We left Sarasota on Monday morning 4/5, bound for Clearwater where Barb’s cousin Becky lives. We arrived in the afternoon following a delightful day on the water. Travel inside via the ICW is interesting, lots of small boat traffic, but much of the waterway is slow speed. That doesn’t have a big impact on our travel, since we’re nearly always traveling at slow speed! But it does mean the sport fish and Sea Ray jocks have to slow down, so it forces courtesy on their part, typically the only way for most! They enjoy a much-deserved bad rep for their arrogance.
Clearwater is home to a large faction of the Scientology cult. They own much of the real estate in the area, and their (sometimes questionable) influence in local government is widely documented. An online search about local influence and the cult in general makes for interesting if not outrageous reading. They call it religion, an assertion I find as far-fetched as the writings of commodore Ron.
We stayed in the Municipal Marina, home to many commercial charters, so there’s always lots of activity as the charter boats come and go several times a day. It’s busy, but interesting, and the marina is close to lots of the activity at Clearwater Beach. The beach is very nice, there’s a long Beachwalk and Pier 60, where sunset festivities take place each night. Street performers, vendors, lots of activity! It’s fun for a bustling change of pace. The public facilities there are meticulously maintained, the parks and walks rival any we’ve seen in our travels, and the only place we’ve visited where we witnessed parks service staff wiping down the outside of the trash bins! We had a visit from cruising acquaintances from the T&T list, Randy & Cindy who live in Clearwater and cruise aboard their Krogen Manatee, Morning Star. We met briefly at a TrawlerFest in Solomons, and it was great to have them aboard for a visit. Randy armed us with some “local knowledge” about Pelican Pass, more on that later!
A visit with Becky gave us a local guided tour, enabled us to do heavy re-provisioning and top off propane. We finished with a tour of her new home which is situated on the ICW. It’s a delightful spot, she has a view of the water from several rooms in her house! The dogs enjoyed the opportunity to hang out on the lawn while we visited, and cousins caught up on family news.
We left Clearwater Thursday morning for St. Petersburg where courtesy of Uncle Glen, we had a slip reserved for us at St. Pete Yacht Club where he’s a member. Another warm sunny day for a delightful cruise.
