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| Hey, Capt Morgan and I are buddies! |
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| Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay 175' high! |
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| John's Pass |
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| Mike and his dinghy...... |
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| Entrance to John's Pass Village |
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| NautiNell's home for a few days |
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| Saying good by to Jeff. Thanks for your hospitality. |
December 20-28 Tuesday morning we left the American Legion to go all of about three miles to stay at the free slip at Isle of Capri. Jeff and Suzanne Wright have a very nice home with an open boat slip. They offer it to cruisers that are passing by and want to stop in to enjoy the John's Pass area. It's such a nice thing to do. It was a great stay. They even provide electric, water and the newspaper! To all you cruisers out there - their information is on Active Captain. Check it out!
As I said their home is about a mile from the John's Pass and The Boardwalk. John's Pass is an access to the Gulf from the ICW. There is a huge boardwalk area with lots of shops and restaurants. We decided that we would like to spend some time here checking out everything. Jeff said we could stay as long as we wanted! That suited us!
So after getting NautiNell all secure, we went to check it out in the dinghy. It's a little touristy but has some really nice shops. We had a couple of drinks at Skully's and went home to enjoy our own happy hour. Oh, and I did some shopping. Not done, either!
We ended up staying four days at the Wrights' slip. We really had a relaxing time. Mike spent time fishing and we went on several dinghy rides. One afternoon we rode our bikes to the local Publix. We managed to carry almost $200 worth of groceries home (I was about out of everything!) on our bikes. The most incredible thing was that we did it and we only broke two eggs! What was really bad was that when we got to the Publix we found that it had a dinghy dock which means we could have gone by dinghy which would have been a lot easier! Oh well!
We did however find a great little bar called "R Bar". We stopped there and had a drink one night on a dinghy ride. It was such a pleasant ride home that evening. With all the Christmas lights, the canal was really well lit. Nice and warm and with Christmas lights – something isn't right here. Warm? Yep, it's been around 75-80 degrees every day. Now that's nice!
Finally on Christmas Eve, it was time to leave the Wrights' slip. We really did appreciate their hospitality. However, we didn't want to over extend our welcome. So off we went again – only about two miles over to the Elks Lodge. We may never get out of this area! LOL! The Elks Lodge has a couple of slips available to Elk members. They only ask for a donation in order to stay there. They told us that we could stay three days – perfect! We spent Christmas really just relaxing and enjoying ourselves. This is a really pretty area. We did go out in the dinghy some. There are a lot of boats and houses decorated. Mike cooked ribs on the grill. Yum! I think we just started a new Christmas tradition!
On Monday we spent the day cleaning and scrubbing the boat. Mike power washed the carpet on the sundeck and cleaned the outside while I took down Christmas decorations and cleaned the inside. She's really looking good!
We later rode our bikes around the area and stopped at Screwie Louie's for dinner. Don't you just love the names of these places! We had planned to leave out Tuesday morning, but the weather changed our plans. We woke up to rain, wind and cold temperatures! They were calling for choppy conditions on Tampa Bay and 25 mph winds. No thank you. We need to cross Tampa Bay! We stayed put and rode out the wind. It was wicked! - as Sweet Pea would say! The temperature dropped big time!
Finally on Wednesday, we had a beautiful day full of sunshine. We had an easy crossing of Tampa Bay. The water is becoming clearer and there were dolphins jumping all around us. We hooked up with Sweet Pea at Moore's Stone Crab Restaurant on Longboat Key. They offer free overnight dockage with dinner. Sounds good to us! Another free night! Yea! And I don't have to cook!! Yea, again!
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| Sunrise at Elks Lodge one morning..... |
Admiral "C"
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