With the Gulf crossing and three long travel days behind us, we spent two nights in Tarpon Springs to rest, recover and enjoy some Greek food! The City of Tarpon Springs is known for their sponge-divers and supplying the world with natural sponges. We stayed at the Municipal Docks right in the heart of town.
We started our day with a full breakfast at Bayou Café in old town, delicious and cheap.😊 With full bellies, we tackled the task of removing the salt from Steal Away’s exterior (compliments of the Gulf). After showering, we headed to the Sponge Docks for lunch. We had been deprived of ice cream for so long, we decided to enjoy an ice cream lunch! After lunch, we headed to my favorite Greek market to stock up on herbs, honey, cookies, and candy. After cocktails and listening to live music from our cockpit, we headed back into town to dine at one of the famous Greek restaurants, Hella’s. Huge gyro platter followed by desserts from the bakery, Yum!!
Upon leaving Tarpon Springs, we entered the protected waters of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW). Lots of low bridges would need to open for us to pass through. We anchored in Boca Ciega Bay the first night then headed into Sarasota for Memorial Day weekend. The Waterway was extremely busy due to the beautiful weather and upcoming holiday. However, this does not excuse the lack of courtesy we experienced between Tampa Bay and Sarasota. Speed limits and no-wake zones were completely ignored. Large motorboats passed us so close in the narrow channel at such high rates of speed that we took their wake into our cockpit! One boat rocked us so hard, items went flying off shelves in the galley (including a bottle of olive oil, spilling half the contents in the settee floor). These are the most discourteous boaters we have experienced in all our years of sailing!
Marina Jack was the only facility that had transient slips available (and we soon learned why). A large marina complex with 3 on-site restaurants, the premier marina in Sarasota. Our slip backed up to a beautiful park with huge Banyan trees; we watched three wedding party photo shoots from our cockpit! Already the most expensive dockage we have paid on our Loop to date, they added a $1.00 per foot surcharge for the holiday weekend. Wow! But we were in Sarasota for a reason: We were invited to see a Tampa Bay Rays game with our neighbor, Merle’s, daughter and son-in-law, Kim and Ed, who happen to live in Sarasota. Check off one more major-league park from our bucket list!
The next two nights we spent at anchor, the first night in Lemon Bay and the second in Pelican Bay. We had previously stayed in Pelican Bay on a charter vacation; however, storms have enlarged the bay over the years. We arrived early and played in the water for the first time this trip! We departed early the next morning and went to another favorite, Cabbage Key, for breakfast. At breakfast, we met Peter and Julie, also doing the Loop aboard a 25’ Rosborough, Pilgrim.
After breakfast, we headed to Ft. Myers, departing the GIWW and entering the Okeechobee Waterway (OCWW). Upon arrival at the marina, we tied up in front of Pilgrim (they travel twice our speed!) Just about the time Jim completed an oil change, the skies opened up and it rained, and rained, and rained. We finally decided to don our rain jackets and head into town for a later dinner. Ft. Myers is a really cool old town with lots of shops and restaurants. We decided to dine at Ford’s Garage, known for burgers and beer. Neat place: Model A suspended over the bar, shop rags for napkins, hose clamps for napkin rings. Great burgers! Wish we could stay another day in Ft. Myers, but we must clear a railroad bridge on the east end of the OCWW. It will be undergoing repairs and reduce its opening schedule to just three times per week! We’ve got to keep moving.