Boycott crab!

We have decided never to eat crab again. Into Tarpon Springs and then, all the way to Clearwater we dodged a few million crab pots. Each pot owner paints his pot bouys a different color and I curse the guy who chose sea-green as his color. I despise the ones who use too much line (leaving 20 feet floating around just below the water) and the ones who lay pots in a random pattern. There are so many pots I cannot imagine how a single crab lives through the season. The bouys are about the size of a grapefruit and very hard to spot if there is any wave action at all.

We are experiencing culture shock in Clearwater Fl. After several months in Alabama and the Panhandle the noise, cars and vast amount of people is overwhelming. Just coming into the pass with charter boats, tour boats, and other yachts was mind boggling. We are use to passing the occasional boat and waving. Here it was like a rush hour on the highway. Of course we were the old granny as the slowest boat. There are even intersections, but without lights, so you make your turns and hope the other guy is chicken. Lucky for us guys in expensive boats don't want to hit a cheap, old sailboat.

Jim and Abby have had more excitement. The painter on their dingy broke while they we anchored outside of Crystal River. The Sheriff's Dept.found it washed into a marina. Gary and Lisa (Ocean Spirit - 44') arrived in Clearwater this morning. I happened to look out and saw them approaching the marina and was ready at the dock to take their lines. We have been hopscotching with them since Port St. Joe. They were the experienced cruisers I commented on in an earlier blog when I said we wouldn't leave Carrabelle until they did. I lied. We left first and they waited two more days for a much more pleasant night out.

We took a walk this morning and met Skip and Rose, long time cruisers who have settled in Clearwater. Skip does some occasional work for Regal and as one thing leads to another, we were aboard a new Regal 4460 that Skip was commissioning and needed to move out of the marina. They gave us a water tour of Clearwater, then took the boat and us back to their home on one of the canals. They then drove us to West Marine to pick up a new battery for our extra dingy motor we bought in Carabelle (electric Saltwater Riptide trolling motor). Their cruising boat is a Westsail 32. Thank you Skip and Rose for an unexpected fun morning and all your hospitality!

We may leave the (expensive) marina and go on anchor until the next weather window (maybe on Wednesday) when we plan to sail to Egmont Key at the mouth of Tampa Bay.