Stats for Friday, November 30, 2018

Origin: Clearwater Beach

Destination: St Pete Beach

Distance: 21.3 miles

Speed: 7.6 mph

Time on the Move: 2 hours and 47 minutes

This was such a beautiful day at the beach, it was difficult to think about leaving. So instead we packed up and headed for the beach…again. We tried hard to talk ourselves into staying just one more day, but we knew we needed to move on.

Our next stop was at the home of Mike and Leann Rowe, former loopers who live right along the route and welcome loopers to their dock as they pass through town. The Rowes were heading out of town the next day and we knew we wanted to meet with them and visit before they left.

Again, the trip down the ICW was filled with bridges that we wondered if we could fit under. Luckily we did fit under all of them. We found some cool spots, tucked away, that made us think “hmmm we should stop there and check it out” but we kept moving on.

The Rowes have a great set up for coming in to their dock. They send explicit directions on how to arrive safely and avoid shoaling, complete with a map, and then when you are almost there, you call them on the vhf radio and they talk you all the way in. They have a great set up with lines that move automatically according to the tide, so you don’t have to worry about watching your lines. They also have green lights at the end of their dock so you can watch the birds fish off the dock all evening long instead of working on blog posts like you know you should. We saw lots of fish swimming around down there and it was too cool to watch the birds fish.

As soon as we were tied up, The Rowes invited us in to check out their home and have a “we made it” cocktail. They even let the kids inside!! It is clear our kids have forgotten how to behave in a house, and that was a bit troubling for Mike and I, but after they touched every Christmas ornament and jumped on every couch cushion a few times, they finally settled in and watched some cartoons while the adults talked.

The Rowes looped in 2016-2017 and had infinite amount of wisdom and tips to offer us about the loop and boating in general. We now know where to stay that includes beer with slip rental, that catfish really do have barbs they will stick you with when you fish, and how to catch fish as we cross over to the Bahamas. After chatting for a few hours, it was time to put our kiddos to bed, so we quick fed them and tucked them in. And then I promptly started bird watching from my favorite seat on the sundeck while I should have been blogging. It was hard to go to sleep with all that entertainment right there outside our windows. And it was so peaceful. What an amazing location with a beautiful view. Many thanks to the Rowes for being such amazing hosts and offering their dock to loopers.

The next morning we headed off to check out St Pete Beach. Ironically, one of Mike’s college roommates, Paul, lives in Tampa and happened to be staying in St Pete Beach right down the road from us with his wife, Elaine, for the weekend while they cheered on friends and family in a Crossfit competition. We wanted to catch up and the fact that they were staying at a hotel with a pool and a beach bar was an added bonus. We haven’t seen Paul and Elaine for almost 4 years when they joined us for “kids’ day” at our family cousin camp vacation week. It was great to catch up and talk about life with Paul and our kids loved the awesome pool. Plus, with the competition going on, there was a lot of entertainment on the beach including a few bounce houses for the kids. Our kiddos made fast friends with some of the others and played for most of the day. After a few hours on the pool deck and watching the bounce house bounce around in the sand, we had pizza dinner and walked back to the boat at The Rowes’ house.

We enjoyed ourselves at Postcard Inn so much that we went right back the next day. Despite the fact that the big Crossfit beach competition wasn’t going on anymore, there was still quite a crowd around the pool and at the beach bar. What a cool spot. Colin and Hayley played pool for a few hours (yes! that long!) so Mike and I enjoyed swimming with Tobin and he was even treated to a kiddie pina colada on one of our trips to the beach bar.

In the mid-afternoon we were joined by the Zeeffs who brought Living the Dream to The Rowes’ house to tie up next to our boat. It was lots of fun for kids and adults to all hang at the Postcard Inn. After dinner out we headed back to the boats and put the sleepy swimmers to bed while the adults watched the birds fish off the dock.

The next day my mom showed up mid morning with my Aunt Lynn and Aunt Marti who were visiting her in Ellenton. It was great to see my aunts because it has been quite a while and they are excellent company. It was also fun to see all the Brown family sisters together. We gave the ladies a tour of the boat and then went out to eat. Afterwards Mom let us borrow her car to run some errands and she went home with the aunts. It was so nice to spend some time with my aunts and have them hang with my kiddos for a bit. I only wish it could have been longer, but we had lots of errands to run, so off we went…

Thanks for following along!!