Thursday October 27: Tarpon Springs - No Need to go to Greece!!

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Leaving Crystal River Monday morning was the start of a nice 9 hour run to Tarpon Springs. We were finally able to travel a relatively close 8 miles from shore and the shallow water begins to more closely follow the shoreline as we continue to move south.

The tide was high which assures we won't be running aground - unless of course I veer off channel :-) And the wind was from the NNE so we had a little push from that as well.




The channel out was a combination of marsh grasses, palm trees and lots of wildlife. We are still waiting for our first alligator sighting though.

Maybe tomorrow ...

The inlet to Tarpon Springs looks like all of the other ones we've been  through. A bunch of red and green markers - stay in the middle - watch the depth finder so we know the minimum tide level for us to leave ....

This is the third time we've been here but it is still fun to see the Greek writing everywhere and the gentlemen in the restaurant next to us speaking Greek. I mean, seriously, do I ever need to go to Greece?

Lots of stores around selling sponges of course and lots of restaurants serving Greek food (which by the way I have come to the conclusion I do not like!)


Steve of course wore his Greek hat everywhere :-)

Not sure what he world have done if anyone had started speaking Greek to him!
















Lunch the first day was charbroiled octopus and moussaka. Steve loved it - I passed on after a taste.



I was on the hunt for an oyster po boy. Always thought it sounded interesting so I scouted around on the internet and found Rusty Bellies - just around the corner from our marina. We actually passed it on the way in on the boat.


It was quite good! Very lightly breaded oysters with a dill sauce on the side.

And because this is a tourist town, there are many opportunities for photo ops :-)







There are some really nice park areas around town plus a really nice bike trail called the Pinellas Trail. It's 37 miles and runs from St. Petersburg north to Tarpon springs.

Along it's path (only a mile from the boat) was Toula's Cafe! Having seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding, we just HAD to go there for breakfast!

It was very good :-)

By Thursday, we moved on. This time to Caladesi State Park.

Entrance to Caladesi State Park

The entrance into the mangroves gives an idea of what this place is like!

More in a couple of days ....