrabelle, that there is lots of wildlife in the area, including bear, fox, & alligators that actually enjoy swimming in one of Susan & John's ponds they built on one of their properties.

So, we will keep everyone posted on 'if & when' we will be leaving the ever interesting Carrabelle, Fla.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Goodmorning Ya'll,

Picking up where I left off at Panama City, we departed the marina on Wesdnesday, January 4 & headed for Apalachicola!  We still have trouble spitting that out! One of the first interesting sights we encountered was this home nestled into the bank of the Wetappo Creek, notice the tree growing right through the roof !  Unbelievable.

Traveling through the cut between St. Andrews Bay via Wetappo Creek to Apalachicola, we only encountered 1 motor yacht and a couple of small fishing boats (anchored), unlike the ICW closer to home.  This waterway was extremely narrow, but this picture, of that 1 lone boat we passed, doesn't capture how really close we were.  Glad Florida doesn't have commercial traffic very often, if ever.

 Making our way through the narrow Wetappo Creek, we continued our trip on the Apalachicola Bay. We arrived at the Apalachicola Marina (now known as Millers), around 3PM.  Had great weather the whole trip.  We walked around their charming little town with lots of well preserved history features.  Next door to the marina was Caroline's River Dining, which served oysters prepared 17 different ways!  I just happen to have a few shots of why they can prepare oysters 17 different ways! When we headed out the next morning for Carrabelle, Fl., we passed under the St.George Island Bridge, where we encountered, at least 50 oyster boats with crew 'hand' tilling the sandy bottom of the St. George Sound.

 As we walked round town we stopped in one of the local hardware stores & the owner asked if we were from the area. Our answer was his cue to start with several bits of trivia, that were quite interesting & unique to the area . 

Dr. John Gorrie invented a machine that made ice, which he originally designed to help yellow fever patients.  He was granted the first U.S. patent for mechanical refrigeration in 1851.  Dr. Gorrie was honored by Florida when his statue was placed in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capital.

The second piece of trivia pertains to Honey.  When we walked into this and other stores in town, bottles of honey were everywhere. We learned that there really is such a thing as nature's most perfect perfect food! 

Undiluted honey does not harbor bacteria & honey 1000 years old may be eaten with little fear of bacteria contamination and Tupelo honey will not crystallize or granulate.  White Tupelo honey, made from white tupelo flowers, is rated as 'prized,' is a sweet, light amber table honey with a greenish hue, & is the most expensive honey because it is the most expensive to produce.

Timing is critical for beekeepers to clean the combs at just the right time so that when the white tupelo gum tree blossoms, only the honey from these blossoms is collected.

Tupelo trees grow in river basins and Tupelo honey production is concentrated in the Apalachicola River Basin.  Apalachicola is the only place in the world where the White Tupelo honey is commercially produced.  

If anyone wants their very own bottle of 'white tupelo honey' here is the store to call and place your order; RetsyO's Tupelo Honey, PO Box 915, Apalachicola, Fl., 32320, phone # 850-323-0599. Just a side note, if you decide to order some honey, be sure to ask the owner to include the recipe's that he shared with us.  Enjoy, it is delicious!

Okay, moving on, we headed for Carrabelle, Fl. on Thursday morning, departing 9AM.  Traveling southbound heading for the Carrabelle River, we made a quick trip, about 3 hrs., docking at C-
Quarters Marina, where we were greeted by the 'local's', just hang'in on the dock - in the middle of the day - on a weekday! 

I thought maybe we missed a holiday or somthing, what do these folks do for a living? Well, let me tell you what they do - they Fish!  Carrabelle's principal industry is seafood processing, we enjoyed some fresh grouper and seafood gumbo. Here is a shot as we headed for the marina.

 The Capt. had to wash the B & B, of course, so that she would look shiney and sparkly for the 'locals' just hang'in on the dock.  That was fine, but within the hour, we smelled something burning and looked out on the deck, where we found alot of soot collecting.  As we found out - from the 'locals' hang'in on the dock, there was a controlled burn a few miles up the road.  Great! I guess that we just 'go with the flow, or in this case, the soot'. 

We ate dinner at the local Fisherman's Wife Diner, returned to the boat & began preparing for our 140 mile trip off shore, on Friday.  But, Friday morning came & we aborted the trip because of dense fog.  We are scheduled to try again tomorrow morning, early (5AM), but the forecast said the fog would lift by 10AM today, as of 3PM the fog is worse than this morning.  We may just be 'hang'in' with the locals a few more days! 

January 3, 2012
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I didn't abandon the ship, if that is what you were all thinking, in fact, I'm actually enjoying the journey thus far!  Capt. Bob will be so thrilled when he reads this. 

At my last writing, I told you that we were driving to Ohio for Christmas, for the first time,  with my sister, Carol and family. So when we arrived in Panama City, Fla.,  I began immediately packing my outfits, jewelry, purses, shoes, yadda - yadda - yadda. 

The boat was noticeably lighter when we headed out via car.  The morning we were leaving, the Capt. threw some stuff in 1 bag & off we went!  It's a good thing though, cause there wasn't any room in the trunk by the time I packed my stuff.

We returned to  Panama City, just in time for New Years Eve.  Enjoyed a nice quiet dinner, listened to a DJ play music, & were given 1/2 glass of champagne at midnight!  The most excitement we had was when I brought out my lite cubes.  Our waiter was fascinated by them, I gave him 2 so he could impress his girlfriend later that evening!

We did meet a great couple sitting behind us, when she came over to our table and asked about the lite cubes.  We spent the rest of the evening with them and enjoyed our lite cubes together! We were so pleased when we got a call at midnight from our neighbors who were partying at Darlene & Gary Cryer's home.

The couple (Suzanne & Skip) we partied with on New Year's Eve invited us over to their house on Sunday to watch the Saints game & we ended up having them to the boat on Monday for dinner.  We so enjoyed getting acquainted & feel like we have known them for years. We will definitely stay in touch with them from this point on.

Since we have not made any final plans on when we are departing from Panama City, due to weather issues, I thought I would entertain everyone with a couple of family photos from Christmas. First, I thought you might get a kick out of my great niece posing as the 'almost' naked chef!  Isn't she just the cutest thing you ever saw!

Last, but not least, our family portrait!  From left to right: Scott (Dad), Breanna (my baby girl), Angel(Mom), Capt. Bob, Carol (sis/Nana), Admiral, Thom (brother-in-law/Poppie)

 

Okay, that's it for now.  Will let you know when we take off from Panama City,