St. Petersburg and Pass-A-Grille

 You've probably been wondering where we are????

We docked in St Petersburg Municipal Marina at around 4 pm on the 15th!  What a beautiful locale, and Frank, the Dock Jockey is a delight! He hails from North Carolina but works in St. Pete for 5 months out of the year and then returns to North Carolina mountains for the hurricane season.

Thursday during the day we prepared Cady Girl for our guests - you know, vacuum, dust, make beds - same-o, same-o. After, the slave driver Captain finished washing the boat, we took a 3-mile bike ride to the hardware store.  I was not happy! It's too humid for this Oregonian.

Jan and Ray arrived around 5 having hitched a ride from the Tampa Airport with a young man, they met on the plane. They settled in and then we walked up to the Stillwaters Tavern on Beach Dr. NE.  Outdoor seating, lots of people watching and great food and drink.

The architecture and homes in St. Pete are beautiful and the flora and fauna are "bitchin", per Captain Don. St. Pete's is a very artistic, museum-oriented community, with music too.

Friday, we took the free Trolley around town and visited the Salvador Dali Museum. What an experience that was. The museum collection has over 2400 works by Dali, representing every stage of his career; and was featuring a special exhibit of Alberto Giacometti and Dali. It is the first time these two artists have been presented in a comparative setting in the United States.

In the afternoon, we took the tender over to a swimming beach.  Unbeknownst to us, boats are not allowed on Florida swimming beaches.  Luckily the police, did not give us a ticket!

We also walked to a sculpture of the first commercial airline as the 1st commercial flight was from St. Pete's to Tampa.  The mayor of St. Petersburg was the only passenger - $23 to go $25 miles.

Yesterday we motored just 12 miles over to Pass-a-Grille.  Thanks, ML, for telling us about this beautiful spot. Pass-a-Grille is a small beach town at the south end of St. Pete's Beach and lies on a barrier island.

The beach and water were perfect; the marina leaves a little to be desired, but the dock hand Damon was exceptional and fun!

Last night we walked down to Red White and Booze for drinks and dinner. Ray loved his shrimp & grits and Jan loved her Caribbean Rice Bowl. Don had crab cakes - how unusual and I had coconut shrimp.

We walked to the beach and swam each day, and this morning we walked to the Seahorse Restaurant for breakfast!

PS - Jan said they're enjoying the trip - we're not working them too hard!

We will leave in the morning for our next port!  Happy Sunday.

Had to have bridges open on the Intracoastal

Art Museum
Jan and Ray had to send this to their oldest granddaughter Charlotte
Marina at night
Weirest building to house a Tiki Bar


We all loved Dali's mustache



Waiting for the Free Trolley

Trolley sign

First Commercial Airline

Cool tree in DT - 50 years old
Jan & Ray - 1st night
The ride over to Pass-a-Grille
Pass-a-Grille beach
Beach Time

Cute wall
Breakfast at the Seahorse





















































































































































































































































.  Some of the whitest sand we've seen in a long time.



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