Days 191

Tarpon Springs - Maderia Beach FL

• Start 7:00 AM
• End 11:08 AM
• Underway 4:05 Hours
• Distance 28 miles
• Total Miles on Trip 4111
• Av Speed 6.9 knots
• Weather Clear , 62 Degrees, Wind 4 Knts N

Maderia Beach is very bitter sweet for us. Mark & Karen (Kay Dee) crossed their wake here. While it is awesome and a great accomplishment for them, it means for now our time with them is over.

Our plan was for Kay Dee, Happiness Is (Amy & Rommel) and Nothing To Plunder to leave the dock at 6:30am. Once again Mother Nature had her own plans. At 6:00am the fog was very thick so we decided to delay our departure until it cleared. For the last time on their Great Loop Adventure both Kay Dee and Happiness Is cast their lines off. When they arrive at Maderia Beach both of them will cross their wake at the marina where they started their journey.

The marina does not have transient slips so we were not able to stay at there, but directly across from the marina there is a McDonalds with a small dock. The dock is for picking up food from McDonald's , and they will deliver your order to the dock, but we were told that many people spend the night there. We were able to walk to Kay Dee's slip. Mark & Karen's family and friends meet us at the dock to welcome them back. After toasting Kay Dee with champagne and changing their white burgee to a gold burgee (Signifying Completing The Great Loop) we moved on to doing the same for Happiness Is.

The docks at McDonald's do not have any services (i.e. no water or electric), but one perk is they are right next to a Publix Supermarket. It has been awhile since we did not have to worry about how much we bought and how we were going to get it to the boat.

On the other side of the marina is the Maderia Beach American Legion. Larry a Gold Looper who we met at Kay Dee's dock invited for drinks at The Legion. Rather than walking, we took the dinghy, and yes The Legion has their own docks.

Tomorrow we are heading to St Petersburg.