Our Nauti Time on the Great Loop

December 9-11, 2021 Thursday - Saturday (Clearwater Harbor Marina (Clearwater, FL) We love this marina in the harbor.  It is quiet, gated and has floating docks.  We have gotten to know several of our neighbor boaters, but have had a great deal of fun with Barefoot Jones from Little Rock, AK.  Whether it be just cocktails or walking to a restaurant, we have had some great conversations and laughs.  Anxious to meet with them in the future. There is always something to do on the boat every day such as washing the salt water off and waxing.  We have explored the area but I must say it is hot and humid.   The locals tell us that the humidity is higher than normal which has made us think of the cold and snow much more.  LOL!!!  I have mainly taken pictures of the marina and relaxing in the evening up on the bridge of Our Nauti Time.    Saturday evening found us sitting on the dock waiting for the boat light parade.  Big boats and little ...

Monday - Tuesday, December 6-7, 2021 (Pt. Tarpon Marina (Tarpon Springs, FL - Clearwater Harbor Marina, Clearwater, FL) We love this boat! But for those of you reading my blog who owns a boat knows that there is always something………. I will leave it at that.  Monday morning we arrived at ATW Marine Services to put the boat in the water, check the thrusters and make sure the generator was running.  The generator you ask what’s up with that.  Well, as we got into Tarpon Springs the generator would not stay running.  The mechanic checked it out and corrected several little issues.  Meanwhile, the air conditioner water discharge was plugged (all of a sudden) and wasn’t working.  The mechanic knew right away that there must be a clogged hose.  Sure enough he blew through the hose and dislodged the algae that was in it.  My wonderful air conditioners have been working just fine ever since.  LOL!!!  The first trial use of the bow thrusters was t...

  Friday - Sunday, December 3-5, 2021 (Tarpon Springs, FL (Courtyard Marriott) It has really felt good to relax, be on land, drive and play tourist for three days. Of course, the biggest news is that the thrusters part arrived on Friday and was installed.  SUCCESSFUL!!!!!  There are several other items we asked for the marine services to check/repair before leaving on Monday.  Hopefully it will all get done. We drove to Clearwater Beach to take a look at the two marinas that we will be at until mid January.  They both are beautiful but the beach marina is very busy with charter boats, no floating docks and tourists. The harbor marina is quiet and has floating docks which is more favorable.  Floating docks are so much better because of high and low tides and the movement.  We had to do some negotiating as you can only make reservations for one month and we will be in Minnesota a little over a month.  But Jim got it done.  LOL!!! While walking ...

Thursday, December 2, 2021    Crystal River, FL (Twin Rivers Marina) - Tarpon Springs, FL (ATW Marine Services) Good morning.  We are on our final ride where we will be in the great open water of the gulf. As we leave the marina with our looper buddy the water is incredibly low.  It’s slow going so that we don’t run aground.   Below is a picture of our buddy boat as we start to leave the channel into the gulf. We don’t get pictures of “Our Nauti Time” on the water very often and I thought that our buddy looper did a great job with this one. Once again it was stressful trying to dodge so many crab pots.  It took all four of us watching out and we still had severe very close calls.  In fact, as we were cruising very slow a crab pot surfaced directly in front of the boat.  Jim immediately powered down the engines and we slid over the pot. Once we spotted it behind us we powered up and slowly proceeded.  There was no evidence of damage or problem...

Wednesday, December 1, 2021 Crystal River, FL (Twin Rivers Marina) Good morning!!!!  At dinner last night we found out that our buddy looper (Long Recess) was going to stay here for two nights vs one.  Well, we aren’t going to venture out alone, especially after yesterday.  So, we are staying another night.     I can’t remember what “Plan” we are in now.  LOL!!!   It obviously was a relaxing day…. We stayed close to the boat most of the day and did the normal duties of washing the salt off the outside and I cleaned the inside. I even put dinner in the crock pot for a nice quiet evening.  It was dusk and we started to see hundreds of manatees swim upstream right next to the boat.  You can tell when they are getting closer by the circles in the water. Unfortunately, they quickly stick their head out of the water then submerge so it’s hard to get a good picture of one. This beautiful  sailboat came onto the gas dock in front of us.  As...

  Tuesday, November 30, 2021 (Steinhatchee, FL (Sea Hag Marina) - Crystal River, FL (Twin Rivers Marina) It’s sunrise and everyone is ready to get going.  After many discussions the night before, we found some loopers were going to anchor at Cedar Keys, FL (not exactly what we prefer) and one other boat was going further to Crystal River, FL.  As we checked the chart plotter and addressed the miles going forward, we decided to buddy with “Long Recess” to get us closer to Tarpon Springs, FL. Plus we will be in a marina with electricity.  It’s all about that electricity for us!!!! We were out of the marina for about an hour when we encountered the first grouping of crab pots. I am not going to lie as this day became one of the MOST stressful days that we have had.  For 7 hours we were constantly dodging crab pots. The worst thing about it is that some of them are dark in color that blend into the water.  Then we received communication from “Long Recess” that ...