On To St. Peterburg

The winds died completely as we motored on placid waterways down Matanzas River, across Tampa Bay to St. Petersburg. Atlantica, the lead boat, and Sand Castle are visible a mile or so ahead, going under the Tampa Bay Skyway Bridge.

 

 

 



St. Petersburg was a terrific stop. The city mooring field is very small, holding only about 12 boats in a mostly circular basin. Winter must bring huge crowds, but in June, the cruisers are few. Our weather has been moderate for June, mostly in the 80s during the day, low 70s at night, with the typical afternoon thunderstorms kicking up erratically. So far, we managed to be at anchor in protected waters or moored before they hit.

 

 We found the Spanish tapas restaurant, Cerviche, in the downtown area. Absolutely the very best tapas we've ever had. Jan celebrated her birthday there. The food was so good that we went back the next night for Paella.....again, the very best.



During the day, there was a wonderful local museum to visit, right next to the municipal basin. Not only did they have interesting local history, which included a wooden seaplane, a replica of the original first seaplane to fly commercially in Florida, but several of the plane's builders were at the museum  that day. Turns out this is the only replica of the plane that was actually able to fly....using a riding lawn mower engine, since no originals were available. The museum also contained the largest privately owned signed baseball collection in the world.....three rooms full, really fascinating to any baseball fan.

 

St. Petersburg is home to the world class Salvadore Dali Museum, with its unique architecture and insightful tape recorded tour. Learned a lot about Dali. I always thought he was crazy, but did not realize that he was also brilliant in the symbolism of his work.