short cruise 2

Saturday, Nov. 26
Couldn't have had a better sailing day. Sunny, 70's, fresh wind SE as we headed N. Covered the 15 mi. to Tarpon Spgs in 4 hrs., which for Carina is freefall speed.

We docked at Tarpon Springs City Marina, on the Sponge Docks. Took a walk along the main drag. Still a busy strip of T-shirt, sponge and shell shops, along with many Greek restaurants and hawkers gathering passengers for the sponge boat excursions. Not high culture, but fun. Back aboard for reading and a nap, then dinner at Mykonos, our favorite Greek place.

Across the sreet from the marina is a Greek taverna with an open front and a good sound system. It was Greek kareoke night, which lasted until 2:15 a.m. You can imagine.

Sunday, Nov. 27
I took the bike parts ashore and assembled it, just a 10-minute job, and we rode one mile to Sunday Mass. We opted for breakfast aboard, including some Greek pastries we picked up last night.
Later we cranked up the dinghy and explored they bayous and springs. On the way back we were stopped by a FDLE police boat, who noticed we had no registration number displayed. I explained we'd just bought the motor (slight exaggeration) and although we have had the dinghy 30 years or more, had never registered it because a small rowboat didn't require it. We got off with a warning, but talking with them about the registration process made me realize we may not be able to document ownership. If that's the case, will need a new dinghy. And in any case, I'll have to get right with the law and register all our fleet of small boats.

Greek kareoke doesn't go late on Sundays, thank God.

Monday, Nov. 28
The forecast was for a front to come through this afternoon, shifting the SW wind arond to NW and N. We motored out the Anclote River and across St. Joseph Sound to the Intracoastal channel near Anclote Key. We'd intended to anchor at Anclote, and the S. end of the island gave good protection, but with a shift to the N we'd have been exposed to a strong wind and to a lee shore. So we continued to Three Rooker Bar, which had just the opposite features: would give good protection from the NW or N, but was exposed and choppy this afternoon. So onward. We decided to anchor offshore at Dunedin, but were able to get a slip for the night. By the time the front arrived: a vicious blast of NW wind, a hard short rain, and a drop in the temperature into the 60's. But by then we were tied up and snug