Thanksgiving and Sarasota

HUMBUG stayed in Gulfport, which is right next to St. Petersburg, from November 25 until the morning of December 10. During that time, we rented a car, picked up our friends Hiromi,and Mike and dog Sydney, from "Off Leash," who were staying at St. Pertersburg Municipal Marina, and traveled to Odessa, Florida  just north of Tarpon Springs, for Thanksgiving.

Our Thansgiving 2013 house

There we met Bob, Lorretta and dog Shaina from"Carol Anne," at a house that had been loaned to Bob by friends in New York.  It was a funky "Old Florida" place - low ceilings and small, dark rooms, but on a lovely fresh water lake.

Dark living room

Den

Thanksgiving table

Loretta and Hiromi in the kitchen

Before dinner

Hiromi & Mike

Sydney (L) & Shaina (R)

We had a great time cooking together and the dogs had fun playing with the neighbor's Great Dane.

Shaina and new friend

Pete and I realized that this was the first Thanksgiving either of us had ever spent without some members of our families present. but we've spent so much time and had so much fun with Bob, Loretta, Hiromi and Mike, that it certainly felt like a family gathering.

The Monday after Thanksgiving, we flew home to Mystic for doctor and dentist appointments made months before. We stayed only until Friday morning, then scooted out in front of a coming ice storm. That day we drove to just south of Washington, DC and the next day to Jacksonville. After that, we spent a night in Mt. Dora, FL, visiting my 91 & 92-yr old parents, and finally made it back to the boat on Monday.

Tuesday morning, we were on our way to our next port of call, Sarasota.

Sunshine Bridge which spans Tampa Bay

Our marina in downtown Sarasota

While in Sarasota, we visited the Ringling complex which consists of an art museum, a circus museum, gardens, a library and Ca' d' Zan, Mabel and John Ringling's winter residence.

John and Mabel were circus owners, art collectors and financiers. They bought property in Sarasota in 1927 and moved the winter quarters of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey combined shows there.

Entrance to Circus museum

Circus in miniature

Upon John's death in 1936, the museum, art collection and Ca' d' Zan (house of John) were left to the State of Florida. Since then, the complex has grown to include the circus museum, the theater and the library. It's a fascinating way to spend a day.

Human canan

Front of Ca' d' Zan

Waterside terrace of Ca' d' Zan

One of the Banyon trees given to the Ringlings by Thomas 

Edison

Art Museum sculpture garden

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A Ringling Art Museum gallery

A Sarasota sunset

Crossing The Gulf of Mexico

 

 I was not looking forward to it, but there was no way around it...

It took us 26 non-stop hours to go from Apalachicola, Florida (in the Panhandle) to Dog Island (off Carrabelle) and then across the Gulf of Mexico to Dunedin, Florida (just North of Clearwater). Dolphins played in our wake on our way to Dog Island where were met up with our crossing buddy boats.

Dolphins beside us

Dolphins are way cool!

A baby looking at Marti

You could practically touch them

Fortunately, we had our good friend and experienced blue-water sailor, Jim Isler on board to help us. He and Pete alternated 3-hour watches and I, having shown in the past my utter inability to stay awake on an over night passage, was relegated to stewardess status and spent the night periodically handing out food and drink in between naps. Marti, Jim's wife, unfortunately had commitments back home and had to leave us at Panama City two days before the crossing.

Jim & Marti Isler came all the way from Colorado to join us

For the crossing, we buddied up with three other looper boats: "Carol Anne," "It's Alwyas 5 O'Clock" and "Journey" (a power catamaran). It was comforting to see their lights and be able to talk to them on the radio throughout the night. There were many other small floatillas of loopers doing the crossing that night (we could sometimes see their lights way off in the distance) because it was the last good weather window until after Thanksgiving Day, more than a week away. A weather window, is a period of relatively calm water and no storms, that is long enough for a slow looper boat to make the crossing.
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Carol Anne at Dog Island the rendezvous point

Journey at Dog Island

The floatilla

Journey at sunset

Pete said the sunrise was spectacular. Jim and I slept through it (in separate cabins).

We arrived in Dunedin early afternoon and slept for a few hours, then went out with our fellow loopers to celebrate everyone's safe crossing of the Gulf. We also celebrated "It's Always 5 O'Clock's" crossing of their wake (finishing the loop). We first met them at the Northern end of Lake Champlain back in early June and from then  on, frequently encountered them. It will be strange to not see them at docktails.

Dawn

Approaching Dunedin

Celebration dinner at Hella's Greek Restaurant in Tarpon Springs

Margie and Rick from "Journey"

Margie, on "Journey," grew up in tiny, obscure, upstate, Cobleskill, New York where I grew up. She went to my high school and her younger sister, Karen Davis, was in my class.SMALL WORLD, huh?

Al (on the right) from "It's Always 5 O'Clock" and Arch (on the left). Arch  is doing the loop singlehandedly on "KaJen" named after his daughters.We've been encountering him off and on since Canada.

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving. We are sharing it with our friends, Bob and Loretta from "Carol Anne," and Hiromi and Mike, from "Off Leash," in a house near Tarpon Springs being loaned to Bob by old friends.We are thankful for our safe passage so far on this journey and for our new good friends.





snfsnf,snsff

Mobile and New Orleans

Approaching Mobile

While HUMBUG was out of the water (and therefore had no heat), we stayed first in Mobile, AL for three nights, then took a driving trip to New Orleans for two nights.

HUMBUG in Mobile marina travel lift

MOBILE

Mobile turned out to be another surprisingly nice, small city.  It has a very busy commercial port (one of the largest on the Gulf Coast) which is home to the Battleship "Alabama" and some very futuristic looking military ships.

Futuristic,shallow draft, attack boats in Mobile Harbor

There are several historic areas in Mobile, that reflect two eras of prosperity.  First, the cotton industry produced great wealth and elaborate antebellum mansions, then the lumber industry followed after the civil war, and the lumber barons built even larger, more elaborate houses.

Malaga Inn - Our hotel in Mobile, a converted mansion

Wedding in Malaga Inn Courtyard

While in Mobile, we were the uninvited guests at yet another wedding. We danced to their music on the balcony outside our room above the reception late into the night.

One of the interesting things we learned in Mobile, is that the oak trees here, called "Live Oaks," are considered to be evergreens.  Even though they shed their leaves, the old leaves are immediately replaced by green leaves. Another interesting thing we learned, is that Mardi Gras originated in 1703 in Mobile and then spread to New Orleans.

We also saw something in Mobile that we'd never seen before - menus that light up internally when you open them (excellent for aging baby boomer eyes!).

Lighted Menu

NEW ORLEANS

New Orleans was a lot of fun and full of great restaurants. We stayed in a nice little hotel in the French Quarter and were complete tourists.

Privincial Inn New Orleans

Courtyard of Provincial Inn

We took a 3-hour sight seeing tour during which we learned that a "Creole" is the first born of foreign parents, cemetary means "sleeping place," bayou means "slow moving," the French Quarter never flooded during the 2005 hurricane, and Mardi Gras parades are never in the French Quarter (who knew?).

Cemetary #3

You can not visit New Orleans and not eat Beignets (fried dough topped with a MOUNTAIN of powdered sugar)

Before leaving, we visited the World War II Museum which was very moving, especially the Tom Hanks-narrated 4-D movie, "Beyond All Boundaries." During the film, because it is 4-D, we were shot at, snowed on, smoked, fogged and rattled in our seats. It was a vivid reminder of how lucky we are to not have had to experience war and how incredibly brave our parents were.

WW II Museum

WW II Museum

As the complete tourists we were, we also drank "Hurricanes" at Pat O'Briens, had dinners at Irenes and Muriels, listened to jazz, and slept late. What a great side trip!

Famous flaming fountain at Pat O'Briens

Hurricanes at Pat O'Brien's

Cornstalk wrought iron fence

What to do in New Orleans?

Only in New Orleans (or, perhaps, Salem)