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Ringling Circus & Art Museum – Sarasota, FL

Established in 1948, the Ringling Circus Museum celebrates the American circus. located just north of Sarasota the museum is a must-see for visitors to the Sarasota area. The museum was the first in the country to document the rich history of the circus. More recently the world's largest miniature circus has been on display since 2009. The small replica was created over a period of more than 50 years by the master model builder and philanthropist Howard Tibbals. As you enter the museum you will see all stages of circus life from loading up the train that will transport not…

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Time for Some Big City Action in Sarasota

When we've been anchoring out a lot we look forward to getting into a big city marina and we can't think of a better place along this beautiful Gulf Coast than Sarasota. It has everything here to satisfy a cruising boater. Nice marina facilities (Marina Jack), restaurants right on the dock, music to serenade you to sleep, a newer downtown area with shops and more restaurants, and if you happen to be there on a weekend – an amazing farmer's market and art fair. We love Sarasota! The Sarasota Farmer's Market is a visual treat. The quality of produce available…

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De Soto Point and Longboat Key Anchorages

De Soto Point Anchorage on the Manatee River A quiet night and calm waters greeted us at DeSoto Point on the Manatee River (above and below). A few other boats were already anchored for the night when we arrived late afternoon. It was late so we stayed on the boat, made dinner, and enjoyed the sunset. Longboat Key, a Favorite Anchorage We are loving the nice January weather, it makes anchoring out a real treat. We had company tonight when Captain Kathe and a group of women came by to say hi.

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Gulfport Marina, Florida
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First Time in Gulfport, Florida

On our way to Gulfport today. Great cruising weather, calm as could be, and not too many boat wakes to contend with and we were happy about that. We've heard lots of good reports from other boaters about this little community near St. Petersburg. We made arrangements to stay one night at the Gulfport Marina, just about a mile from the downtown area. Here's an artsy idea for your car when it needs a new paint job. Tribal art! This is just a little representation of this little community. Many restaurants along the beach area but lots of art galleries and…

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Reddington Beach, Florida
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Redington Beach Anchor – Florida

Anchoring in Florida is a real treat. Lots of options available, and we decide to try a few new spots (new to us anyways). Instead of anchoring in St. Pete Beach, which we've done a couple of times before, we stopped a little earlier and tried this spot off Redington Beach. It turned out to be a picture-perfect spot in a well-protected cove, a good choice for our first night at anchor during this winter trip to Florida.

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Captain Greg and Monster
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Captain Greg and Monster Help Us Fuel Up

Before leaving Tarpon Springs we needed to top off the fuel tank, we found the F & Y fuel dock close to the Sponge Docks and we were surprised at all the help we got. Captain Gregg and his little dog Monster greeted us along with the fuel guy and helped us secure the boat and fuel the boat. Captain Greg is pretty proud of his companion, Monster. The captain is a real Tarpon Springs fisherman, he and his crew, including Monster, go out in the Gulf several days at a time until his boat's fish, holding tank is full…

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Turtle
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Are You a Turtle?

I was doing laundry at Turtle Cove Marina's Club House during our last day in Tarpon Springs when Jim joined me and we decided to have a beer in the club's bar. It appears Jim had an ulterior motive for meeting me at the clubhouse, he had heard they would have the bar open with an array of snack food available while a football party was starting to heat up. We had met the owner of Turtle Cove Marina, Ed Spaeth, at the beginning of our week's stay at the marina, so he readily welcomed us to the party and while…

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Kismet Docked, Tarpon Springs, Florida
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Turtle Cove Marina – Tarpon Springs, FL

The last three times we were in Tarpon Springs by boat, we stayed at the Municipal Marina by the sponge docks. We always enjoyed the stay for it's proximity to the great restaurants and it's also a good spot to hear the Greek music and smell the great aromas wafting from all the little restaurants, but the facility is slowly deteriorating and we just felt it was time to try something different. After hearing several recommendations for Turtle Cove Marina from other boaters we decided to give it a try and we were not disappointed. It's also only a couple…

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Mother Meres Artwork, Tarpon Springs, Florida
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We Remember Tarpon Springs, Florida

We dropped the boat in at a boat ramp in Tarpon Springs (below), one of our favorite cruising destinations. Lots of good food, colorful people, and happy music. While at the Farmer's Market on Sunday we came across this memorial to Mother Meres (above), in the 1880s, she became one of Tarpon Springs's most admired women – someone very special from the looks of the ornate memorial. Mother Meres was Pinellas County Florida’s original ‘Garden Fairy spreading her love of gardening. Greek almond cookies are our favorite sweet treat in Tarpon Springs (the best are found at National Bakery and Athens…

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RV Park Palace Storage
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Picking Up Kismet and Heading South

RV Park Palace more than met our expectations for a safe and reliable place to store our Ranger Tug, Kismet, for a few months. Tim took care of everything we needed to have done to the boat – it was freshly washed, tires checked for us and after a few minutes, spent mostly talking with Tim and his crew, we were on our way, heading south for a winter adventure in Florida.

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Shaking Hands
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Kismet Goes Into Storage Until After the Holidays

It was a fun trip but sometimes good things must come to a... temporary halt (I was about to say END but heaven forbid that our boating lifestyle would end when it just seems to have started). Before we headed out west we had made arrangements with the RV Park Palace, in Chattanooga, to store our boat there while we went home to enjoy the holidays with family and friends. We had a good feeling about this place just from talking with Tim Aslinger. We drove into the RV Park Palace's compound and prepared to store Kismet. Then we watched…

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Boat at Joe Wheeler, Rogersville, Alabama
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AGLCA Fall Rendezvous – Rogersville, AL

As "Loopers," we were excited to be able to tow our boat from Lake Powell to Rogersville, Alabama for the AGLCA (America's Great Loop Cruisers' Association) 2011 Fall Rendezvous. Little did we know that, not only would we make new friends, we'd run into a few Loopers that we did the Loop with back in 2005/06. Tom Conrad (above-center), here with his wife Patsy and Janice Kromer, was the MC for the rendezvous. He did a great job. Jim did a presentation on the St. Johns River. Fellow AGLCA Advisory Board members, Audrey Stehle and Patsy Conrad (above-left). Susann and…

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iPad Navonics GPS Tracker, Lake Powell
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Making Our Way Back to Wahweap Marina

Our time on Lake Powell came to a close today as we made our way back to Wahweap Marina and civilization. We would highly recommend Lake Powell as a cruising destination for adventurous boaters, whether you bring your own boat or you rent a houseboat. We enjoyed using our iPad with the Navionics app to navigate Lake Powell. Great tool, way outperformed our expectations. This (below) was our carefully saved garbage from our ten-day trip. We also stowed the extra anchor and line we used while on Lake Powell, we won't need it again for a while. We spent one…

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Kismet Beach Anchored, Padre Bay Canyon, Lake Powell
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Back to Padre Bay Canyon – Last Night at Anchor in Lake Powell

We spent our last night in Lake Powell anchored in Padre Bay, the same area we anchored our first night out. This time we found a little cove that was quite a bit more protected just over the hill from our first anchorage site. With a very clean, sandy beach off our bow the site was closely protected on three sides. Jim is an old pro at burying the anchor now. It seems like it only takes a few minutes now to get settled versus the 45 min. we started out with. Here (above) you can see how our back…

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Boat Beach Anchored, Dungeon Canyon. Lake Powell
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Dungeon Canyon Took Our Breaths Away

We found Dungeon Canyon to be quite impressive. It's another wide open area with lots of sites to beach anchor, and plenty of space between boats for added privacy. As the day progressed, we enjoyed watching the way the light changed on the different rock faces surrounding us as the sun set and the warm, gold glow in the canyon turned more to a pinkish yellow before it cooled off and finally set just before the canyon turned dark. The view at dusk off the stern of Kismet. (Above)     Jim is giving a demonstration (above and below) on how…

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Twilight-Driftwood-MntSheet-Canyon. Lake Powell
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Cruising Twilight, Driftwood and Mountain Sheep Canyons

Exploring Twilight, Driftwood, and Mountain Sheep Canyons today. We found this small arch (below) forming just inside one of the canyons. We traveled back as far as we could in each canyon, not many anchor spots available here, so we eventually headed over to Dungeon Canyon to camp for the night. Canyon cruising is very entertaining, before you know it the day is half over.

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Boats Beach Anchored, Oak Bay, Lake Powell
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Back to Oak Bay for a Peaceful Night

We would have loved to beach anchor in Davis Gulch today after our tour of it, but the only available site was already taken, so back to Oak Bay for us tonight. As we mentioned before this is a popular spot and even though it is off-season there were a few houseboats already beached when we arrived.

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Canyon Wall, Lake Powell
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Canyon Walls of Lake Powell

Here are just a few examples of the variety of wall shapes and colors you might see while cruising Lake Powell. We couldn't help but wonder what they faced to become so sculptured and colored. We saw walls with huge jagged pieces clearly pulling away from their mother rock – we imagined they might soon succumb to the elements and make their final descent disappearing below the deep, dark blue water below.

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Cruising Davis-Lewellen Gulch, Lake Powell
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Davis Gulch – A Visual Delight

We were the first boat into Davis Gulch this morning and because of that, this is what we found... eerily still waters mirroring the sculptured rocks and dark blue skies. The rock face took on gigantic organic shapes, a few suggesting arrows pointing into the canyon. Absolutely breathtaking.

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Lisa Cottonwood Canyon, Lake Powell, Utah
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Just the Two of Us in Cottonwood Canyon

Our anchorage in Cottonwood Canyon was my personal favorite. It was such a beautiful spot, we spent two nights there; I could have spent more. With so much to see, and not knowing what surprises lay ahead of us, we did eventually, but reluctantly, move on, but what a wonderful two days of solitude and peace we had in this spectacular canyon. I don't know exactly what grabbed at my heartstrings while tucked into this isolated, natural harbor, but I felt like we had been transported to another world. To climb high up the rocky shore and look down at…

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Sign at Rainbow Bridge, Lake Powell
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The Sacred Rainbow Bridge

We arrived at the bridge late morning after a beautiful ride through the Forbidden and Rainbow Bridge Canyons. Rainbow Bridge is the world's largest known natural bridge. It was once a solid wall of sandstone. During flash floods, sand-filled water scoured away both sides of the buttress. Eventually, the stream penetrated the rock and began to flow through and widen the new opening. The erosion of the Bridge continues today. Native American Tribes and Nations have nurtured a sacred connection with the bridge for centuries. Even today, the Navajo, Hopi, San Juan, Southern Paiute, Kaibab Paiute, and White Mesa Ute…

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Kismet cruising to Rainbow Bridge, Lake Powell
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On Our Way to Rainbow Bridge

This is what it looked like (above) from inside the boat as we negotiated the narrow canyons on our way to Rainbow Bridge National Monument. Each canyon, off the main river route, is marked with these buoy-type signs (below-right) that way boaters unfamiliar with Lake Powell, like us, will have a better chance of NOT getting lost. The last tour boat of the day passed us as we traveled up the canyon. We thought this was probably a good thing as the dock and trail won't be as busy when we get there. Only a few boats were tied up…

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Cruising, Dry Rock Creek Canyon, Lake Powell
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Dry Rock Creek Canyon – Lake Powell

Anchoring and Stern Tying to Shore in Dry Rock Creek Canyon We found out that sometimes you can go all the way into a winding canyon only to discover there are no beaches to tie up to. As we neared the end of Dry Rock Creek Canyon today, we finally found a spot that looked promising. Since it's only our second night on the lake we're still a little nervous about rocks lurking beneath the water by the shore. We decided to try anchoring and sterling in; this method took a few tries to get where we felt comfortable. Initially,…

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