We went from Tarpon Springs to Clearwater today, an easy 3 hours in the Gulf with waves less than 1 ft. ….just plain flat water. SO we stayed out of the ICW and ran outside in the Gulf because it’s prettier and easier.

FISH TRAPS! There are actually about 4 or 5 little floats in the water in this picture (also, that's Clearwater off in the distance). We passed hundreds of them today. You have to watch out not to run over them and get the lines tangled in your props and shafts. I installed “Prop Spurs” on my props last winter ,during winter storage, so they’ll just cut the lines before they get wrapped up on a spinning prop if we do hit some. These little floats are literally all over the Gulf within 10 miles of any inlet where boats can have a home port and go out to fish. They are everywhere that there is 8 to 15 ft. of water. Once you’re in 20 ft or more, you don’t see many at all. I had never thought of how much of this type of fishing is done by small local fishermen who own one 20 to 40 ft boat and set traps with the little floats.

There was a light rain on and off all day, but the approach to Clearwater and the town of Clearwater Beach where we’re staying were really nice. It’s a quaint little boat and tourist town with a long palm lined boulevard along the beach, filled with restaurants, clothing stores, antique stores and tourist traps but it’s most enjoyable just to walk off the boat and go see the town. We met our friends Bill & Jane Stones (boat name “Loose Stones”) who just completed their Great Loop Route trip. We first met them on the Ohio River. Their dog (also named Daisy) and ours had become friends too. We ate lunch with the Stones at a beachfront restaurant that had really great grilled Florida grouper sandwiches and French fried onion straws

People have asked how Daisy enjoys the cruising. Here’s how she spends almost all day when the boat’s running, but she does enjoy lots of new places to walk and sniff whenever we arrive at a new place. She’s also losing her fear of new people and new dogs. Bill Stone and I walked our two Daisys over to the beach today. Daisy ran in the water, but didn’t appreciate the taste of salt water, and of course, I had to hose her off when we got back to the boat. She also made friends with a cocker spaniel on the boat next door here at the marina today.

So here’s how far we’ve gotten on the Great Loop Route. The red line is growing! On to Sarasota tomorrow.