3/20/09

Blues Festival in St Pete, Fl

St Pete waterfront

When we cruised into St Petersburg downtown one weekend in March 2005, we were thrilled to find a charming waterfront city hopping with activities. The waterfront is lined with marinas, galleries, shops and restaurants. If you are looking for arts and culture, you came to the right place. Several museums including the famed Salvador Dali, a couple of theatres and a university (University of South Florida) are all located in and around the downtown area.

We anchored at the Vinoy Basin anchorage. With friends and relatives living in the vicinity, we made arrangements to see them and re-provisioned. We enjoyed the area so much fun we stayed a whole week. Over the weekend, smack in the middle of the
Vinoy Basin, St Pete downtown
Blues Festival
and with friends on board, our trusty generator died. Talk about great timing. The fun stops when you cannot charge the batteries to run the computer, TV, refrigerator, A/C, etc, etc. The list goes on and on. We can go to a marina to plug in every night, but that gets to be prohibitively expensive (think of paying hotel prices every day).
We discussed our options and reluctantly kissed New Orleans goodbye. Our cruising plan was to spend the winter in SW Florida, spring in the Florida Panhandle and New Orleans, Louisiana. For the summer, we would cruise back to Mobile Bay and head up the inland waterway to Mississippi or Tennessee. So much for planning.

Guess all good things must come to an end some time. We searched frantically for a marina. There weren't many to choose from, as most had been bought out by developers and they had them turned into dockaminiums. We were lucky to find a space at Tierra Verde Resort and Marina. It was a relief to hear it is in a hurricane hole; we have managed to dodge Hurricanes Dennis, Frances, Jeanne, Rita and Wilma last year. 

As it turned out, St Pete was an excellent place to spend the hurricane season. We had a car to get around as it was stored at a relative's place. The marina is a mere ten minutes from Fort DeSoto Park, which by the way, was voted to be America's number 1 beach in 2005.

As for the generator, we got a Northern Light 6KW installed after the hurricane season was over. It runs great, and is pretty quiet compared the 16 year-old Westerbeke we had.

St Pete is hosting the annual Tampa Bay's Blues Festival this weekend. If you are in this neck of the woods, come and discover St Pete for yourself!


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3/17/09

Greed is bad

The economic downturn is taking a toll on America. People are losing their jobs and homes. The last time I remember it to be this bad was in 1981, when Reagan first took office. I was oblivious to the economic woes at the time as I was barely out of college, and didn't have any savings to begin with. This time around, I'm in the thick of it. Anybody who owns a house or 401K will know exactly what I mean.

Florida has the highest foreclosure rate after California. How did all this happen? We can lay the blame on Bush, Greenspan, the banks, the mortgage companies, the home builders, and ourselves. The bottom line is we were all greedy, and most people bought more house than they can afford. In the 80s, people had to put 10 to 20 percent down on their homes. Before the housing bust, you could have bought a house with no money down. So, is it any surprise then that when the going gets tough, the owners just walk away from their homes? What have they got to lose? What were the bankers thinking? Especially the banks that own the second mortgage or the equity line?
I could go on and on and get depressed about the whole situation. Instead, I will focus on the nice weather that recently descended on Florida. After months of cold front blowing through, the weather finally got warm enough for some beach time. This past Sunday, we went to the lovely Anna Maria Island. We got there early for some peace and quiet before the crowd of families came. It felt good to have the sun on my back, listen to the soothing ocean waves lapping against the shore, and just let my cares melt away...

That same evening, around 7:45pm, we happened to be looking out our window across the street when suddenly a bright orange ray of light shot up above the roof of our neighbor's house. We ran out the door to stare in awe at NASA's shuttle Discovery. It had lifted off a mere two minutes ago from the Kennedy Space Center, on the Atlantic side of Florida. Boaters go to that area in the hope of seeing a launch. Here, we just happened to look out the window. How lucky are we? We later learned that the seven-member crew is delivering the final set of power-generating solar array wings and a new crew member to the International Space Station.

All things considered, we are grateful to be alive and well, with family and friends, and to be living in this great country. All this pain we are feeling now will soon pass. We will be strong once again.


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3/1/09

Best Beach in America: Caladesi Island State Park

Updated: 6/16/23
Shelling at Caladesi Island State Park
The Florida Gulf Coast is blessed with miles of coastline with many beautiful beaches. In any given year, you can find two in the Clearwater/St Petersburg/Sarasota area ranking in the top ten. Last year (2008), Dr Beach named Caladesi Island State Park in Dunedin/Clearwater to be the number one beach in America. Dr Beach is Dr Stephen Leatherman, Director of Florida International University’s Laboratory for Coastal Research. Every year, he evaluates and rates beaches all over the world and comes up with a list of the top 10 beaches in America. This year, Caladesi ranks number 4. Click here to see the list.
Boaters beware. Entrance is shallow!
Parking along the road to Honeymoon Island State Park
Kayaks for rent
Caladesi Island is only accessible by boat, your own or by ferry. We visited Caladesi Island one Sunday in May. It was exciting and entertaining to watch the flurry of activities at the marina - the captains docking their boats, a lady in high heels (!!!) on a fancy boat trying to throw a line, kids fishing and kayakers paddling. One enthusiastic boater told us that on July 4, so many people hung out on the aluminum docks that they practically went under the water!
Leaving Clearwater for Caladesi Island
Ferry to Caladesi Island
The beach was packed all afternoon, but by 6 pm, the tourists were gone and all was quiet. Except for a few boaters, the beach and park were pretty much deserted. It was low tide when we took a walk on the beach. Oh my, were we in for a treat! Lots of beautiful shells - mostly Florida fighting conchs and turret shells - were waiting for us. 

On the way back to the marina, we even saw a turtle.
 
If you love a tranquil beach surrounded by nature, come and explore Caladesi Island. You won't be disappointed.

For more info on Caladesi Island State Park, click here.

This post is shared on Skywatch Friday Through My Lens and image-in-ing.