Jolly Old St. Petersburg

• Christmas at Saint Petersburg Florida *

Upon our return to Clearwater Beach we learned of a cold front developing and bringing strong winds on the day we were moving to St. Pete. We gathered with a few looper friends for our last docktails at the beach and departed for St. Petersburg a day early.

We cruised 38 miles through the intracoastal to St. Pete averaging 8 mpg. There was much more to see and channel markers to watch for than most of trip so far. We cruised past beautiful homes, and the Don CeSar at St. Pete Beach, one could not miss the bright pink huge hotel.

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According to Wikipedia, The Don Cesar was opened in 1928, it was the playground in the Gulf for America’s pampered rich at the height of the Jazz Age. Thomas Row purchased 80 waterfront acres in 1924 for $100,000 to begin his dream of building a pink castle. He hired Indianapolis architect Henry Dupont. At a cost of 1.25 million to build, it hosted 220 rooms. It is named after Don CeSar de Bazan, the hero of William Vincent Wallace’s opera Maritana.

The rich and famous frequented the hotel until the sudden death of Rowe in 1940 without a will, “The Don” was left to his estranged wife and fell into disrepair until the United States entered into World War II and the hotel was bought by the Army for $450,000. It was converted into a military hospital and reopened in 1942, in 1944, a convalescent center for the United State Army Air Corps, and in 1945 it was converted to a Veterans Administration office until they vacated in 1969. It was to be razed but was met with fierce opposition from locals. In 1972, a Holiday Inn franchise owner purchased the property and reopened it in 1973. Many renovations between 1985 and 2001 have updated and added onto the hotel and it now boasts the title of The Don Cesar Beach Resort and Spa and is on the national register of historic places. You certainly can’t miss it when traveling through!

We fared well on our pre-storm travel day, Tampa Bay was a bit choppy but nothing uncomfortable and we were tucked in safe to our slip by 2:00, just in time for a stroll with drink in hand through the beautiful St. Pete Pier at dusk and prior to dinner.

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We battened down the hatches in preparations for the storm that was to build overnight and continue through the next day. Small craft and rip tide warnings were announced for much of the west coast of Florida. We experienced very little rain and wind overnight, we kept waiting and nothing. We had some rain and light wind the following day, but nothing like what was predicted. We did learn from fellow loopers and the news, the storm went south of us and wreaked havoc in the Port Charlotte / Punta Gorda area. A handful of boats were pulled off moorings, two sunk, and a lot of wind and water damage to boats in marinas. We saw videos of the water pouncing and spilling over the roadways near Sanibel. Winds were recorded in the 50 – 75 mph range. We were lucky and blessed that not much of anything developed in Tampa Bay and happy we were tucked in for the storm. We are learning to closely pay attention to weather, winds, and warnings, something that we didn’t monitor as closely in the rivers.

Tasha had called the marina to see if we were able to get a slip a day earlier than planned. It took speaking to several people and a call back to ensure that they could squeeze us in. Upon arrival, the dock master met us at the dock, a long lay along with one catamaran at the far end. He instructed us to go the far end and had us dock within a few feet of their bow. He kept referring to his papers saying we got to get you close, need the whole dock for others coming in.  Four days later, it’s still just us and the catamaran and the long lay along with not another transient boat in site! We learned later that new years is booked solid (who knows?) but we will be gone by then.

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The dock master was very helpful when saw a dear old golden pup on board and realized this dock with the pilings on the outside was going to be too big of jump for her, he went to the office and returned with a ramp. We added one of our rugs and Remy can maneuver it like a champ – high tide, low tide and slack tide- she has adjusted to the angle and is quite pleased with herself with her over water crossings! It saves David’s back from lifting her and provides more independence as Tasha can get her off the boat without David’s assistance. The tidal swings aren’t as high here as at the beach. Our next stop in Fort Myers also has fixed docks so we either are going to take these with us or get a set off amazon (always one more thing to load up and store!).

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We have had a hard time keeping things on board at this dock. First it was Remy’s new to her ramp and rug, luckily, they were both saved, and then it was her ball. We enlisted the assistance of the local fisherman who swarm our boat daily and stir up the marina waters and the ball was retrieved. The only item not saved was the grill tongs.

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We’ve had time to explore the downtown area, on foot, bikes, and free trolley. Our bikes continue to broaden the area visited and handy in being able to visit local haunts. The marina is in the heart of downtown St. Pete and located adjacent to the fabulous St. Pete Pier. The Pier is over a half a mile long and operated by the city parks department. It has been a terrific place to walk Remy, full of venues for restaurants, kiosk shops, musicians and entertainers, Christmas celebrations, and breathtaking views.

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A couple evenings have been spent in Adirondack chairs under a cool night light art installation taking it all in. A perfect place for an evening libation. Remy loves the park and all the action. All just steps from the gate to our marina!

Just to the East of us is downtown, full of more parks, restaurants, a movie theatre, and history, art, and heritage museums. The Chihuly collection was most familiar to us as there are three installments in the Columbus Visitors Center and a friend who has several pieces from the famous glass artist. We found the Salvador Dali Museum a mere stone’s throw away on the waterfront by our marina. Dali was a Spanish surrealist artist, renowned for his technical skill, precise craftsmanship, and the striking and bizarre images in his work.

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The first mate is known to have a vivid imagination while lying in bed at night. Are we sinking? What’s that sound? Are there pirates outside our vessel? Is someone on or boat? True to norm, this was our 2:00 AM one morning this week – possibly a future screen play.

2:00 AM, first mate wakes to use the head in the dark, feels, then sees the Now or Never listing to port. She goes outside to find dock line tied taught for the ease of boarding Remy was never loosened prior to high tide. She can’t budge the line after working it for a bit. She goes to wake the captain. He climbs out of bed and walks onto the dock and can’t budge the line. He works it for a bit. The line is tight, the rub rails are tight against the pilings. The boat is being pulled down. Get the knife the captain yells! Cut the line! Boing! Whew! Boat back to even keel. Well, maybe not so dramatic but all done in the dark of night in boat apparel of underwear and nightie played out under the light pole by our boat! Hoping the neighbors didn’t see. Life on the Now or Never – our first line cutting! And the vivid imagination was reality this time! No photos of the 2 AM event.

Christmas was certainly different this year. We only heard Christmas songs a few days ahead of Christmas, a big turnabout from Tasha’s days in radio, where it was Christmas every hour of everyday once Thanksgiving came. The fair-weather decorations are a bit different than the frozen tundra of the north ones; palm trees just aren’t the same as pine and flip flops not the same as boots (though nice!)! Due to storage constraints, we didn’t have any décor on the boat either, we had one small sign and could never find a tiny creche that Tasha stowed away on the boat in June. Lastly, not being with family and friends really changes the festiveness of the holiday.

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We planned for a traditional Christmas Eve dinner. Learning to adapt, we used pieces and parts from the boat to prepare our meal. Tasha found an infrared temperature gun from the engine room in the galley as David was measuring the temperature of the oven. Boat oven thermostats are notoriously inaccurate. David was preparing a roast beast and had Remy’s attention. We used a cookie sheet as our roasting pan and the rack from our toaster oven. It worked! Green beans cooked in our insta-pot, and we cheated and bought Gary’s mashed potatoes (you may recall Remy’s friend Guinness’ dad is Gary, a retired VP for Bob Evans retail division – his claim to fame was getting Bob Evan’s mashed potatoes into retail stores across the country and making big $$ for Bob Evans, thus they will always be known as Gary’s potatoes), and cranberry salad. It was a fabulous meal, one we had perfectly timed so we could eat and have a few minutes to spare before we attended the Christmas Service at the pier. Perfectly timed that is until we had unexpected visitors from home stop by. They were a welcomed sight, luckily our captain was able to just turn the oven off and the prime rib rested to a perfect medium rare while we visited.

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We attended the Christmas Service in the park on Christmas Eve at sunset. It was a spectacular showing of the season filled with a spiritual message and music of the season. We loaded our wagon with chairs, Remy’s mat, cookies (dessert), (and maybe a drink) and headed to the pier.

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Remy was able to visit with Santa and ask for treats and good health. She has been taking advantage to every treat offering this holiday season and our family blessed with her good health! Over a thousand attended the celebration. It was a beautiful uniting evening, that is until they all tried to leave and the traffic jams – (even after the minister pleaded for PEACE for all leaving!). Our hearts were filled with JOY, and it felt like Christmas! We still missed our family, friends, and traditions but were delighted in the new celebration and the festivities at St. Pete Pier.

We wanted to attend our first Christmas Day movie and found many others had the same thought and it was sold out at the time wanted. Good thing as our Captain had the unwelcomed duty of rebuilding the head vacuum pump after it exploded in the engine room. Yes he took pictures, but we will not be sharing. It was a very shitty job. We caught the movie on Sunday after the head rebuild. Again, thankful to the former owner of Now or Never who has spare parts for spare parts and a Captain who will tackle anything and this now includes anything!

We have loved this stop on our loop adventure. St. Petersburg is a great stop, especially during the holidays! Hoping family and friends new and old had a wonderful Christmas! Cheers to a fabulous New Year!

Cheers! D, T & R

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