Full-On Tourist In Tarpon Springs

Full-On Tourist In Tarpon Springs - Part 2

We have returned this beautiful Monday in Northlandia to a trip to Tarpon Springs the family took a few weeks ago. Part 1 is somewhere if you want to refamiliarize yourself to our adventure upstate a few miles. I think boats, the sea and all things nautical are usually pretty neat. I it because I grew up in Seaton? Or is it like JFK's remark, something like we all have a yearning to the seas, from whence we came?

Anyway, the large fishing boats above, the Miss Lexy and the Miss Lupe have their home ports out of Blythe Island, Georgia.

A moored spongeboat.

Someone's drink abandoned.

This is the Anastasi, an actual working spongeboat. While sitting on a bench waiting for our boat to take off, I watched the Greek bag all of his sponges he found after having air dried a while.

This one is for you Cub's fans.

Our sponge diver, Frank, suiting up in authentic hundred year old diving equipment.

Our navigator and guide on our trip pointed out that this is the only original sponge boat that is left in Tarpon Springs.

Here is our intrepid diver, swarthy Frank, walking the shoreline looking for a fresh sponge.

Sponges are retrieved from the floor bed with a glossy, almost plastic look and feel. The outer coating is taken off and then you have the look and feel we all know and love. Sponges are pretty cool. I did not know that for showering and cosmetics they do not retain any bacteria.

So, our trip was a success. Norah and I slipped away from the rest of the group when we spied an ice cream store. Shopping was kinda fun, too. I got a glass starfish that glows in the dark for absolutely no good reason (buying it, not the glowing). Kudos to the planners of this trip. That's what makes Florida worth sticking around for - that and the kidlings and the year-around shorts, and the paycheck, and the occasional cookouts that we don't have enough of. But I digress.

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Flashback Friday

Class, Or Lack Thereof The Dwight Vice gravestone in Oquawka, Illinois. I bring this old chestnut out every so often just to remind me that class is classless. Dwight Vice was killed in his home near Oquawka in 2001. It was one of those things that can generate crime: two guys thought Dwight had a lot of money stashed at home because of his pot-selling sideline to supplement his fishing job. Not really one of those big drug deals gone-bad things. Marijuana was, according to the trial, about the only stuff Dwight sold. But these two guys barge into the house and killed Dwight and attempted to kill his 11 year old kid, Darryl, before they took off with what money they could find. His son, now 23, was stabbed in the back and left for dead. He survived and is wheelchair bound and has undergone several surgeries to repair his wounds. He will be paralyzed for life. None of this is pleasant. Reading the facts of the murder and attempted murder are most unpleasant

Summer Swim

It's Monday and the start of another work week. Except for me. I have the week off because the parents of my daycare charges are taking the week off, too. This is one of those wordless posts I love on Mondays so I can put my laziness in full view of loyal readers. These pics need no words. Why muddy the waters? They were taken at the pool at Sinkhole Estates aka Death Valley. The nice thing about this pool is it is heated in winter. If one must find positives in one's situation, I suppose that is one. But, please, no more.

Florida Air Museum - Part 3

Welcome back to a pretty neat tour of the Florida Air Museum in Lakeland Florida. There's a lot to see and a couple of the old Geezer Gold Wing guys are already sitting down instead of walking around looking at the exhibits. That's John who is wore out and making a call to his wife. In all honesty, John was pretty well bushed before the ride. He told me his daughter's family was down from one of the Carolina's with the grand kids and he must have played with them too much. He's about to take off on his own and head for home, but he's going to miss a couple of neat things out on Hangar A. But, before we walk over there, we have lots yet to see here. If you saw The Aviator with Leonardo DiCaprio playing Howard Hughes, you'll remember that he went up in a plane during the filming of one of his movies to prove a point about flying. He crashed trying to execute a roll and this is a picture of the plane he crashed. Note the propeller

Existing In BFE

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