Brown Eyed Girl: Clearwater and Sarasota

I said I would let you know how the other slow boats made out on the crossing. Unfortunately it was not fun for any of them. We met Sid and Evelyn on "Something Special" and Dean and Beth on "Kismet" at the dock when they came in from 26 hours of running. They left Carabelle at 8:00 A.M. and arrived at 10:00 A.M. the next day. They were very exhausted but they made it safe. Sid's dream crossing was calm water, a full moon and some relaxation but what he got was high waves, no moon, no relaxation and he threw up. As of this posting they are doing much better but I am sure the experience will stay with them for a long time. Another sailboat that came across was in 16 foot waves and the Coast Guard had called their kids about them being overdue. Clearwater is a very nice city with a lot of things to do. We went to the beach and also took a trolley to Tarpon Springs to see the sponge capital of the world. We ate at a great Greek restaurant and one of our group had octopus. Ginny and I split lamb chops with a Greek salad and it was wonderful. We also bought a couple of sponges.

We left Clearwater and headed for Sarasota and Marina Jacks. The trip was about 60 miles along the Intracoastal which is very narrow in some places and even when it is not the water depth is seldom over 10 feed deep which keeps you on your toes. When we arrived in Sarasota we helped Gene and Ginny on "FREE TO B" celebrate the crossing of their wake. This means that they have traveled around the entire Eastern half of the North America and are back to where they started. Believe me this is no small feat and there are only about 150 boats a year that complete this journey. The only tangible reward for completing the Loop is a gold flag and a bottle of champagne that they had to buy. The intangible benefits are way too many to list. There was a big parade in Sarasota on Saturday night and it was a lot of fun.

Today Ginny and I went to a Tiki Bar today for a quick beer and were treated to a show of three people in a small overloaded (they were also loaded) overturn. Not to worry as the water in Florida is not very deep so they did not have far to sink. Actually they were rescued quickly so no harm.

We are planning on going to Cabbage Key and Sanibel in the next couple of days before we head for Fort Myers.