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| Beautiful sky! |
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| Cool car show we stumbled on! |
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| I liked this one! |
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Enjoying our visit with
our Missouri friends! |
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| This is our Airbnb condo! |
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| Nice galley too! |
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| Is this not funny! |
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Captain Jacks - great
Happy hour place! |
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| Our home for a week! |
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| Sponges coming in at Tarpon Springs |
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| Nice day for a Arts & Crafts festival! |
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| Outside a music store |
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| Inside Paul's Shrimp and Beer |
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| Everything here is about sponges! |
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| View down the Anclote River |
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| Yep, more sponges! |
Taking care of things one way or another!
Since my last post, we have had a full few weeks. We spent the first few days killing time
until we would take NautiNell to the boatyard. Mike worked on what he could -
checking things off the list. We pretty much
hung close to the boat – watching our budget!
On Friday night, we went to Cricketers for dinner and then stopped at
the local dive bar, The Inn, which is just across from the marina. $6 pitchers and our favorite blues band was
playing! It was jam night and several
musicians sat in with them. It was great
– and just what we needed to get our minds off the upcoming week. The
next day, we got up early to get the boat staged for another showing only to
find out a couple of hours before the scheduled time that they had changed
their mind. Woohoo! There’s that rollercoaster again! Oh well, we had lunch at the Draught Haus and
enjoyed ourselves. Why not!
We couldn’t stay on the boat while it was on the hard so we
looked for a reasonable (aka cheap) place to stay. We tried Airbnb for the first time. Airbnb is a network of people that have
places they rent out. These can range
from a bedroom in their home to a totally private condo, etc. We chose a great little private condo in
Holiday, FL which was just about three miles from the boatyard. We had never done this before so we figured
it would be another adventure! It turned
out to be great! We rented a 2 bed, 1 1/2
bath condo for a week for only $271! It
was in a 55+ complex, duh, that wasn’t a problem. The Airbnb app is really user friendly. Based on our experience, we would highly
recommend it.
So Sunday, we got the keys to the condo. After checking it out, we knew that it was
going to work out fine. We also got a
call from Larry and Vicki Plumlee, friends from back home. They were going to be in Clearwater for a
few days. We made plans for them to take
a boat ride with us over to the boatyard in Tarpon Springs on Monday. We planned to leave around noon. They were thrilled about riding on the
boat.
Monday morning brought us a CHANGE OF PLANS! The boatyard called us about 8:00. They wanted us there by 11:00! So we had to dash around and leave by
9:00! So I guess you’d say that the
Plumlees literally missed the boat! They
met us at the boatyard so they at least got to see her even though she was out
of the water. We all went to lunch at
Hog Island Fish Camp. M’Liss was working
and she took really good care of us! We
had a great visit and they dropped us off to get our car at the marina. We then had to make a grocery/liquor stop and
unpack at the condo. We were pretty much
done after that.
On Tuesday Mike was off to the boatyard early, of
course. Oh, he also had left his phone
in the Plumlees’ car the day before. So
he had to drive to Clearwater and meet with Larry to get it. I hung back and enjoyed our little home on
land. Of course, since Mike didn’t have
his phone, I had to play secretary. We
were also told that we needed to check in at the office so I walked over there
only to be told that we couldn’t stay there!
They only allowed three month minimum stays! Well crap, nothing just goes smooth
anymore. However after a phone call to
the owners of the condo, we were told not to worry about it. SO we didn’t.
And there were no goons showing up at our door kicking us out! I think they have since got everything worked
out. We did happy hour at Captain Jacks
and checked out the local Elks Lodge.
All is good.
On Wednesday, while Mike worked on the boat and supervised
what he could, I did a little sightseeing of Tarpon Springs. We met Vicki and Larry for dinner at Casa
Tina in Dunedin. We had a really good
visit with them. That place really makes
great margaritas! We love seeing people
from back home and catching up with everything.
They were heading back tomorrow so we said our goodbyes.
Mike met with a surveyor on Thursday for our Insurance
Renewal. Our insurance company was
requiring an out of the water survey before our January renewal. They do that every so often. We took advantage of having it out and
scheduled it to be done. This one went a
lot smoother than that one a couple of weeks ago. He gave us a clean bill of health! Later that evening we were sitting out on the
patio relaxing, feeling pretty good, because things were starting to get done
and the costs were a lot less than we had anticipated. Like I said we were relaxing – right? Well, Mike got up to fix him another drink
and tried to open the front door. Guess
what – we were locked out! Somehow the door
locked itself……! We called the owner,
who is in Mexico by the way, to see if there was a spare key hidden
somewhere. Of course there wasn’t. We checked all the windows. Both sets of keys were on the table inside
with both sets of our car keys. We
couldn’t even get to any tools. A
neighbor loaned us a screwdriver. Mike
was planning to take the frame off but that wasn’t working either. Finally he was able to somehow pop the door
open with the screwdriver. Now do I feel
safe?? Anyway we were finally in. I notified the owners who were happy to hear
that. At least we didn’t have to call a
locksmith. Oh wait my phone was going
dead also! LOL! We had our leftover Mexican food from the
night before and called it a night!
NautiNell should be back in the water tomorrow.
Friday morning Mike headed out early to finish up a few
things and to check on NautiNell’s schedule. There was a clamp that had broken
and the boatyard didn’t have one to replace it.
The closest place to get one was about an hour away. Mike came and picked me up - road trip to
Riverview! Of course when we got to the
place – they didn’t have one after all (even though they had said they did).
They sent us to another place who then sent us to another place! Finally we got what we needed and headed back
to the boatyard. What should have taken
two hours took four! When we got to the
boatyard NautiNell was in the straps waiting for us looking so pretty with her
new bottom paint! They put on the clamp
and then splashed her. Finally about
3:45 Friday afternoon we were on our way back to Marker 1 Marina in
Dunedin! We made it there close to
6:00. We tried to get in our slip 6
times – bow in and stern in! We just
couldn’t do it because of the wind and the current! So we ended up tying up on the outside
alongside the dock. That would be fine
until the winds die down. We took UBER (another
first) back to the boatyard and picked up our car. We stopped at Johnny’s Tap House for
dinner. We had planned to spend the
night in the condo but we felt better if we stayed in the boat since we really
weren’t too crazy about how it was moored.
Saturday morning was still way too windy to try for the
slip. We talked to the marina and was
told we could leave it there until the winds die down. We cleaned her up a bit and then headed to
the condo. After all, that is where all our
stuff is! We chilled in our land
home. A trip to the local Elks Lodge
then dinner in.
Sunday we went to the Arts and Crafts Show on the Sponge
Docks. Really interesting – not just
your average crafts. We had lunch at
Paul’s Shrimp and Beer. It was a
beautiful day! Dinner at Tarpon Bar and
Grill. It was karaoke night! It turned out to be pretty good. Most could actually sing! There was one guy there “Larry”. Larry used to sing with Elvis! That’s pretty cool!
Monday we checked out of the condo and went back to the
boat. The wind was still blowing pretty
hard although the forecast was for it to be calm. We were told by the marina that they were
moving us anyway. And that we would have
to leave by the end of the month! We had
told them we wanted to stay another month or so but they had failed to make
note. We started checking on
marinas. We had made a reservation at Fisherman’s
Wharf in Venice for November 1 anyway as a backup. However, when we called to confirm we were
told yes, they have us down but the rate that they quoted us in September was
no longer valid. The marina had sold
again! The monthly rate for us went from
$750 to $1100! That ain’t gonna work! So we called several other marinas in the
area but most were booked. They are
showing the boat again on Wednesday. The
Dockmaster here will be back then too.
SO we decided we’d just see what happens. We went to the Elks for $1.00 tacos. Priorities!
Tuesday Mike changed the oil and filters. We also fluffed up the boat for another
showing tomorrow. Wondering just how
this is all going to work out…..
Today (Wednesday) we talked to the marina here again. After talking to the Dockmaster, we were told
that he could jockey boats around and we could stay a couple of more months in
our slip if we wanted. Hooray! Now if the winds would just lay so we could
get back in our slip!
We also showed the boat to a gentleman that had already seen
it in Marathon last spring. A
returnee! He also drove five hours one
way to see it again! That all sounds
promising. Our broker seems to believe
we’ll get an offer. He also has two
other couples that are interested. One
saw it right after the first contract was signed – the other one came to see it
while she was on the hard. Both want to
see it again. We’ll see! Not counting our chickens! Show me the money!
Stay tuned!
Till next time!
Admiral “C”
