Gemini Loop: Christmas in St. Pete

It has been a very wonderful, very intense, very busy Christmas for the Westgates. Steve and I cruised from Dunedin to St. Pete on a warm, breezy day. It was kind of surreal listening to Christmas music about winter on the stereo, while surrounded by palm trees and blue water.

This is definitely Steve's kind of place. There are canals everywhere! While there are huge, hotel-size houses along the water, there are also little bungalows with lots of character. In the distance, there are high-rise condos and hotels.

When we got out into bigger water, we were joined by porpoises on the bow. They would come and ride for a while, then leave us. At one time we had four riding together. There were two on top and two below. The water was so clear that I got some good photos.

Rebecca and Chris arrived, with their dogs Bella and Remi, on Christmas Eve. For dinner we found an amazing tapas restaurant with authentic Spanish food, Ceviche. It was in walking distance of the marina. We enjoyed getting to sample lots of different dishes.

One of our Christmas traditions is homemade cheese danish on Christmas morning. We got that put together before bedtime. Christmas Day was pretty low-key. My galley isn't conducive to elaborate meals, and the oven isn't big enough for a turkey. I was able to do a turkey breast, though, and some cornbread dressing. We enjoyed the quiet couple of days with Rebecca and Chris before the excitement really started...

The next morning, Steve and I drove Rebecca's car to the airport to pick up Sara and Olivia. Picture a 42ft boat with five adults, one baby and three dogs. It was a little cramped, but it was fun. Olivia's favorite thing to do right now is read books. The same books. Over and over. We took turns at it. This was also her chance to open her presents from us. She's got the hang of this opening presents thing. She needs a little help getting the paper started, but then she's all over it!

Rebecca and Chris and their pups left on the 28th for home. Olivia was sad to see Auntie and Uncle go. She especially loves Auntie Becca's shoes (the red ones)! And she loves Bella and Remi - she talks about them all the time. Rebecca will be seeing us again tomorrow (Jan. 2). We are going home for doctor appointments.

Sara and Olivia stayed until today (Jan. 1). We did lots of reading, went for stroller walks, went to the playground, had dinner at the local Yacht Club and visited the Salvador Dali Museum. Olivia wasn't really impressed with the museum, but Sara read the signs and got her out before there was a melt-down. At the Yacht Club we were seated in a nicer dining room than I was expecting, but with some short walks to look at Christmas decorations Olivia did pretty well. The marina here had a New Year's Eve pot luck last night, and the city had two rounds of fireworks - 9pm and midnight. Olivia was afraid of the noise at first, but then decided she liked them. She slept through the midnight celebration.

Steve just got back from taking the girls to the airport. We are watching football and getting the boat ready for us to leave a few days. It is very quiet now. We enjoyed our time with our children and grandchild. That is the best Christmas present of all! Needless to say, we haven't had any time lately to look at charts. There will be time for that when we get back from Savannah. We'll let you know when we leave St. Pete!