The Retirement Wake on S/V Imagine

We finally got away from the Gulfport FL/St. Pete area and headed to Sarasota FL. **** We cannot say thank you enough to Bob and Ellen in Gulfport who helped us so much, and provided such great hospitality. They even introduced us to some other boat folks too. ****  We ended up at the Sarasota Mooring Field that is managed by  Marina Jacks.   We opted for a mooring ball at $25.00 per day vs $2.75 per foot.  That for us would be $104.50 per day!  It is a short ride in via dinghy to the marina.  For the $25.00 I get the same amenities, showers, shuttle service, restaurants etc.  The bathrooms are nice, each have an individual private bathroom with shower.  I am glad some of those mega yachts can afford to pay for all this for us to enjoy. The only down side is there are numerous dinghys at the dinghy dock that have been left there by the mooring field peeps.  Some it would appear for a long time by the growth on them.  They really need to manage this better. The marina is right in the mi

We are in the St. Pete area and have been for the past week.  The trip here from Tarpon Springs with a slight stop over in John's Pass was really uneventful.  We stayed in John's Pass for a couple of days to see what all they had, which was mostly all tourist stuff.  So, let me tell you the story of the week. We moved to an anchorage across from Gulfport, Florida, which is next to St. Petersburg.  First day or so little to no issue.  We meet up with some boating friends of Ladye Jane who moved here from Texas,  Ellen and Bob.  They ran us around for a few errands which was a big help.  We then hooked up with some other friends, Jim and Cat,  from Texas who were down looking at powerboats.  We went out for some drinks and dinner, and enjoyed visiting with them.  The next day we went to the Tampa Boat show with them, which was fun to do and look at some boats we could never afford.  Ellen offered her washer and dryer so we went over to their house and did some laundry, Ken

Tarpon Springs was such a fun place to have stayed during our adventure.  Our extended stay was caused by a Low Pressure system that was coming from East to West across Florida. Causing winds or suppose to cause winds up to 40 mph.  We were in such a protected place, and with the TS forming in Mexico that turned into Hurricane Nate we decided to stay put for a while. The St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church was amazing with all the stained glass, paintings on the ceiling and the Icons around the church.  There was a staff member there that answered questions for us about the church and services.  I found it interesting they still use the same service since the 4th century.  They also sing the entire service.  We also leanred that St. Nicholas also being Santa Claus is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker, and the Patron Saint of Sailors.  It was time to venture out further and see more local attractions so we jumped aboard the Clearwater   Jolly Trolley which runs from Tar

Tarpon Springs, Florida is the Sponge capital of the world.  In 1905,  John Cocoris  introduced the technique of  sponge diving  to Tarpon Springs by recruiting divers and crew members from Greece. The first divers came from the Saronic Gulf islands of  Aegina  and  Hydra , but they were soon outnumbered by those from the  Dodecanese  islands of  Kalymnos ,  Symi  and  Halki . The sponge industry soon became one of the leading maritime industries in Florida and the most important business in Tarpon Springs, generating millions of dollars a year. The 1953 film  Beneath the 12-Mile Reef , depicting the sponge industry, took place and was filmed in Tarpon Springs. Sponge Dock Shopping Area Sponge Dock in Tarpon Springs   We brought Imagine from Port St. Joe to Tarpon springs.   We anchored at the end of the peninsula of the state park in Port St. Joe. At 5 AM we left followed the channel out into the Gulf of Mexico.  Winds were projected to be light and only in our favor f