Sarasota
to Dunedin – No Need to Rush: March 28 2018
Strong weather passing through our area in a
couple of days has us on the move from Sarasota a bit earlier than
desired but we will be back because there is more to see. There
was no need to leave at the crack of dawn for the five hour hop to St
Petersburg; however, our late morning start was longer than expected
because Mother Nature dropped a thick blanket of fog before the sun
came up (3/19). No joke – the Coast Guard closed Tampa Bay until the fog lifted at 11.15am. Once underway, the conditions on the waterway and on Tampa Bay were smooth and quiet…just how we like it. And perfect for making water underway. We passed under the impressive 175ft Sunshine Skyway Bridge with honks and toots from nearby boats. Hey – that’s m/v Fat Cat from Key West (the morning Thai food delivery gang). Hopefully, we will cross paths again in port since they are headed to Clearwater like us. It is fun to keep the cruiser coconut telegraph going through email, VHF and texts. As
we move north we refer to notes from Sean and Louise’s (m/v Vector)
trip this way last year and take our own notes for Bill and Louise’s
(s/v Andelen) future trip along this path. Once in St Pete we tied to mooring ball #19 in the Vinoy Basin at the Municipal Marina. My 12ft boat hook is still awesome but the oyster shell covered mooring line was a painful surprise as we attached to the ball. Wow – we are right in the thick of things! And the nearby shore lit up like a fairy land as night fell with trees wrapped in twinkle lights. I think we’re going to like it here.
We sorted ourselves out with a marina key to showers, bathrooms, laundry and dinghy dock as well as picked up a rental car. Marina amenities are all included in the $17/day mooring ball fee. The rental car is for exploring. There
are a number of areas ashore that we want to see but strong winds mean
that we will keep the boat in one place…instead, we'll explore via land. Our first exploration was 16 miles north to Safety Harbor (3/20). We learned about Safety Harbor from Cody at a fishing store in Key West. His recommendation was spot on. Chris found a cozy coffee shop while I strolled Main Street. There
are palms and live oaks, boutiques and antique stores and a varied
selection of watering holes from Irish pubs to barbeque with live music
and stools at a sidewalk window to Hawaiian shaved ice. Holy cow – and a granddaddy of a live oak smack in the middle of town. At over 300 years old this tree has seen a lot. Geez,
in 1718 Florida was sparsely populated with Spanish conquistadors and
Seminole Indians…a bit has certainly happened since then.
Our day started with a BIG Farmer’s Market (3/24). Holy guacamole – there are loads of fruits and veggies but not so much “craft” stuff. We prefer the fruit and veg markets and walked away with fixins for a Greek salad for dinner. Breakfast was from the empanada stand – yum! Chris
headed off to the Poker Room while I explored Central Street and all
its consignment shops, global eateries (including a SE Asian Hawker
restaurant) and murals. We reconvened aboard Barefeet for a quiet dinner of grilled steaks, baked potato and…farmer’s market Greek salad.
Weather
forecasts continue to show strong winds funneling into the St Pete
mooring field so we will keep to our plan and move along tomorrow for
the Clearwater area. Provisioning runs to top up the pantry and liquor cabinet were completed after a nice breakfast at Trips (http://tripsdiner.com/). Laundry
and the return of the rental car rounded out the afternoon before we
headed to Ferg’s Sports Bar to watch the Duke game in the current round
of March Madness (http://www.fergssportsbar.com/). Wow
– this is some kind of neighborhood sports bar; located beside Tropicana Park (home of Tampa Bay Rays), TVs everywhere (70+),
open air covered deck and bar, indoor bar, patio that can hold 3,000
people (pep rally venue – what sports bar doesn’t have that?!), dog
park (so you can have a beer while your dog plays), chandeliers and
disco balls hanging amongst road signs and twinkle lights. It is very festive…even if your team loses. Unfortunately, Duke lost and that is the end for their 2018 season.
This is just uncanny. It
is the third time this season that we have had a slow start due to
heavy fog…even though…previous days were clear as a bell (3/26). Huh?! That’s okay because it’s easier to make tomato, basil and cheese sandwiches for breakfast while at anchor. Plus,
distance to cover is just 5.5hrs which meant we could depart at Noon
and still be fine as we tucked back into Mandalay Channel for good
protection from strong winds expected later tonight. Off we went once the fog lifted - dropping the mooring lines at St Pete.
It was a leisurely motor through the barrier island protected waterway. Our
anchor was down at 3.30pm after seeing nothing less than 6.6ft (on a
rising tide) through the pass back to our anchorage in Mandalay Channel
where we anchored in 9ft. We lowered the dinghy, showered and headed into Clearwater. Yikes – there is no doubt that Spring Break has clearly sprung as we checked out the scene. The beach is packed! And we are definitely in the geezer-aged category of this population (tee, hee, hee).
Shoreside access is in short supply in Clearwater and Frenchy’s is one of the few ways ashore. No worries – that was our dining plan. You
see, the grouper sandwich has taken on almost mythic qualities on the
Gulf of Mexico where grouper used to be caught as big as Goliath and
slapped
around like sides of beef. It is a summertime memory etched in many a kid’s youth…and every summer ever after. The
sandwich is said to have been invented in the Tampa Bay area and
Frenchy’s is one of the few remaining places that still considers the grouper
sandwich to be a signature dish. There are a few Frenchy’s outposts but we headed to Frenchy’s Saltwater Café because that’s where the dinghy dock is (https://frenchysonline.com/). No need to mess around. We ordered two original grouper sandwiches; fried, beer battered, tartar, lettuce, tomato, American cheese, onion roll. You
know the American cheese they are talking about – the kind found
wrapped, individually, by clear plastic wrap (yep, old school). The sandwich was moist and tender without a hint of fishy-ness. It was delicious and has now made a memory for us. Of course, the bartender’s coconut margarita wasn’t bad either.
Our meal done we had the bar tender time stamp our dinghy parking ticket. No kidding, it’s only a two-hour limit. The
time limit is loose on a Monday (when we were there) but weekends are
more strict when they can have people circling the dock and 80-90 boats
come and go during the day for a meal. We exited out the
restaurant’s back porch and walked down the fishing boat dock to our
dinghy (yes, Frenchy’s owns a fishing fleet, too). The fish are delivered right there…steps from the kitchen. We chatted with the fisherman and got a few more details about the fishing process…not for the faint hearted. Each
boat heads out into the Gulf of Mexico for 10-14 days with a spool of
braided steel long-line totaling five miles in length and hooks are spaced
every thirty feet. When they return they are loaded with 8,000 - 9,000lbs of fish. We appreciated our sandwich even more after that chit chat. Thanks Frenchy’s and extended crew.
Every
new weather download shows our weather window for crossing the Gulf
shrinking and shrinking until it finally collapsed altogether. We stayed put for a lazy day aboard in Mandalay Channel – heck, we did not even lower the dinghy (3/27). We
read and I did some stitchery and Barefeet made some water; however, we
did manage to rally for a chicken tikka masala pizza for dinner.
Since we won’t be jumping across the Gulf today we have a few extra days to explore the area (3/28). We picked up the anchor and moved right around the corner to Dunedin. It was, literally, sixty minutes from anchor up to anchor down. Dunedin
(pronounced Dun-eeden) was founded by two Scotsmen in 1852 and the
Scottish heritage continues to be active today with the wildly popular, annual Highland
Games (now in its 52nd year). We
headed ashore and checked out the area with a pit-stop at the Coffee
& Bakery Company followed by a Mexican lunch at Casa Tina’s (https://www.casatinas.com/). These
folks are from Mexico and helped to launch the original Senor Frog’s in
Mazatlan so we knew we were in for a taste bud treat – ah, comfortingly
delicious. We collected maps and Jolly
Trolley schedules and will plan out the next few days until weather
improves for a boring crossing to Apalachicola – no pain, no pain. Plus,
the 37-mile Pinellas Rail Trail Bike Path passes through connecting
Tarpon Springs, Dunedin, St Pete, etc…maybe we’ll get on a bike (https://www.railstotrails.us/fl-pinellas-trail.html)?! We’ll percolate on these options but right now the sunset calls.
Cinnamon
Orange Bread
(aka Juice Pulp Quick Bread)
Ingredients
Nonstick
cooking spray, for spraying the loaf pan
2
1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1
1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1
teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2
teaspoon baking soda
1/2
teaspoon kosher salt
1/2
teaspoon ground cardamom, optional
3/4
cup packed light brown sugar
3/4
cup vegetable oil
1/2
cup granulated sugar
1
teaspoon vanilla extract
3
large eggs
Directions
1
1/2 cups fruit and vegetable pulp leftover from a juicer. Recipe writer used 1 cup berry/apple and 1/2
cup carrot, but any combination will work here. I used pulp from squeezing four oranges.
Preheat
the oven to 350 degrees F; spray a 9-by 5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking
spray (see Cook's Note).
In
a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda,
salt and cardamom if using.
In
another large bowl, whisk together the light brown sugar, vegetable oil,
granulated sugar, vanilla and eggs. Add the dry ingredients to the wet in 2
additions, folding together until just combined. Fold in the fruit and
vegetable pulp.
Pour
into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes
out clean, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Set aside until the pan is cool enough to
handle, then unmold the bread onto a wire rack to cool completely before
slicing.
Cook's
Note
If
you don't have a juicer, substitute 1 1/2 cups of any combination of finely
grated fruit and vegetables for the pulp. Alternatively, this can be made 1) in
a muffin tin - just reduce the baking time to about 20 minutes, or until a
toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean or 2) in three
mini-loaf pans – same amount of time (approx. 50 min) , or until a toothpick
inserted in the center of one comes out clean.