The Adventures of SaSea Sally!: Gaspaarilla Festival in Tampa

January 25, 2014


Hosts Belinda and Jim Wolfe on rt.

Rickshaw before the invasion (a DeFever)

Lunch aboard Rickshaw with hostess Belinda

Saturday was destined to be a full day with an invitation from Loopers Jim and Belinda (Rickshaw) to party on their boat during the Gasparilla festival. Gasparilla is Tampa's Mardi Gras, and the folk lore revolves around a pirate's attempt to take over the city. Activities of all sorts extend over a full month culminating on this Saturday with the pirate's ship coming ashore accompanied by a floatilla of pleasure boats, fire boats and law enforcement. Cannons sound. Gunfire erupts. And sireens wail.

A phalanx of law enforcement vessels escort the pirates

Too, a 3 1/2-mile parade follows the shoreline with floats, bands and various other units. Gasparilla is organized by and revolves around 'krewes' which are organizations (charitable) to which Tampa citizens belong. Beads are thrown from the parade units as well as from the boats in the floatilla. Of course, we tried to collect our fair share of beads.

Only 13 DWI to boaters-one for every 10 law enforcement boats

Gasparilla attendees (parade goers et al) dress in pirate and piratesse (is that a female pirate?) costumes, some relatively simple and some extremely elaborate and costly.

Great costumes

Cheri, a Looper, from Takes Two and Sally

We had fun gawking on the streets of Tampa, and drooling at the costuming aboard Rickshaw. Jim and Belinda have friends in the Tampa area who attend Gasparilla festivities regularly and who were dressed to the 'nines.' Of course, some of the teen parade goers' costuming was eye-popping! (Do I sound like a mother/61-year-old?) We enjoyed the lunch aboard, the frivolity and merriment and the bead-catching, but were plumb tuckered by late afternoon. We had stood around for the better part of an hour or two waiting for the parade to reach our location (never did), and that's tiring in the sun. Yes, SUN! Probably first day of decent weather, and of course, we were overdressed by a longshot for the temps that climbed to 70 or so. Once back to the boat, we rallied to walk to Pier 60 for sunset which was beautiful.

Great costumes

Yes that is Belinda and Jim in the dinghy

Back to the boat and expecting Sunday company, Clay and I were now becoming a bit concerned about our holding tanks and the fullness thereof! Turner Marina in Mobile had installed new sensors and set indicator lights, but we're not totally comfortable with their accuracy. Just a little more drama....

The Little Red Tug, another Looper from MN

Sunday morning arrived and along with it the need to do a bit of housekeeping/cleaning (Clay) and a bit of bill-paying/filing/paperwork (Sal). I like this division of responsibility! Clay is quite good with the shop vac, but he still needs practice in keeping clutter to a minimum. That boy does like to get stuff out and not put it away! "Everything I need to know I learned in kindergarten." And, he tells me he DID go to kindergarten...the Humpty Dumpty Kindergarten! So be it. Guess that lesson didn't take.

Clearwater Beach sunset

Fire eater at Pier 60

Bruce, Kathi and Darryln arrived mid-afternoon to take a look-see at the SaSea Sally and to be on the receiving end of our hospitality. Clay's solution to the holding tanks dilemma was to take our guests for a short cruise....to the holding tank pumpout venue. Ah, such creativity that boy has! Didn't happen. We five were just too comfy chatting away about the play, old times, and the Great Loop. Thus, as we departed by car for downtown St. Pete, in the holding tank race, the holding tanks were definitely in the lead. Ding ding ding ding. More drama!

Downtown St. Pete, Bruce and Kathi reciprocated hospitality in showing us around their new townhome followed by a short walk to an open-air atrium hosting blues singer Betty Fox and back-up band. The spritzing rain sure didn't dampen our enthusiasm for this talented singer (who looks more wholesome than Betty Crocker or June Cleaver) nor did it dampen her performance. Wow! She could really belt out a song! Dinner followed at a cute restaurant (of which there are many in this downtown area) called Moon Under Water. I swear!

Pirate excursion ship from Clearwater Beach Marina

By now, we had tired of Clearwater Beach, having been here the better part of a week and having gotten a parking ticket Saturday afternoon in the time it took to get change with a quick pit stop. Way to totally ruin a perfectly good day! Those meter maids, I swear, were watching! And, pouncing! Deciding the dispute process was not user-friendly for boaters like us, Sal begrudgingly paid the ticket and tried to put it behind us!

Monday we returned the rental car after a quick dash to Aldis for cost-effective provisioning, then Clay spent much of the day washing the boat and prepping for Tuesday's departure toward downtown St. Pete. Sal round-tripped on foot to Publix late afternoon, having spied a wine sale in an earlier trip. With a cartful (well, not FULL) of wine and bargain coffee, Sal called Clay to inquire as to dinner plans. Clay's reply, "don't buy anything." Now what woman goes to the grocery store and buys NOTHING? So, I checked out and loaded my backpack with 4 bottles of bargain wine and an equal supply of coffee. That'll do me! Happy camper! Tada! This boat trip....oops, Great Loop experience...has convinced me my needs are simple and my wants are few. That is, until the trip is over. AND THEN....(probably will still be that way!)

Tuesday morning we prepped to depart Clearwater Beach under beautiful skies but a threatening weather forecast. A smooth departure from our slip, an efficient stop at the pumpout station across the bay at the Clearwater Municipal Marina (and each of the 2 indicator light still glowed orange as opposed to red/full), and we were off toward St. Petersburg and the Municipal Marina located there. We overheard (on our radio) another departing Looper boat Tumbleweed report he'd broken the pvc water pipe on departure. Oops, forgot to disconnect water supply hose from shore! Lousy start to his day!

This catches you up to current where we are now docked at St. Pete downtown and the clouds are rapidly filling the skies!