Good morning from Tarpon Springs. We have enjoyed 5 nights here in Tarpon with great friends, the Christmas Spirit, fantastic food, and really large tidal swings!

On our first, day we had to take in some of the famous Greak food. Enjoyed lunch and dinner in town. For dinner we had a large group of loopers and once again had a great time.

Our first full day started with a walk into town to enjoy their Christmas Parade. It sure was unusual to watch a parade standing in shorts and a tee shirt! They also had several floats we just don’t get to see up north.

Mr. and Mrs. Claus were there, not sure I could wear that suit in the heat!

After the parade we walked down to the lagoon, we were told there are manatees near the walk.

Hope you can see the three light brown blobs in the middle of the picture.

They keep coming up to breathe.

After that we walked through town to the harbor to take in all the Christmas decorations and sights.

The sponge boat fleet in the middle of town. This is a small, but still an active fishing fleet.

Even went out for a few Christmas drinks that evening.

The fire department would come through town each evening about 8pm with a drive by. I assume there is not much need for the truck, as it was always decorated!

The next couple of days we cleaned the boat, relaxed a little, and continued to eat out a lot!

Great Seafood restaurant for lunch one day and Amy liked her new friend!

View upriver from the slip as I enjoyed the temps and downtime.

Memphis is not allowed to relax on the bow, so she has her towel out back and she loves it out there.

Now for a lesson in tides. When you are starting a new moon, the tide swings are much larger than normal. The first high tide came up so much that it flooded part of town. This was because of high winds from the “wrong” direction and the new moon.

We were lucky to be tied to floating docks that night, as we floated up and down with the tide.

There is a trolley that runs from Tarpon Springs down to Clearwater. The cost is $5 per person for an all-day pass. You can’t beat it. The group took the trolley to visit Dunedin for the day to walk town, shop, and have a nice lunch before returning.

After 4 nights at the city marina, we had to move to make room for another boat. We headed down river for one more night to Mar-Mar Marina. It is a small marina without much around, but better than being out on the hook with the 15-20 MPH winds forecasted for the next couple days.

Leaving our home at the town dock, we will miss this town and harbor.

We are at the end of the “T” dock here, with another extreme tide for two more days!

Today we will move to our slip at Clearwater Beach Marina. We will be here for Christmas and New Year’s. Looking forward to a visit from Bradley for Christmas. We are also getting service work done on the engines over the next couple weeks.

I will post again after we get settled into our slip. By the way, it is Christmas Party time for the Heidler’s. Can’t throw the party in Sister Bay this year, so if you are in Clearwater 12/16/2023, the party is on! So far we only know of one person making it. (Always a McCauley at the Heidler Christmas party)

Until the next post, please have a great rest of your week.