Saturday, January 20, 2007
Crossing the Gulf to Tarpon Springs, FL
Hundreds of strings of fish pots can be found right beside and across the channel and even way out into the Gulf. The floats are small, come in red, yellow, or white and can sure be hard to spot in the choppy water, especially when the sun is shining. We love eating seafood, so we can't really complain. They are set mostly by commercial fishermen. We guess they use GPS to locate them. But we sure don't want to get tangled up in one. That would spoil a person's day, for sure.
Friday, January 18. Think beautiful day, narrow channel coming out from Crystal River, low tide, running aground (but no damage -- WHEW), fish pots everywhere, and you have our crossing from Crystal River to Tarpon Springs. We left Pete's Pier on Crystal River Friday morning around 8:30 a.m. and arrived at The Landing Marina in Tarpon Springs by 2:30 that afternoon. Again we were lucky to have good weather for the crossing. Weather will no longer be as big a concern as it was further up the Bend and the Panhandle. The Gulf Crossing is behind us! That's a huge milestone. Welcome to the Greek flavors of Tarpon Springs!
We were happy to meet up with more Loopers , although they are staying at another marina across the river. Bob and I joined Bruce & Jeanne on Inevitable Too, Roger & Erika on Tumbleweeds 1 (another PDQ), as well as Walt & Barbara from Cream Puff, for drinks on Inevitable Too, then for dinner at Dodecanese, a Greek restaurant that served the largest red snapper I believe I've ever seen. Five pounds -- and it was on MY plated. The sides included a Greek salad, a seafood salad, turnip greens (yes), bread, and then Baklava for dessert. We had a delightful time hearing Bruce's tales of previous boat chartering experiences and comparing PDQ notes with Roger and Erika. We are looking forward to experiencing all this area has to offer.
