Tarpon Springs and Clearwater 12/16 to 12/21/12

Tarpon Springs is not too far north of the Tampa metropolitan area. I think of it as one big area with lots of stops –Tarpon Springs on the north and Sarasota on the south with Clearwater, St. Petersburg, Tampa, and Bradenton in the middle. We will leave our boat at the Clearwater Yacht Club on Sat 12/22 to spend a week with the kids in Islamorada. We can't wait!! We thought we could get all the way to Islamorada by Christmas but we were wrong. So today we pick up a car in Clearwater, do a little touristy stuff around here and head to Orlando to pickup Marissa then drive to Islamorada. We hope to stop and visit Bunny and Evan Evans in Ft. Pierce on the way down.

We start our warm weather Florida adventure in Tarpon Springs, famous for its Greek sponge divers. They came in the early 20^th century around 1900. We were told there used to be sponge diving in Apalachicola until the divers cleared out the sponge beds. They moved to Tarpon Springs at the other side of the Gulf. There used to be hundreds of sponge diving boats. Now there are 15. You would think they would figure out the idea of conservation but I guess not.


They still dive without scuba gear. Martha says the divers are probably deaf. We watched a video in one of the stores in which old divers talked about blood coming out of their ears when they first started but after a while they got used to it. I couldn’t verify whether they are deaf but I did verify they dive without tanks. We saw the boats coming in and out with no tanks visible. We saw no tanks being removed for refilling and no evidence above decks that there is space for tanks so I guess they still dive without scuba. Fun facts for the Blue Region Diving crew.

Sponge is a living thing. I am not sure if it is animal, vegetable, or mineral. Martha will have to pipe in to tell us. But they are real things. The divers find a particular longitude and latitude they like and try to keep it a secret. They dive down with knives and cut off the sponges and drag them back to the surface. At the docks they pressure wash the sponges. You can see dirty sea water coming off the boats while they are pressure washing.

Sponges come in different styles. We liked the wool sponges, named because when they arrived in the early 1900s wool was a popular clothing material and the wool sponges when we are really soft like wool. We also saw yellow sponges (rougher feeling) and loofa sponges. We traded our net shower thingy for a nice wool sponge! It works great.

 

Lots of Greeks mean a strong Greek community. Families opened stores and restaurants. We stopped in a nice store where Mama makes soap, Papa dives for sponges, and the daughter runs the shop. It was a friendly place to spend a few minutes. We bought soap for gifts and watched a neat video running in a loop in the corner. Mama is from Athens and Papa is from a small Greek fishing village. The daughter was born in the US. Mama still prefers a big city and would give anything to live in New York but Papa is firmly entrenched in Tarpon Springs so she keeps busy making soap and talking to anyone who comes within a few yards of the store. That is how she roped us into coming into the store!! Nice people.

The food is wonderful. Never a bad meal. Some favorites were Hellas, a big gaudy place all decked out in blue and silver just opposite the sponge docks. Kermit and I split a Greek salad and a gyro. Hellas operates an amazing bakery, coincidently the bakery itself is located right next to the marina, bringing the great smells to our boats all day and night.

Judy and I split a loaf of sweet bread that we ate for breakfast while in town. The cookies were tempting but we are trying not to gain too much weight. It is bad enough we eat so much.

Dimitri’s is right on the water at the sponge docks. We had a great restaurant and the best ice tea ever. We at fish and salad the whole time. The greek salads are huge with a big surprise at the bottom – they come with a scoop of potato salad under the greens. Not sure why but it was good!!

Another good place was Rusty Bellies. This restaurant is attached to a fish store which is attached to a place where fishermen line up to sell Rusty Bellies their catch. The owner also runs a shrimp boat, a crab boat, and a grouper boat, all really clean.

Rusty Bellies fish store next to the restaurant

The shrimp boat owned and operated by Rusty Bellies

We were sitting on the deck drinking ice tea, eating (of course) when the shrimp boat came in to deliver a load of shrimp for our dinner!!
We didn’t get a picture of the shrimp – the process moves really fast – but we got some photos of the variety of fish available in the store, all so fresh the store hardly smelled at all.

Fishermen waiting to sell their catch at Rusty Bellies

They throw the fish in these buckets filled with ice - these are mullet

All afternoon fishermen pull up in their trucks with trailer boats behind the truck. Then they stand in the boat and throw fish into buckets on the group filled with ice. The buckets get weighed and the fishermen get paid in the store.

then they weigh the fish and get paid

Rusty Bellies Fish Store - the front



check out the teeth on those hogfish!

Kermit got into a conversation with a couple of fishermen. You know Kermit. Anyway, they ended up giving Kermit a bag of fresh caught fish– amberjack – which Kermit accepted with a lot of enthusiasm, more enthusiasm than might normally be expected from a guy who doesn’t eat fish.

More fishermen posing for a photo while throwing

Jim and Margie with Katherine fileting fresh fish

We walked back to the boat trying to figure out what to do with them. Margie and Jim from Jim n I, next door to us, helped me clean the fish. Actually Jim cleaned them and Margie and I talked and drank ice tea!! Margie and Jim don’t eat fish either so we made the fillets into little chunks that we will bring to Christmas for fish tacos. They are waiting in my freezer right now!

Turtle Cove Marina - this is a rack building - 1 of 2

Let’s talk about Turtle Cove Marina. This place is amazing. We have stayed at some nice marinas but this one is the best so far. Ed says he has been developing the marina for 10 years now. He is hands on and present. Everyone who works there reflects his friendly careful manner (go figure). The buildiings are simply beautiful. He has 3 three story rack buildings plus finger docks built around circles. They have a great tiki hut right next to the gas dock. We never saw it operational but Jimmy Buffett music played all the time. One September was docked along the wall opposite the tiki hut so we had docktails and dinner over there a couple of times.

Rusty liked it here, there were plenty of places to walk. We took a long walk every morning around the sponge docks. Lots to smell. We realized that Rusty can't see at night. One evening we were walking back from dinner at the Tiki Hut with Judy and Mike, Rusty wandering behind us. He wouldn't move without the leash. We realized he can't see very well so he wouldn't walk unless he was on the leash right beside it. We started using a flashlight in front of his face. I am not sure it really makes a difference but what the heck. It can't hurt.

Rusty wandered around behind Good Karma

The club house and pool at
Turtle Cove Marina

The marina has a club house that looks like a fine restaurant/bar anywhere. It is quite different from Venetian Marina. The pool is beautiful and well manicured as are the lawns and support services all over this three block long property.

I wish Dick Henry from Venetian could see this place. The concrete pads have metal reinforcement, so different from the rack pad and parking lot at Venetian Marina that is sinking because of the way it is built. 

The workers even cover the seat and controls on the fork lift when they go home at night. Awesome.

Concrete pads are reinforced

They cover the fork lift seat and controls at night -
Turtle Cove Marina

Kermit on bike in the main part of
Tarpon Springs

Tarpon Springs has the sponge docks for tourists then another side of town for the locals. It is cute too. I bet most people never see the cute town. The town has great looking restaurants too although we did not stop.

Isn't this cute?

We rode our bikes to the main part of town down a bike trail built out of an old railroad track. We saw the town then continued south.


Everything is decorated for Christmas

Judy Hechtkopf on her bike in
Tarpon Springss

The bike path goes from Tarpon Springs to Clearwater

A Rosy Spoonbill spotted along the Tarpon Springs bikepath

Our goal was the key lime pie factory. Along the way we passed the Suncoast Primate Sanctuary. The back of the sanctuary faces the bike trail. This place takes in primate – chimps, orangatuns, and monkeys that are rejected pets or circus animals. The all volunteer staff cares for the residents for the rest of their lives. It is stark and not fancy but clean and the staff obviously cares for the residents.



The male chimp who blew us kisses

One volunteer talked to us for quite a while. The big orangutan female is about 55 years old, very old for an ape. She has allergies so they give her tissues so she can blow her nose. Then she ties the tissues (an anything else that is tie-able) into little knots to decorate her cage. In another cage are two male chimps next to a cage with two female chimps. All teenagers, the volunteer said the hormones are wild!

Kermit hates monkeys

The volunteer with one of the teenage male chimps  -
he blew us kisses

this is the old female orangutan

We finally found JJ Gandy Pie Shop where we bought an entire 8" key lime pie and ate it in the park. UGHH it was good. I will probably not eat key lime pie again in the near future. Sort of a wierd kind of avoidance therapy!!




The key lime pie was worth it!!

We  ate the pie in Wall Park along the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway. These benches were all different - made out of drift wood.

We left Tarpon Springs early on 12/ 29. We had to leave early because we have another element to figure into our plans now - the tides. High tide was 7am so we wanted to leave with the falling tide so we could get out safely. When we arrived in Tarpon Springs we had to wait till the tide was coming back in around noon. Every day is a little different. So we left about 8:30 and took advantage of the falling tide to scoot out safely.

Are you lost?

Evidently this fellow forgot something at home. He looked like he was stuck but he actually stopped in front of us, turned around, signaled us to pass, then returned to Tarpon Springs. Odd.

The trip to Clearwater was great. The water was pretty smooth, the winds lovely, and the weather warm. We are in t-shirts again!!

Critter alert: We saw an osprey eating his catch!!



Osprey with a fishy for lunch

Clearwater - must be a fire somewhere

bridge entering Clearwater from the GIWW

Clearwater

A pretty building in Dunedin FL

The Clearwater Marina is right in Clearwater Beach. Everyone is really nice. We ate in the restaurant every night.

We walked into the beach area. It is less than a mile walk plus there are trolleys. We took the trolley around the entire circle to get a feel for the community. This is a great place to visit and maybe even live.

The beach was not too crowded. We laughed at all the rules!!

These statues are everywhere on the beach

Big Red Hat group - we ran into them on the trolley

Kermit and Mike on the phone

We enjoyed visiting Pier 60 before sunset. They have artists selling stuff along the boardwalk. This guy is a fire eating juggler.

His son is a contortionist who performed a Houdini trick to get out of a straight jacket.

Judy and Micheal were thrilled that their son Dan got engaged to his girlfriend Casey. It made the day sunny all around as they called everyone they knew to tell the great news! Isn't that nice?

Next we go to Dunedin on Friday. On Saturday 12/22 we pick up Marissa at the Orlando Airport and go to Islamorada for the Christmas holiday. Dan and Julia, and Brett and Julie will join us tomorrow evening. Steve and Sarah will come in on Sunday. I am so excited to see our kids. It has been six months, too long I think. I am cleaning out the boat to get everything I think we will need. Judy helped me wrap presents this morning and we loaded almost everything into the car. Now to pack the liquor and food we will need.

We will leave Judy and Micheal to move south on One September while we are gone. We will try to catch up when we return.

We are thinking of a good way to spend New Year's. We are trying to get to Sarasota to spend the New Year's Eve with Dave and Susan Hoecker. I think we can figure out how to get there if the weather cooperates. I would like to travel to St. Pete on 12/30 to see the Chilouhy exhibit and the Dali Museum then on 12/31 get to Sarasota. I understand they throw pineapples or something. Should be good!!

To all our friends and family, we miss you!! We wish you a fabulous holiday and an exciting and rewarding new year. Kisses and hugs all around!!