Harvesting Sponges From the Sea

Jim and I drove into Tampa to take a look around the waterfront.  Tampa appears to be about the size of Seattle.  We ended up in a little Greek village called Tarpon Springs.

A hundred years ago, the Greek's descended upon this town to harvest sponges from the sea.  Gyros are the main theme for lunch.  The town is basically a boat marina for fishermen, Porpoise tour boats, and gift shops.  

If you look closely, there is an old lady standing in the doorway of this shop.  I stopped to stare into the store and waited for the lady to move.  When, after several seconds, she remained still, I discovered I was looking at a mannequin.  It was eerie!     



This fishing boat just arrived at the dock after 5 days at sea harvesting sponges.  Jim was right there checking it all out and asking questions.  The captain told us he makes from $80,000 to $100,000 a year selling the sponges to commercial wholesalers for processing.   Not too shabby!   



The good looking second hand man was washing the shrimp and other creatures out of the sponges.  Back breaking job!



See?




Of course, every little store along the waterfront sells, guess what,.......sponges!  I've never seen so many forms of sponges!



We had lunch at a place call Mama's, owned by a Greek couple, of course.

This was yesterday at the RV resort.  Ah,..... the life of Riley.



Fried Shrimp, BBQ Shrimp, Deep Fried Shrimp

Bubba Gump was right!  Shrimp and crab boats are a way of life in southern Georgia.  Every restaurant has shrimp, crab, and fried chicken on the menu.  What a hoot!

And, big bridges everywhere you drive that are high off the water so the large boats can get in and out of the waterways.  The savannas, which means flat grasslands in tropical regions, go on for miles.  This is the entrance to Jekyll Island off the Atlantic coast near Brunswick, GA. 

 St. Simons Island is next to Jekyll Island.   Aren't these homes grand with the big wrap-around porches?

 

The continual maintenance on this turn of the century home must be expensive.  This home is well preserved.



More ancient live oak trees along the ocean front.



Look at those good looking legs!



We had lunch at this pub and I decided to give ya'll a call from this old phone booth.  Actually it was for display only. 

These signs were hanging in the pub.  Would you look at that!!!

This large pier is located at Driftwood Beach on Jekyll Island and is used mainly by the fishermen.

We could see St. Simons Island across the bay.  You can barely see the lighthouse.

Here's 2 and 1/2 fishermen catching yellow tail and sea trout using live, small, shrimp for bait.  They had a bucket load of fish too! 



Ahhhhhhhh, the lady of leisure enjoying the sound of waves from the ocean.



Quite a board walk, huh?

We hated to leave this wonderful place, but our time was up at the RV park.  So we headed to Tampa, Florida which is where are are today.  We'll be here for a week exploring the islands and waterways along the gulf coast.  I'll be sure to take lots of photos.

   

Howdy from Savannah, GA Ya'll

Savannah, GA is a wonderful, beautiful, and historical city dating back to 1733, almost 100 years after Plymouth Rock.  Everywhere you look there are huge live oak trees, some as old as 800 years, draped with Spanish moss.  Just like I pictured it! 

Every 3 blocks is a park square with grass, walkways, benches, and big old live oaks that kids can swing on.  Some of the branches on these trees are 30 feet long.  Amazing that they've lived this long.  Cars have to drive around the center, sort of like a square round-about.  Very quaint!   

This building was where the Girl Scouts first met.

What's Savannah without a stern wheeler river boat.  For $20.00 per person, you can ride the Savannah River for an hour.  We opted out! 

We walked the board walk and visited a couple of tourist shops.  It was a gorgeous day for the occasion. 

Paula Deen has her famous restaurant call Lady and Sons located in an old historical building downtown.  If you don't know who she is, she has a southern cooking show on TV. 

Her restaurant is on the corner and her gift store is next door.  Her gift store is filled with kitchen gadgets, pots, pans, and other stuff, all with "Paula Deen" imprinted on every item.  She's really made a name for herself. 

We had a long walk back to our car.  Which reminds me about our drive into Savannah.  Jim was looking for 4 screws to mount our new bedroom fan.  I programmed "navagal" to look for a hardware store in Savannah.  Well, we drove through all the back streets, first left, then right and we thought navagal had lost her mind (way).  We were driving through a residential neighborhood when she said, "you have reached your destination".  Something must be wrong!!??  Here, nestled between apartment houses was this little "gift and hardware" store.  We parked and went in.....low and behold the owner had most everything we needed.  She said we could park in front of her store and walk to town from there, so we did.  That small hardware store was meant to be.  Saved us $20.00 in parking!  

Another one off my bucket list!

Have You Missed My Blog?

It's been awhile since my last entry as Jim and I flew from Atlanta, GA to Seattle, WA on October 28.  We were gone from the BAM for 13 days.  We had fun watching the grandkids go trick or treating in their Halloween costumes, celebrating Ian's 7th birthday, my ...__... birthday, and watching Jim's daughter, Sarah, marry a wonderful, good looking guy, Justin.  They're currently in Hawaii on their honeymoon.   This is NOT them! 

The one on the left is my beautiful daughter-in-law on Halloween.  He He!

Raea (left), friends, and Ian on the right.  They were so excited.

Rebecca and her friends.

Raea and her buddies getting their soccer metals

Ian and his buddies getting their soccer metals at a pizza party.

 Sarah asked if I would take care of the wedding rehearsal dinner on Friday, Nov. 5 at the Winters House in Bellevue.  Justin's parents live in Montana and were unable to prepare the dinner.  Of course I agreed.  The dinner for 37 people was well received and appreciated.  I really enjoyed doing something special for Sarah and Justin.

Notice the upside bowl with lights and tool material inside with the flowers sitting on top.  It was a beautiful way to light up the table and display the beautiful roses.   

Aren't they a handsome couple?  After lunch, Sarah was kidnapped (by who I don't know) and in order to get her back to the mansion, all wedding attendance had to fill Justin's shoe with ransom money.  $300.00 was raised, Sarah was returned to the mansion, and the money was presented to the happy couple.

Bubbles were everywhere!

The photographer took hundreds of  photos of the happy occasion and I think some of them will soon be posted on the Internet.

It was nice to go home to Washington to visit with the family, but just as nice to return to the warm, sunny weather in Georgia!

Stay tuned!