Tarpon Springs to Clearwater on the Intercoastal

December 4 - 5, 2001 - Tarpon Springs to Clearwater on the Intercoastal

We left Tarpon Springs at 9:30 for Clearwater Municipal Marina about 22 miles away. John rented a car on Monday to drive home. It was fun having him along, and he sure kept the boat as salt free as possible. After he left, we shopped and took a bus to the Old

Tarpon Springs downtown area, where there are a lot of antique shops and a famous Greek Church, which was beautiful. We had lunch and walked back to the marina, stopping along the way to finally buy a sponge to clean the boat with. Bill cleaned and I tried to shop some more, but it was too hot, so I quit. We had had a late lunch, so when some of the boaters suggested dinner at Louis Pappas' famous restaurant, we declined -Surprised, aren't you. We had soup and looked over the charts for traveling to Clearwater the next day.

Dbl L, and Carrie D and Chapter Two are all doing the Loop Cruise and are from all over. Carrie D and Dbl L left today for Indian Rocks, and Chapter Two is leaving tomorrow to join them there.

We are on the Intercoastal and the water is very shallow in spots - they say "skinny". At one point Bill just had one foot under the props, so he had to slow way down and proceed very carefully. We arrived in Clearwater about 12:15, after going through another maze of crazy markers going this way and that to get there. The marina is very nice and is right near a very wide, white sandy beach, with shops and restaurants galore. We called Colleen and Jim Grant who now live in Tampa, and they came over and joined us for dinner Thursday night - it was real good to see them. We walked the beach one day and had a rum punch at a cute spot along the way - fun.

We really enjoyed Clearwater and think that it might just be the " best kept" secret we've seen so far.