LOOP Report01/3/2005

Tierra Verde Resort Marina
Jan. 3, 2005

Loop Report

The ocean cowboy and cowgirl are back on the open range again but are staying close to the barn until late January when Pat's sister Marni and husband David will join us from Vancouver for a month's ride down the gulf. But must say now, we had a great time off from our trip for Xmas with family and friends and hope y' all had good holidays also. Can't deny the 2 foot of drift and minus 20 might have helped us to find our way to the JetsGo counter on Dec.31. We arrived in Florida to a local boaters gathering that evening at the poolside bar. After many samples of cajun seafood and liquid wash down we actually had to head home early before the big countdown. Must have been the change of climate? January first was a day to see some road with the PT Cruiser we rented. We took off for The Desoto State Park and Fort, which is a couple of palm tree miles south of here. Created to protect the Tampa Bay from the Spanish in the late 1800's to the turn of century. A terrific well kept public "Blue Flag" beach here with endless parking and a RV camp site on a bayou. Stopped in at the St.Petersburg Municipal Marina to visit our gulf boating friends Gord and Heidi on "Single Minded". Looks like a good marina to hang out right on the waterfront of the city. Toronto could take a lesson from Chicago and now St.Petersburg also. If you asked how did our boat do during the month of December I'd have to say, not bad considering on Dec.26 early A.M. a mini 70 MPH breeze blew up a 6 foot surge in 20 minutes in the marina (never seen before ) and put water over the docks and withdrew in another 20 minutes. Our swim platform got caught on the dock and a couple of boards got cracked and stern light ripped off. Apparently everyone was busy in their PJ's and undies trying to keep their own boats off the docks. We'll have to get out the clamps and glue to get a couple pieces together. January 2nd took us back up north to Tarpon Springs to do some up town antique stores plus picking up some fresh seafood and then just sightsee by car. Jan. 3rd off south towards Sarasota and Longboat Key. which found us a great cuban mixed tapas lunch at the Columbia Restaurant on St.Armands Circle, Sarasoto, nice stores too. Stopped at the State Park site of the Spanish invaders DeSoto's landing and trail start. This was your original tourist from hell. We went on to grocery shop and then home. I think DeSoto had the same plan, just in the wrong place at the wrong time. He thought it was gold he was searching and plundering for but I think the local natives knew it as oranges. Everything is in the timing, eh?

January 4, 2005

Wouldn't you know it, another ( 66 ) birthday came and went. No big candle celebration except some good wishing well phone calls and a delicious experimental dinner of shrimps and sweet potatoes (better than Yams) from Mexico. Returned rental car and now back working on boat chores.

January 5, 2005

Fixing the swim platform with "Gorilla Glue" and clamps and sanding the rails for a coat of cetol (varnish). Got to get it ready for our guests coming late January. The weather has been spectacular in upper 70's and clear skys. Pat' busy catching up on her reading and powerbook games after an exhausting season, but lot's of fun, December holiday season. Hard to believe we were just digging and blowing that white solid stuff out of our path two weeks ago. Noticed today large fish (snooks) swimming and hiding under our boat. Every once in a while a pelican will plunge right next to the boat and is quite startling. Probably why the fish stick to staying under boat. Barnacles starting to show on hull so a young neighbour kid will dive and clean off for $1 per foot this weekend.

Jan. 7, 2005
Turns out the dive clean should be done just before we leave for Key West. Everything came at once today. Volvo mechanic arrived to service the engines and we did a run test out into the bay and the port turbo is not performing so will need a restore? Maybe this will resolve our black smoke problem. then the Mac computer guy arrives to check out our browser glicch. and also our repaired two bench tested VHF's arrive to install with our broadcast problems (turned off the GPS depth sounder when on transmit.) How could this all come together the same day? Well we are now online using somebodies local high speed wireless broadcast. VHf's radios seem to now both work and no interference to GPS. Volvo yet to be proved better. Had to hit the pool to cool down all this high tech brain stimuli. Neighbour dropped off an old selection of Atlantic Coast charts for free , now that's friendly. For Pat's birthday tomorrow we should put down the dingy and check out the local beach at Shell Island. Maybe we should row and stick to low tech.

New Year Loopers...Ted and pat