mv Sandpiper: Preparing to leave St. Pete

Well we have been here 3+ weeks and it is time to return to our West Florida home base of Carrabelle. And we are looking forward to it. Still have a lot to do in that area along with 3 fishing tournaments out of the marina we will be at plus a good hidy hole from canes. And the bonus of a lot of friendly folks in a great little place. Plan is to leave here Thursday, travel the ICW to Clearwater, go off shore and anchor at Anclote Key, leave there at midnight and go straight across to Dog Island where we will anchor and go in to C-Quarters marina in Carrabelle Sat morning. Then we will watch the boats come in that afternoon/evening for the Kingfish tournament.

The trip to St. Pete was well worth it. Of course we got to see our friends. For those who did not know Pam and Bill, they had their boat at CC Marina right down from us. They moved back to Flordia and we got to see them at their new marina. They were very very helpful while we were here by showing us around, helping us get stuff we needed and just enjoying each others company. Thanks Pam and Bill. Unfortunately, Bill has a new job with the same company that keeps him away from St. Pete so we did not get to spend as much time as we wanted with him. But there is always the next time.

The marina here is very good. It is large (I guess at least 2 to 3 times the size of CC Marina) and on Tampa Bay. The Facilities are excellent. Our only like would have been for floating docks but that seem to be something there is little of in Florida at least right now. Our slip allowed us an unobstructed view of Tampa Bay and that made it quite nice. There is a Sailing club at the marina and every day there is at least one group of sailboat races going on. On Friday evening is biggest race with last Friday having 28 boats. We also have seen Tarpon in the marina with two of them cruising around our boat. Along with lots of other fishy objects in the water but no Manatees were sighted.

We had a little trouble for the first week or so. I again tried to do something i shouldn't have without help and hurt my back. It did not cause me the problems as before but i had to move slow, rest, etc and it is still a bit tender but we are doing fine. And right after we got here, Carol indicated she appeared to have a problem with one of her teeth. And she did. A large chunk was missing of the side of one of her wisdom teeth. Of course this occurred on a Saturday evening so we had to really wait till Monday to get it fixed. Found a dentist office within walking distance of the marina. They were GREAT and they fixed the tooth (did not pull it) and no problem since.

Speaking of within walking distance, the downtown area of St. Pete is awesome. There is a lot to do or a little to do which ever you want. There are lots of parks. It is VERY walker friendly. Plenty of restaurant if that is your desire. A major grocery, museums, etc. etc. and it is very clean. There is a Looper (loops around the downtown area) trolley that you can ride for a quarter (a dime if you are 65+). And a great little downtown airport right next to the marina. Carol and I spent a lot of time on the flybridge watching the planes. Lots of small plane traffic and apparently people learning to fly.

Altogether we had a good time here. We would highly recommend staying here but not for just one night. A week at a minimum, The downtown area is great. the rest of the town is a big city with anything you need. Public transportation is excellent.

A few pics;

Sailboat race seen from our flybridge