Anclote/Tarpon Springs to Isla Del Sol (i.e., almost Tampa Bay)
On Wednesday morning (Nov. 27), we took the inflatable up the Anclote River to take a look at where we’d be docking at the Anclote Village Marina (which is very much a working, service-oriented marina/boat yard versus a resort-style enterprise). Though this area had also been affected by the hurricanes (e.g., the marina’s restaurant was closed owing to damage), we found that the destruction wasn’t as extensive in comparison to what we’d seen anchoring north of here.
The picture below shows the length of dock (with power!) where we were able to reserve slips for the night along with “Til You Can’t.”
Later, Chuck and Kim invited us to ride along in their inflatable on the Anclote River to Tarpon Springs, a great small city in Florida that Dennis and I have visited previously. Tarpon Springs is famous for its sponge industry (sponge display on boat pictured below) …
… which began around 1890 when sponges were retrieved by hooking them from the floor of the river. In 1905, a Greek immigrant introduced the practice of diving for sponges, a method common in his country of origin. Many Greeks subsequently arrived and worked in the sponge industry. A traditional sponge diving boat is pictured below …
… followed by a not-so-traditional sponge boat.
Though the sponge industry is much smaller now, there remains a large Greek community in Tarpon Springs; as such, the four of us elected to have lunch at Hella’s to enjoy some authentic Greek cuisine.
When we got back to the city dock where we’d left Chuck and Kim’s inflatable, we were greeted by this guy on a neighboring boat.
That evening, the four of us had “docktails” and watched the sun set in front of the closed restaurant at Anclote Village Marina. We calculated that we’d been travelling together for three months! Dennis and I will be leaving tomorrow morning, because we need to make tracks given that the boat is scheduled to be taken out of the water on Dec. 3 at Port Charlotte. However, Kim and Chuck will be staying here a while longer, as they need to begin to slow down the pace of their trip; they must remain in Florida until the warmer spring months permit them to start cruising north along the east coast. We so regretted that we would not be able to celebrate Thanksgiving with them.
Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 28) we woke to heavy fog, so we were unable to safely leave until 9:30. (Not-so-intrepid, scruffy-looking travelers pictured below.)
You can make better time by going out into the Gulf (vs. staying inside in the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway/GIWW), but because the Gulf was very choppy that day, we only stayed in it for about 10 miles and then returned to the GIWW, ducking back in at Clearwater (below).
The chop didn’t deter this parasailer outside of Clearwater.
However, it did make this tour boat (below) turn around and head back out of the Gulf.
Check out our delicious Thanksgiving turkey “dinner.”
Went under Indian Rocks Bridge (pictured below first) on our way through the Narrows which is a small strip of land (pictured second) between the GIWW and the Gulf. Starting to see some familiar sights, such as pelicans …
… pier fishing, and manatee areas.
We have to call for bridge openings.
We are beginning to see more and more hurricane damage – collapsed docks, piled sandbags, blue tarps on roofs, debris, and sunken sailboats …
… all next to beautiful homes. (And, of course, there are the ever-present crab pots.)
At the Treasure Island Causeway Bridge, the bridge tender opened the bridge for us at 2:40pm even though he remembered it was a holiday and was supposed to wait until 2:45. He said that it was his last day before retiring after 15 years, and he was going to open it for us because, why not?! He is moving to The Villages because his house was damaged so severely from the last hurricane.
Because we got a late start this morning, we weren’t sure whether we’d have sufficient sunlight to make it through Tampa Bay. Sure enough, by the time we got near the Pinellas Parkway Bridge (Isla Del Sol), it was a little after 4:00pm, so tackling Tampa Bay was not viable.
It was truly a gift from God that there was an anchorage available (spotted a group of boats anchored off the channel), as it wasn’t listed anywhere, and there were no soundings off the channel (i.e., no way of knowing the depth of any water other than what was recorded for the channel). Granted, some of the boats anchored there looked to be temporary homes for squatters, but we were very grateful for the safe harbor.
On our way back from taking the dogs ashore (up a boat ramp that featured a wrecked boat on one side of it that appeared to be a homeless encampment with some very questionable vehicles parked nearby), we saw more evidence of hurricane damage. The sign on the fence next to the sailboat that had been thrown on shore (pictured below) ironically states, “No docking.”
The picture of the nearby bridge at night doesn’t do it justice, but you can imagine how the colored lights reflecting in the water make for an impressive look from afar.
We’ll tackle Tampa Bay in the morning!