29 Mar 13

Weather forecast for the next 3 days still looks pretty good, so we have decided to go for Tarpon Springs, planning to depart just after noon. We fueled up and took off by 13:00. The wind was on the nose, so we motored all afternoon and evening. At 14:00 local time, we executed a flag signal memorial tribute and whisky toast to E.E. (Dick) Readshaw, the late father of our good friend John Readshaw. The ceremony was timed to coincide with the commitment of Dick’s ashes to Cadboro Bay (off Victoria, BC) by the Readshaw clan. The flag signals read:

ECHO / 1ST SUBSTITUTE / ROMEO - (EER)

BRAVO / ZULU - (signal code for “Well Done”)

PAPA / YANKEE / UNIFORM - (signal code for “Bon Voyage”)

After dinner, I took the first night watch 19:00 to 23:00 (then switched to EDT - so, 24:00), and witnessed a perfect moonrise - about 3 days past full.

30 Mar 13

Then, Terri got up and stood the 00:00 to 04:00 watch - a new experience for her. I came back on at 04:00 - 08:00 and saw a beautiful sunrise. The wind got up to about 15 knots at about 10:00, still smack on the nose of course, and bounced me out of bed, so we started sailing. We beat into the wind all day until about 16:00, when the wind slacked off and we started motoring again for the rest of the day. While we were still sailing, about 14:00 or so, we were visited by a pod of about 20 dolphins, who spent about 45 minutes cavorting about, running from one boat to the other and back, body surfing in our bow waves, scratching their backs on the keels and just showing off. It was fascinating. Later, a sea turtle - about 2.5 feet in diameter - swam by and checked us out; that was a first, but I was not quick enough to get a photo or get Terri up from below to see it. We did the same watch plan overnight again.

31 Mar 13

It was very damp on the boat this night and colder; I had on 7 layers and was still cold. Terri did the midnight watch and saw thunderstorms on the western horizon, but none near us, thank goodness. After sunrise, we were closing the coast and started cruising through hundreds of crab pots; we had planned to arrive about 5 miles out after sunrise, just so we could see the crab pots and it was a good thing we did, because I had to dodge lots of them. We finally made it in to the Tarpon Springs city marina about 10:30; 227 N-m, 46 hours, two nights offshore - cool. The Admiral bore up very well - we’ll make a sailor of her yet. After a quick clean-up, we went with Sam and Pat for brunch at Costas, then back to the boat for a clean-up and a nap. Later, we walked around town and had an early dinner at Mykonos Cookery - great meal. Tarpon Springs is the self-proclaimed sponge capital of the world. The place is full of Greek restaurants and sponge shops; a whole bunch of Greek sponge divers moved here in 1905 and you still hear loads of people speaking Greek on the street. The whole place has the feel of a Greek fishing village in the Aegean; sidewalk cafes, white-washed buildings and walls, Greek food and coffee everywhere.