NOVEMBER 12, 2006 CAPTAIN'S LOG

Sunday morning we awoke to overcast skies and wind. The weather report was calling for 5 to 6 foot waves in the Gulf, but a moderate chop in the ICW and Tampa Bay. We let the morning dew and fog burn off and the skies to clear before leaving Clearwater at 10:00am...it also gave us time for another great breakfast.
The trip to St. Pete is about 40 miles by boat and 18 miles by car; but the scenry by boat is much better. We cruised out of Clearwater into the ICW which took us the full length of Clearwater beach to St. Pete beach, into Tampa Bay and up to St. Pete. The cruise was a mixture of multi-million dollar homes, undeveloped areas, and white beaches. There were a number of no wake zones so the 40 miles took us about 3 hours. The crew was busy trying to figure where we were and where we were going. Probably one of the neatest things we encountered was a floating chapel that could be brought to your site for a wedding. What a unique idea.
The St. Pete skyline is beautiful from the water, but a little tricky to find the marinas in the three basins. Once in the center basin we made our way to the St. Pete Yacht Club; one of our best stops. A couple of young dock hands met us and helped us tie up. The young guy seeing Dean's OSU tee shirt announced he had tickets to the OSU-Michigan game and was leaving Thursday for Columbus. This seemed to be more important to Rob and Dean than getting the boat to the dock. The club is beautiful and is definitely old money.
The club is located right in the middle of town and was hosting a car show. They had a great selection of US and foreign old cars; close to 200. The two butts are inspecting a 1939 Lincoln Zepher that recently sold for $250,000. The 1974 TR 6 is like the one I owned until Stephanie got her drivers license and we sold it to keep peace in the family. She figured it would be her car to tool around in.
Following the car show, we made our way to the Rib Fest on the Bay. This is a "little" bigger than the annual Findlay event. The Rib venders were from all over the US and Australia. All were national and regional champions. Add to this live music, 80 degree weather, 30 or 40 other booths and you have a party on the bay. We split up and bought ribs from 3 different vendors and washed them down with really cold beer. Our winner was a company called "Pork and Beans" from Northeast Ohio.
Tomorrow Dean and Terri leave us we will make our way to Long Boat Key. We really need to spend more time in St. Pete.