Spring Fling 2011 - Day 14

Unusually for me I woke soon after four AM and having solved the immediate nose/mouth/bladder problems found myself totally unable to fall back to sleep, aggravated by the fact that we had agreed on an early start.  Before eight o'clock we were heading to Tampa and the Aquarium's dock.  In "payment" for docking facilities the Aquarium gives a Port of Tampa water tour once (and sometimes twice) a week, free but reservations needed.

After a somewhat disorganized start we embarked on the tour.  The actual port (handling the greatest tonnage of any Florida port by a wide margin) is actually 23 miles from the mouth of Tampa Bay and its big bridge.  In addition to its docking/unloading facilities it has a very large ship repair operation with a variety of dry-docks.  They also pointed out, on an island man-made over decades from dredged debris (and large enough for a private plane/helicopter airport) a dog park with an unusual feature, a beach!  Zoe would have loved it!

The tour lasted over 1 1/2 hours and was surprisingly interesting.  After disembarking next to a restored Liberty Ship (whose only voyage in decades, after restoration was a sentimental crossing of the Atlantic, and up the Thames to London & back) we went to Ybor City, formerly a major center for cigar making, still very Cuban-flavored, and after major decline is largely restored for tourism.  We had a very nice lunch outdoors under an awning (fried oyster sandwich for me) before heading home.

We then all napped!  After awakening I was feeling energetic & volunteered my "legs" for any jobs/yard work.  First Jean came & helped/directed with the movement way down the yard of trash for pick-up & brush for the pile, and then Peter substituted bringing a chain saw & hedge clippers.  We made an impressive amount of improvement, working together until almost dark and burning off our excess energy.

As usual, we took photos, mostly rather distant for pocket cameras, and a selection have been posted on Flickr, found here.