Gulf Crossing

November 25-26, 2017

         In order to cross the Gulf at the best time we had to wait till about 10 am to leave and followed Agape and Pharxma Life out of Apalachiacola and into the gulf.

Heading out across the Gulf of Mexico

Sunrise and land the next morning

  Calm sea, few crab pots and the only trouble being staying awake all night.  We took turns and it wasn’t too bad and our trusty chart plotter kept us on track.  We radioed goodby to our buddy around midnight since they were going to Clearwater and we wanted to stop in Tarpon Springs and the best Greek food outside of Greece.

          We made it to Tarpon Springs about 9 am the next morning, as advertised with the sun in ou eyes and had some trouble getting a marina.  They were all full and I hadn’t made a reservation early enough since I didn’t really know when we would make it.    The Municipal Marina said they had room, but after trying to get into two slips that were about 6 inches too narrow the dockmaster volunteered to ask the restaurant next door if we could use their dock. They were OK so we tied up.  I had Googled a Catholic Church that wasn’t too far away, so while John napped I went to church.  It was a little farther than Google said, but the exercise was good after the day and night on the boat.   Nice service with a lot of deacons and priests, good choir and really unusual Stations of the Cross.

   John met me a Myconos for a  good Greek meal 300 feet from the boat.    We weren’t disappointed with Myconos and brought a big box of leftovers back to the boat.

Finally had squid and octopus on the same plate with no breading (Calamari) so I think I know the difference now.

The rest of the day was napping and trying to stay awake so we could go to bed at a decent hour to ensure a good night’s sleep.

 

 Tarponn Springs is all about the sponges and the Greek immigrants who came to harvest them.