Hudson and Tarpon Springs

Everyone we left Carrabelle with traveled safely across the Gulf and docked in either Hudson or Clearwater.  Mary and John on Passport, Kerm and Chris on Southern Belle, and Maureen and Peter on Duddon Pilot arrived at Hudson at 4:45 am, 12 hours after we did.  We thought that their overnight passage would have been gentler than ours, as they stayed closer to shore, but they had to deal with waves and many crabpots.  We are all glad to have that experience behind us.

Mary Frances at Hudson:

Chris and Kerm on Southern Belle crossed their wake (finished the loop) here:

It's nice to know people who are familiar with the area, as you learn the best places to eat and where to watch the sunset:

We left Hudson Saturday, December 3, at about 7 am, on a falling tide.  We followed the long channel through a seagrass area out to deeper water and turned left.  Water was not bad until toward the end of our run, when a small chop developed.  We wouldn't have even felt it if we hadn't had to keep avoiding crab pots, so had to turn into and out of the waves.  After about an hour, we passed Anclote Key and turned into Tarpon Springs.

Anclote Key Light:

Greek sponge divers came to Tarpon Springs in the early 1900's.  The Greek food is wonderful and yes, sponge diving is still big business.

Not only are they sorting sponges on the boat, but look at all the bags of sponges on the dock:

A tribute to sponge divers.  There are sponges on the upper deck of the boat behind John.  Will we become accustomed to seeing Christmas decorations while wearing shorts?  We'll try hard!

Doesn't look very well balanced!

At the end of our walk, we went to Spring Bayou to see manatee. We saw about a dozen.

There is an actual bike trail here, so we're off for a ride.