St. Petersburg, Florida - Cold, Wet, Windy

Thursday 12/7/2017 to Monday 12/11/2017
No Boat Travel

Now that we are not on the move every day, we have slipped back into the bad habit of sleeping in well past the 7:00 a.m. we targeted when traveling. Cloudy skies, cool-to-cold temperatures, and drizzle / rain tend to make us snuggle in to stay comfy in bed. On the bright side ... since we are bundling up in long pants, heavy shirts, and coats, we do not need to worry about sunburn!

When we woke up on Thursday morning (12/7), we found the neighboring buildings disappearing into the foggy mist.

Top of building lost in the fog

Foggy morning in St. Petersburg, Florida

Knowing we would be in St. Pete long enough to receive packages, we pre-ordered some items and had them shipped here. It seems like we take the long walk all the way around the marina to the marina office to collect a package or two nearly every day.  The marina office is nearby "as the crow flies" and easily seen from our boat.

View of Marina Office from our boat

Unfortunately, we can't travel "as the crow flies", and we have to walk down the street, across a bridge, and along the waterfront to get to the office. We pass the historic marker for "Demens Landing" on our way.

Historical Marker honoring a founder of St. Petersburg
from Russia

On Friday (12/8), I had a doctor's appointment to see an orthopedist here in St. Petersburg. We used Lyft to get a ride there. The doctor's office scheduler told me to be there at 12:45 for my 1:00 appointment to fill out paperwork, etc.  It is a 20-minute ride, and I allowed an extra 15 minutes to get there on time. Unfortunately, it took so long for the car to come pick us up that I barely made it for 1:00. The whole time I waited for the ride to appear (around 20 minutes), the app showed the car only 5 minutes away.

As it turned out, it did not matter that I did not arrive at the recommended time. The office waiting room had several folks who had gotten there before me. After a bit of a wait, a tech came out and got me to take some x-rays and then sent me back to the waiting room to wait some more.

Those who have been following my blog entries know that on October 24th, just before leaving on our trip to Florida, I fell about 4-to-5 feet through an open hatch in the salon of our boat. I went to the EMO in Middletown, New Jersey where they took x-rays and gave me the good news that they saw no evidence of a broken bone, and I should be up to 75% better by end of week. Needless to say, at the end of that week I was a long way away from 75% better.

Of course the orthopedist's office I visited in Florida took their own pictures. When I saw the doctor, I learned something pretty incredible, i.e. I broke my arm in the fall. Amazingly, I have been walking around, hopping on and off the boat, carrying fenders, and working boat lines with a fractured arm bone. No wonder it hurt! When the doctor said the bone was broken, I said, "... a hairline fracture?", and he said, "No, a true break." Since the break occurred about 6 weeks ago, it has almost healed. He said to allow two more weeks for it to be completely mended.

The x-rays taken in New Jersey showed my collar bone, which suffered no damage. An additional x-ray taken in Florida showed the break in my upper arm. Due to the location of the break, I doubt that I would have had a cast, but I do wonder what besides ice packs, heating pads, and lots of Motrin I might have done differently over the past few weeks had I known of the seriousness of the injury. Would I even be in Florida?

Besides the interesting news that my arm is healing from a fracture, I got some truly great news today. We will become grandparents again come June. Our son, Chris, and his wife, Heather, announced that they are expecting a boy! We could not be happier!

On Saturday (12/9), we decided to check out the St. Pete Farmer's Market. It's a large one with lots of good food. Honestly, we went a little crazy buying more than we should have including fruit, vegetables, bread, scones, a pumpkin pie, and lunch with cookies for dessert. Because the weather did not favor a large turn out, we got offered, and took advantage of, a number of discounted sales.

What had started out as a cool breeze and drizzle, turned into rain and wind that attempted to blow away tables and goods. In fact, one leg of the tent over the live musicians collapsed slightly due to the wind. The drummer looked at the tent askance since he was the closest to having the tent land on his head. Even so, he just kept playing. Clark and another market customer ran over and pushed the leg back up to support the tent. They got a smile and nod out of the drummer as he kept on playing.

Park near Farmer's Market

Scarcely-populated St. Petersburg Farmer's Market in the Rain

Besides the food and craft booths, we found a table with a collection of rescued birds. All of the birds on display have suffered some wing damage that rendered them unable to fly any significant distances.

Rescued Screech Owl

Rescued Hawk

Rescued Falcon named "Mel"
for Millennium Falcon from Star Wars
(full-grown, smallest of all falcons)

In addition to food and birds, we checked out the craft tables.

Hand-carved Santas for Sale

From block of wood to carved St. Nicholas 

Very Talented Balloon Artist making a balloon monkey
Is this Curious George?

We bought so much stuff that Clark's backpack was full to the top while I carried the bag with the pie separately. Clark suggested we head back to the boat to unload and then come back again to find a lunch vendor. After I had a meat pie, and Clark had a spinach and feta cheese pie, we found some multi-grain (oatmeal-like) cookies for dessert. Then we walked up to Publix to do the food shopping that we could not take care of at the Farmer's Market. Needless to say ... the fridge is very full!

Once we had stashed the food we bought at Publix on the boat, we made our daily trek over to the marina office to pick up today's packages. With it being the weekend, the fishermen were out in full force. Someone told me in passing that it is currently Mullet Fish season, so the fishermen are busy.

A few of the many
Mullet Fish Fishermen at St. Petersburg

Crane enjoying a fish discarded by a fisherman

The dreary, windy weather on Saturday caused the St. Petersburg Boat Parade scheduled for tonight to be canceled due to a "small craft advisory". Perhaps, one boater did not "get the memo" or did not care. A lone, decorated boat blasting Christmas carols came by out boat on their way to the dock at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club.

One-boat Boat Parade!

On Sunday (12/10) we mostly hung out on the boat except for our daily trip to the marina office. Along the way there, we saw a variety of birds.

Apparently Wires make good perches

Getting ready to dive for fish

One-legged nap time

Having received the soldering iron he ordered when we went for packages, Clark spent time in the afternoon rebuilding yet another alternator that he is redesigning to be externally regulated. While busy working, he noticed a big boat arrive at the marina. He came bounding into the salon to grab his binoculars, saying "Seastreak just showed up! I have to see if it is from New York."

Is that Seastreak at the marina?

Yes! Seastreak New Jersey to be specific.
Feels like home!

The pink glow in the background is as close to a sunset picture as we can get from the marina since we are surrounded by tall buildings allowing no view of the sunset.

On Monday (12/11), with Christmas rapidly approaching, we spent our morning online doing some shopping. We realized that we did not plan ahead for Christmas / Holiday cards, so I spent some time looking into that as well. After lunch we took the multi-block walk to the post office to mail gifts then to the drug store and Publix food store to pick up some items I forgot to get on Saturday's shopping trip. Afterwards, we made our daily stop at the marina office on the way back to the boat.

Clark ordered motor oil so he can do an oil change while here in St. Pete. When we got to the office, we found another three gallons waiting for us to carry back to the boat. Fortunately, the town recycling center is nearby, so we swung by there to drop off the cardboard on the way back to the boat. It's becoming a pattern as we have done it multiple times already. I certainly don't want all that cardboard on board the boat!

Fortunately, we have not had rain since Saturday, so our walks are chilly, not wet. I wish it would warm up just enough that I could ditch my coat. However, seeing the weather up north of here, even northern Florida, I count my lucky stars that I don't have to worry about hats, gloves, scarves, and boots as well!