Well, I had the rental car company pick me up at the marina after watching Mike and Captain Butch Farless pass through the cut from the intercoastal into the gulf. I started wondering if I had made a mistake after talking with Butch because he was telling me how beautiful it is out there with all the stars, etc. Anyway, I felt kind of lonely on the drive down to Tarpon Springs but stopped for lunch along the way and also found this little used bookstore where I discovered several books by my new favorite author - Lee Child. Yea! I have already finished 2 of his books in the last couple of weeks and have gotten into the Jack Reacher mysteries.
I left about 12:15 and got into Tarpon Springs about 7:00 so it was a long afternoon. I had a reservation at the Hampton Inn & Suites and was thrilled that I could watch the entire wedding from start to finish. Also, the next morning I found a TJ Maxx store close by so I browsed through it. I can't buy much because there's no place to store anything!
Mike and Butch told me to expect them about noon and I started worrying as time went on and I hadn't heard anything. Finally Mike called me about 3:30 and told me they would be in the marina between 4:30 and 5:00 so I headed over there. They pulled in at 5:00 and they were two tired and beat up guys. Apparently the wind picked up at 3:00 AM and it became miserable for the rest of the night and day. The waves picked up also from 1-2 feet, went 2-3 feet and finally were 5-6 feet with the boat slamming down after each large wave. Mike had no sleep or food the entire time (about 30 hours) and I was so thankful that I made the choice not to go!
Today we had a friend and his family visit us here at the marina and we walked to a Greek restaurant for lunch and since this is the famous sponge dock area, we browsed through all the little shops. Steve is the guy that Mike crossed the gulf with in his sailboat about 10 years ago. He married his wife Deb who has a daughter now 14 and they had 2 additional children so it was an active afternoon.
We leave tomorrow morning for St. Petersburg
Beginning in the Spring of 2011, this is a story of a journey in our 36' Heritage East Trawler as we cruise The Great Loop, a circumnavigation of Eastern North America, along the shoreline of the United States and Canada - truly a trip of a lifetime.
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