St. Petersburg, FL

Day 124, December 3rd, 2009

Pancakes for breakfast since we had a little more time than usual!

Then we both did some chores. I ventured back into the quarter berth and reorganized some of the gear which had got into a big muddle. Then I cleaned and tidied up a bit. Meanwhile John went to get diesel fuel and refill the water jugs from the marina around the corner. The batteries were low so I decided to stay home and we had the engine on to recharge a bit. (The solar panel has been working well during the sunshine but it had been overcast, and then the fridge draws more power than the solar power puts out.) I was sitting reading my book in the cockpit when I heard a sudden big splash and woosh behind me. I turned around and saw all this turbulent water - at first I thought it could have been a dolphin but when I looked more closely I saw a big school of fish. The turbulent water was as much as 100ft across and going round and round in a clockwise direction. Fish, up to about 2 lbs. were jumping out of the water and going round and around. I've never seen anything quite like it before. I haven't got a clue what kind of fish they would have been - there must have been hundreds. Gradually the turbulence seemed to roll around the anchorage and gradually back out again!!! It was quite weird. John arrived back just before it was over. He also found it strange that the birds didn't seem to take any notice. No birds were diving in amongst them. Where were all the pelicans?

Once all the jobs were done, the 4 of us went off to the Boat Show. We had a good time! Bought a couple of little bits. New wine glasses, a silicone baking dish, some new cruising guides. What I really would have loved to have bought was a new Tom Cat 9.7!!!! (Designed and built in Canada!) Oh Yeah!!! Very very nice. Lots of room for the family to join us, there are 3 state rooms on this very roomy 32ft catamaran. It doesn't heel girls!!!! Only $200,000.00 and it would have lots of extras!!!!! Cough, cough, splutter!!!! The other boat we really liked was a dear little trawler - a Ranger Tugs R-29. A real little sweetheart. So comfortable and beautifully laid out! John talks about having a trawler even now. I'm not ready to give up sailing yet - maybe one day!!! It was a fun day. Some gorgeous boats but generally we thought the Toronto Boat Show had more exhibits.

With a stop at the grocery store on the way home, we didn't get back to the boats till nearly 7:00 p.m. I thought I'd write this up right quick while I've got the chance. No pictures yet I'm afraid - the internet connection it too slow, we'll have to add them later. John is at the chart plotter, plotting the course for tomorrow. The weather forecast doesn't sound too bad for tomorrow so we may push on to Venice. We'd like to make some headway as its getting close to Christmas and we have tickets home from Orlando on the 21st!