Tarpon Springs camp out

[RickK]

Hi all,
We're going to be camping in the Anclote area starting Friday Nov 6.  Not quite sure where exactly we'll be but we won't be too far from the pass back into the ramp.  Probably around some of the islands off the coast.

If you're in the area and want to stop by and say  look for 3 Explorers barged up.  Hope to see some of you out there.

[Capt. Bob]

Are there still sponges down that way?

[RickK]

Don't know about the sponges but it's supposed to be real nice there both on the water and in town.
We're heading up/down there on Friday, if anyone is in the area Saturday and wants to swing by we'd love to meet you and share a beer/soda with you.
Weather's supposed to be nice too.

[CLM65]

Sounds like fun, Rick!  Not too far from me, but unfortunately I will be on the other coast visiting family this weekend.  Have a great time!

[Capt. Bob]

Didn't take too many photos but hope to return next spring.

Rick's motor was running a little warm at first so exploring was held to a minimum but it looks like a great place to camp, fish and of course drink.

A little bouncy the first night.


Next day was great.


We anchored up on this bar which may or may not (or is poorly located) exist on my Garmin charts.
I assumed it was a shoal that appeared after the last update. Interesting.

Saturday night we dropped the hook in the river in a small cove just south of the docks. A lot of high end housing along this portion of the river.



Sunrise Sunday morn.


Motoring by the docks Sunday heading toward the ramp.


Dave's boat didn't make it down this trip (didn't need my hard hat) due to trailer malfunction/delayed repairs but we'll meet up again in May. The ramp at the state park is not bad and plenty of trailer parking. The current (when the power plant is pulling cooling water) can be swift but is very calm when they don't so it's just timing. My homemade trailer guides worked well so I can't complain and it's about an hour closer to Tally for me.

[RickK]

Glad you got some pics CB
All I got was sunrise and sunset pics - I'll dig them up here shortly.  The place was nice but as Wing said, the water is skinny in many places, places you'd think you could sneak into the island and drop a hook.
The first night we anchored east of Anclote key and the wind was hooking.  We dropped hook about 200 yards south of a cabin cruiser that looked to be watching the sunset.  After it got dark I noticed that they were now only 150 feet from us and to despite our best efforts, we could not get their attention (they were down below  ) so we raised the hook and went north of them a couple hundred yards and dropped it again.  Later on we found that the wind was blowing so hard that the wind pushed us west toward the key dragging my anchor.  Noticed that when we were in about 1.5ft of water.  So we used the windlass to pull us out and then we idled out quite a ways into 5 ft of water and dropped it again, this time making sure to watch the anchor for a while and turn on our anchor drag alarms on the gps.
The next day (Saturday) was lighter wind so we got to explore a little and that spoil island was weird - it wasn't even on our plotters yet has been there quite a while - it's the spoil north of 3 rookers according tot he plotter or it is 3 rookers even though my plotter showed it the island just south.  Weird.

Yeah, we're going back in May - it's a nice place.

[RickK]

Hi Everyone,
We're off to Tarpon Springs again tomorrow for a couple days of bliss.  We'll be around Anclote River, Honeymoon and 3 Rookers and maybe south a little ("the whole area") - look for 3 Explorers grouped or traveling together.  We'll probably drop hook south of the northern portion of 3 Rookers tomorrow night.
If you're up in that area we'd love to meet you - stop by and I'll buy you a beer