Non-boating friends have asked what we do all day. And have commented on how many 'new and exciting' things we are doing. Well, yes and no. Here is an all too typical morning: Up with daylight, think about all the fun activities to be done. Brush teeth. Hmmm. The water pump isn't shutting off. Go above decks to check with Captain. Uhhh... guess we forgot to switch water tanks. Down to the engine room. Shut pump off. Switch tanks. No good, have the dreaded airlock. Run. Prime. Run. Open all the water faucets. (Even the forward head? Yes, Even the forward head.) Pump on pump off, bleed pump. Success. Now the water is spraying all over the engine room. Pump off. Close spraying valve. Pump on. Yea!! Now to clean up: dry off the engine room, shut all the open faucets. Open the floorboards over the bilge and sump pumps to the forward head. For some reason they just don't clear. Curse the forward head. Get out the wet/dry vacc. Suck, fill, empty, repeat. Clean up, close the floorboards back up. Think about getting a shower. Collect everything, walk 400 yards to the marina head, shower and walk back. Now its nearly noon... lets go kayaking!
Kayaking in urban areas can have exciting moments - we crossed the ICW from Clearwater to Clearwater Beach, a couple of miles. Six jet skis whizzing by to port, and enormous commercial vessels churning to starboard. Creates interesting wakes to toss my little boat about. But we raced a sailboat and won! Okay, so the wind was Very light, and the sailboat's sails very old and tired. But you take the victories you can, lol. Clearwater Beach is a barrier island with additional areas of landfill; these are long fingers of homes surrounded by waterways and, on land, connected by low bridges. Paddling through these bridges - barely tall enough for us to fit under - was rather magical.
We paddled to a couple of small islands and beached the kayaks while we explored:
Made the trip up to Tarpon Springs again to see if the food was as incredible as we thought. (yes!) This time we ate at Demitri's on the Water, just across the street from Mykonos. The birds think its a great place to eat too - not always waiting for an empty table to get a quick bite from.
Jack liked his braised lamb better than what he had at Mykonos, but my Moussaka and Dolmades weren't quite as good. Our waiter was charming though, and when I asked for Galaktobouriko for dessert he went into raptures about it. A few moments later he was back, empty handed. "I have to break your heart... But No!" said our waiter, and off he rushed. Minutes later he produced a huge portion, warmed, with two forks. Then he told us a story. Galactobouriko is his favorite treat in the world. When he was a child, his mother would make big pans of it. One day after she made it she went to the store to get ingredients for baklava too. She invited her son to come with her but he said no, he was old enough to stay home. So she left him. But he had big plans. As soon as she left he sat down to the pan of Galactobouriko and ate every bit of it. And we ate every bit of the one he brought us, from his home!
The Jolly Trolley failed us coming home from Tarpon Springs and we ended up calling for a taxi. Our driver was another charming person. A Coptic Christian from Egypt, his businesses there were burned out by the Islamic Brotherhood and he brought his family to New York, opening a store just in time for Hurricane Sandy. They relocated to Clearwater where his wife teaches and he drives a cab. We learned about the Egyptian Coptic community here, which is quite large, and about facing such losses with great grace...
Back on the boat a few days later, Jack had the stereo playing quite low through speakers on the aft deck. We were delighted to have a Great Heron land on the rail, cock his head to listen closely, and start a stately dance, swaying, lifting his feet, a master! Was lucky enough to get a couple of pictures.
Jack decided This should be our boat:
For some reason he likes the name. I think he should just put the name on his kayak - same color, after all! And a great fishing boat.
A wonderful week, now New Years Eve. Expecting to see some amazing fireworks from the flybridge - if we stay up that late - but probably nothing as lovely as the daily sunset shows.
Happy New Year to All!
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