Days 198 - 200

Tampa Bay Municipal Marina - The Club @ Treasure Island

Start 8:10 AM
End 12:00 PM
Underway 3:40 Hours
Distance 30 Miles
Total Miles on Trip 4179
Av Speed 8.4 knots
Weather Partly Cloudy , 75 Degrees, Wind 7 Knts S

Once again we had to wait for the fog to lift before we could depart Tampa. I think Matt & Ilene brought the fog with them. We have not had fog recently until they shown up! Once the fog lifted it was another short easy trip. (Very easy for me, Matt did a lot of the driving). We did see a few dolphins but for some reason they do not play in our wake, like they do with some of our friends.

The Club, was not our first choice of marina's. We wanted to go to Maderia Beach (one town up from Treasure Island) but we could not find any available slips. This weekend is the Maderia Beach Lighted Boat Parade, and that may be why nothing was available. One of the dockmaster told us to call "Anthony" he could get us a slip. One phone call later and we had a slip, the small problem was I had no idea where it was. I ended up Googling the phone number to find the marina. The Club use to be Treasure Island Yacht Club. I was very confused on if it is a Yacht Club or public marina. Everyone you asked gave me a different answer. Either way it was a nice facility. They have tennis courts, pool, and two restaurants on site.

One down side to Treasure Island is we wanted to explore John's Pass. Instead of being able to walk there we had to Uber. John's Pass reminds me of going to the Jersey Shore. The main attraction is the boardwalk. Instead of overlooking the beach it overlooks the inlet. There are plenty of bars, restaurants and stores to go shopping in. We also saw more alligators in John's Pass then we have the entire trip. Okay so we only saw two alligators before now, and we went to the Alligator & Wildlife Discovery Center to see them. It was interesting but not what we thought. We expected more of an Educational/Conservation setting, not a hokey touristy attraction, but we saw lots of alligators.

The highlight of John's Pass, was when Angel asked to go to Home Depot. (Normally she will do anything to avoid Home Depot) The faucet on the back deck sink broke, and she wanted a new one. I got an added bonus, there was a West Marine right next door to the Home Depot.

Installing the new faucet was probably the quickest repair I have done on the boat yet. Matt and I replaced it, in under 15 minutes. Boat repairs NEVER go that quick or easy.

Clearwater Harbor is our next stop. We will be spending a month in Clearwater before we start heading to Key West. Most Loopers stay in Florida all winter. After Clearwater we will spend a month making our way to Key West and then we will stay there for a month also.