Thursday - Sunday, January 13-16, 2021 (Clearwater Harbor Marina, FL)

Our Maple Grove, MN buddies, Betty and Al Mayers flew in for a long weekend in the sun and some relaxing.  Perfect timing as Minnesota was cold and expecting more snow. We are excited to show them the area, have good food and drink and play 500. 

It was great to take the trolley to Clearwater Beach to walk the beach and try the liquid beverages along the way.







It was beautiful walking Pier 60 in the sun.


After enjoying some great dinner and wine we walked back to the boat to take in the lights on the water.




Our plans are to leave Clearwater Harbor marina on Saturday and stay at Gulfport Marina.  But as always, owning a boat means that you need to be flexible.  After checking the forecast, we found that a severe storm was headed to the west coast of Florida with swells projected to be 15-20 feet and severe thunderstorms.  The Gulfport Marina has stationary docks which means that when you tie your boat to it you must allow enough line to go up and down for high and low tides.  If this storm is going to be a fierce as the forecasters are saying, it could be an extremely bumpy ride in the slip.  So, after a lot of discussion we decided to stay at Clearwater Harbor where the docks are floating and we can tie the boat tighter in case of strong winds. The marina is classified as a very safe marina during strong winds. 

We had a great dinner in downtown Clearwater and enjoyed our last evening with friends.  At 6:00 a.m. all of our phones went off with tornado warning in the immediate area.  It didn’t take long for the massive storm to hit us.  The wind gusts were reported to be at least 65 mph at the marina.  This storm covered the southwest coast of Florida.  Reportedly five tornados touched down, one within half a mile from us.  Thankfully there was no damage at our marina but we know of damage south of us.  Hopefully all of our buddy loopers were safe.  The weather continued to be very windy, rainy and unseasonably cold all day.  

But all good things must come to an end and Betty and Al needed to get to the airport.  Such a great long weekend with great friends.  








 


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