Reunion

We let go of mooring ball number one in Sarasota at our habitual 7:00 a.m. again.  At the same time "Safari" was departing.  They followed us for the day wanting to learn more about good anchorages.  They travel in their boat every winter from the Tarpon Springs area to Marathon, but always stop at marinas.  Just as we have learned, that can get expensive, so we prefer anchoring out and going to shore to spend our money.


Just thought this church spire was pretty sticking above the trees.

We had to stop for fuel, dinghy gas and take on water, so we stopped at Madiera Beach Municipal Marina for that.  That stop took about a half hour for us.  "Safari" continued on, but ended up waiting for us near the entrance to the anchorage at Redington Shores.
Once we were secured and got our dinghies down we went over to the fish market to get some delicious fish dip.  I had never been through the back way, so to smell that fish smoking was wonderful.  Willard was already excited to learn these things, so Linda pointed out a few of the other places that could be accessed from right there.
We brought our fish dips back to the boats then headed to Indian Rocks Beach via dinghy.  It ended up taking 50 minutes just because of the mostly Minimum Wake Zones to get there.  On the way we pointed out all of the restaurants that were accessible by boat, joking about how we were passing so many to get to the one we wanted in Largo.  Once we were tied to the free docks at Indian Rocks Beach we immediately were greeted by Bob and Barbara from "The Bar-B" who were right next door at Holiday Inn Harbourside, where they have spent the last three winters.  It has been two years since we cruised with them.  After hugs were had and introductions were made we headed off to walk to Mike's Pizza which we had been talking about and craving to get to, again laughing with Willard and Barbara as we walked by many restaurants to instead go about a mile to our favorite.  I have to say it was worth it though.  Scott, Ray's friend from childhood met us there via his motorcycle.
I think we had already scared Willard and Barbara telling them that we did not know what time we might return to the boat, therefore they had taken their own dinghy.  They departed after dinner to let the rest of us catch up and visit with each other, which was very nice, so they went on ahead.  The remaining four of us walked back across the bridge to PJ's restaurant, which is now across the street from where it used to be.  A lot of things had changed in Indian Rocks Beach since we had been there last, a year and a half ago.  Scott rode his motorcycle over.  No one was brave enough to ride with him.  Barbara's daughter Heidi met us there once she got off of work.  Lots of laughs and catching up made for a fun evening.
We headed back to the dinghy shortly after 9:00 p.m. knowing we had an even longer ride back in the dark.  We also did not want a late night because we were most likely going to head out to cross the Gulf of Mexico tomorrow if the weather held up as predicted.