Tarpon Springs

We went to Tarpon Springs today and had lunch at a Greek Restaurant. I had a lamb pita sandwich and Joyce had stuffed eggplant. Both were very good. The restaurant was right on the river about 3 miles from the gulf.

Very hot and humid, so after lunch we checked out some of the shops, and Joyce bought a hat!!(see attached picture) After that we took a 2 hour tour boat ride that went out into the gulf

Very pretty area with some very expensive houses. Even saw some dolphins.(See Picture)
Tomorrow we are going over to Orlando to check out Epcot Center. We broke down and bought a GPS for the car. That will make it much easier to get around in the congested areas, and make things much easier if we are returning in the dark.

We continue to watch the Hurricanes. It still looks like Hannah will come ashore in South Carolina on Friday. If that is the case, it shouldn't impact us. "I don't like Ike", but we should get out ahead of him, so he shouldn't impact us either. Josephine could be a concern about the time the cruise ship returns, but it's too early to tell.

It's 7:30 p.m. and we still need to make a Wal Mart trip.

Ernie

:) :) :)

Tarpon Springs is known for it's Greek heritage and for sponge divers - they sell every kind of sponge you can imagine in all the small shops. Sartino's (the Greek restaurant) was literally 'on the river' - there was a small narrow balcony hanging over the river and that's where our table was - it was really a perfect day.

Our boat ride up the river and into the Gulf was so relaxing - the boat was a double decker, covered with a canopy on top. The best part for me was seeing the dolphins. The person piloting the boat sped up and the 2 dolphins followed us in the boat's water wake right behind the boat - they were jumping in and out of the water just having fun - I was so enthralled watching those dolphins in the wild - they are beautiful - they put on a show for us! Ernie was able to capture this dolphin picture at just the right moment, which wasn't easy since they were in and out of the water so fast.

Afterwards we were so hot and tired that we decided to go back to the RV and 'chill' literally for a while, but we both fell asleep! The heat is not bad until you're out in it during mid-day. Even tho we had cover, between the warm water (80's) and the hot sun, it saps the energy - but that's ok, we're on vacation...

Just for clarification, Ernie strongly encouraged me to buy the hat - since I look like a dork in hats, it wasn't too bad but I still feel weird in it - it will be good when we're on the ship however. Also, my face was shiny with sweat - I've given up trying to wear makeup of any kind here; it just doesn't work! -Joyce