Thanksgiving Boat Trip Day 6 - Where to Now?

    We had a decision to make. Stay here another day or make a slight move North to either Caladesi Island or Tarpon Springs which put us a little closer to home & give us a change in scenery.  In the meantime I ducked out of the boat & headed to the shower. There was a huge parade of crows flying north all squawking to each other. Not sure what they were doing or where they were going but in either direction they were as far as they eye could see. When I exited the shower building they were still going by but there numbers had dwindled.

    Always something to fix. I decided to take a look at the stove gas control. One of the controls froze when making Thanksgiving dinner. The stem would push up & down but wouldn’t turn. I researched parts thinking I would need a new control. I went to YouTube and watched a video on a similar Force 10 Stove.  It was a different model but the main parts were the same. The controller can be taken apart & maintained simply by removing the 2 screws on the face of the valve, taking the stem & spring out, removing the center piece & greasing the parts. Unfortunately it seemed like the only way to access the valve screws on mine was to remove the stove, flip it over & take the valve out from the back. No way. I removed the knobs and shot some light oil around the valve....success. Worked like a charm. I did the other as well, now both burners work & actually much smoother.

    The girls showed up at the boat around 9am so we could go get some breakfast. As we were heading down the dock a guy say’s hello, holds out his hand for a fist bump & says “I’m Captain Dave”. I introduced myself & the family & we struck up a conversation. It was apparent this might take awhile as the conversation turned to what else? Boats. The girls wanted to stop at the farmer’s market in Dunedin square so I told them I’d catch up to them. Capt. Dave was the proud owner of a new to him single screw 2008 Heritage East trawler named Bravo Zulu. He waited 5 years for a slip in Dunedin. Residents get a pretty sweet deal on slips and are allowed full time slips. I asked Capt. Dave what engine he had? Cummins, the conversation got longer. I had 2 of them in my last boat and learned a lot about them. I turned him on to my buddy at Seaboard Marine. “Go to his website and read Tony’s Tips”. I was just ready to step away when he said “Hey, this is Suzy the girl doing my canvas work, she is top notch!” The conversation continued as I needed a new enclosure up top on Pau Hana. She said “Can I look at it?”, sure. She explained how she would set it up and I got her card. We have 2 excellent canvas shops in my area but neither will do “boat calls” anymore. They strictly do work out of the shop. It seems the only way I’ll be able to get my top done is to set it up next time we come to the area & perhaps leave the boat down here. We’ll see.

    By the time I stepped away from the dock talk & called the crew, they were ready to meet at the restaurant. We met up at the Crown & Bull which has excellent food. Their breakfast menu is fantastic.

    We finished up & walked back to the boat to say goodbye to the girls so they could make their way home & we could get ready to motor out. We decided to go to Caladesi for the night. Beth called to make sure we could get a slip. No chance, all full for the holiday weekend. OK, let’s try Marker 1, which is at the Dunedin Causeway. No again, no slips. We were all ready, everything stowed & generator running but no place to go. We walked over to the marina office to see if we could stay 1 more night. The dock master said our slip had a reservation with a question mark by it, so it might be. He said he would see if he could get a confirmation and we should check back in 15 minutes or so. Just as we got back to the boat a cruiser pulls up. I ask the couple “Jenkins?”, “yes” they replied, “thought so, this is your slip, we are just pulling out”. We explained our predicament and I helped them tie up in the slip next to us while I went to the marina office. We had no choice now but to leave. Our options dwindled. We motored out to the Intercoastal. It was too late in the day for the 9 hour trip home. We contemplated anchoring out but with no dingy we would be stuck on the hook. Not a huge deal, we had food, water, electricity, it was just that there was a lot of daylight left. We finally decided, what the heck, it’s going to add time to the Saturday trek but we’ll go to Clearwater Beach and stay there. We called them with fingers crossed. “Good thing you called, you got the last slip” the girl replied. “OK, we’re on our way”.

    There are several ways to get into Clearwater Beach Marina, and it is simple to navigate. It is about the only fuel dock in the area and between that, the locals, tour boats, fishing boats and cruisers, it can be pretty busy. We had been here before & familiar with the layout so the slip was easy to find (and it was the only vacant one). Both of the Clearwater municipals use an app called Dockwa. My communications Engineer downloaded it when we first called the Clearwater Harbor Marina so we had it for this reservation. Once you find the marina you want, you make a reservation and it is sent to that marina via email & you get a confirmation back. 

Crowded Clearwater Beach

    We had fun walking the beach and stopped into a couple of beachfront establishments. Except for all the masks on the streets, shops and bars, you wouldn't know there was COVID-19, although the crisis has made outside activities like boating, camping, beaches and parks more appealing.  We finished up the evening with yes...another sunset (never gets old) and dinner on the boat.

What's a sunset without a pirate ship?

   We had to hit the rack a little early since we needed to be out of the slip and steaming North by 7 am if we wanted to make Crystal River before dark.