Sunday

We walked Toby in the neighborhood and then grabbed our Honeymoon Island pass and hopped on our bikes to spend the morning on the island. No plans other than that.

It was 81 degrees at 9:00 a.m. with a 10 mph breeze. Perfect for a walk on the beach.

The water was warm and clear.

The picture above shows how narrow the island is at this point. The Gulf of Mexico is on the left and St. Joseph's Sound is on the right, just 30 yards of sand separate the two.

We walked over to the sound side of the island to take a look.

Suddenly, a couple started waving at us. We waved back. Then realized they were our neighbors, two doors down. They had taken their boat out with their baby for his first boat trip. They told us we have been there to witness many of his "firsts": first walk outside, first carriage ride, first day with the nanny, and now first boat ride.

He seemed to be enjoying himself. We sent them pictures. 

Even though there are one million people in the county, Dunedin is still a very small town (pop. 36,500). We run into people we know all the time.

The water was spectacularly beautiful.

We had long stretches of beach with no people.

After we talked to our neighbors, we continued on to the north tip, determined to make it all the way. It's probably 2.5 miles from Bathhouse #3. 

Here, you can see Three Rooker Islands, which are the next islands in the chain. 

John is standing in the water on the north end of Honeymoon Island with Three Rooker Island behind him.

I think this is our second trip to the end of the island. It takes good timing to make it comfortably. If the tide is low, it's an easy walk. At high tide, you have to walk among the bushes and through thick sand.

Me, at the the northern tip of Honeymoon.

The near land is Three Rooker Island; the land in the background is Tarpon Springs. You can see the Duke Energy power plant smoke stack at Anclote (across the river from Tarpon Springs), about a third of the way from the left edge of the picture.

The blue dot shows the northern tip of Honeymoon Island, where we walked to.

This map shows our entire route in red. The blue house is our house on one end and the blue dot is the tip of the island. Half of the trip we made on bike and the other half on foot. Our feet have been exfoliated. It's a 6 mile bike ride to Bathhouse #3. Add 2.5 for the walk. That makes a 17 mile round trip. We were a bit peckish, hot, and dirty when we got home a little after noon. A great adventure.

The Pinellas Trail on the way home. We read that the county has completed the last leg of the 75 mile loop around the county, joining the Pinellas Trail with the Duke Energy Trail on the eastern side of the county. It's now possible to go from St. Petersburg to Tarpon Springs and back without turning around.

After a hearty lunch, we took Toby to Lake Saundra.

Then we headed downtown. We drove by the new City Hall under construction. It looks great!

Completion is slated for the fall, if I remember correctly.

Three boys enjoying the go cart adventure.

We took Toby to Salty Paws for some doggie ice cream for a belated ice cream treat. His birthday was June 20. There were five dogs in that small ice cream store at the same time. Toby behaved really well. One lady said one of the other dogs had "quite a personality." The dog was a little (a lot) mouthy.

Feeling the breeze in our hair on the way home.

We took our last walk of the day a bit early. Thunderstorms are predicted again.

Their arrival keeps getting pushed back, so who knows? Maybe the rain will pass us by tonight.

 

The open house we went to yesterday led to multiple offers, and the house is now pending. I think the lesson is: price it right and you’ll get offers. The three houses near us for sale were priced too high. Two of the three are being reduced every week. Still no offers. The third one is still listed for $899,900, although we heard a rumor that an offer has been made.

Today’s bike route out to Honeymoon Island 

Miles walked: 11.2

Miles biked: 11.55