And, we're back!  We've had a fun couple of days playing in Tampa and St Pete and now we are resting comfortably at the Pink Shell beach resort and marina.  As part of our fee, they have put us up here and the place is actually pretty nice!  There were very few folks out on the beach this afternoon and even fewer at dinner so we've basically had the run of the place tonight which is pretty sweet.

If you are ever in Tampa or Ybor City, we can DEFINITELY recommend the Columbia!  We had a lobster flatbread for an appetizer and we washed it down with a wonderful Sangria de Cava (white sangria).  Man, that was some kinda good.  For our entree, Beth dined on a spectacular paella and I had a tasty dinner called the Joe and Maryln - named after the famous duo who evidently argued there at the Columbia many moons ago. 

Clearwater beach and St Pete beach were both absolutely run over with beachgoers and tourists (damn tourists!) and the roads around each beach were far too tiny for this herd of people.  We finally found our landing spot at the St Petersburg pier and it was a really good time. The breeze was blowing across the top deck where we swilled fruity drinks and watched the sailboats come in and out of the St Petersburg harbor.  Honestly, we could have stayed there for hours (and kinda did) watching and critiquing the sailboats and their captains.  We stayed there quite a while but finally headed towards Ft Myers and our sailing lessons.  Things are about to get real here people!

When we hit Fort Myers, home of the elderly, we saw a woman driving by herself in a golf cart so we knew we were truly in Fort Myers.  As she was creeping along a path outside of a retirement community Beth started giggling  as we realized the woman was actually walking her dog from the comfort of her golf cart!  Too funny! Unfortunately, a hawk (Beth, do you think it was a hawk?  I KNOW it was a Hawk - it hit MY side of the car!) paid the ultimate price for our visit to Fort Myers for sailing lessons.  For some reason, this Japanese Kamikaze hawk decided to take on the side of our car in a do or die flight across the road.  Well, he didn't.  From out of nowhere he swooped down and struck the side of the car where Beth was sitting.  In an instant, Beth was shrieking in horror as she was face to face with our confused winged attacker.  I'm pretty sure she'll be seeing that sucker in her dreams tonight!

So, that's a recap of our last two days.  Tomorrow at 8:50 AM EST, we'll meet our Captain and we'll introduce ourselves as his Tennille's for the week.  We are hopeful that he has a sense of humor and a caring heart as we aren't sure what all we've retained from our first two courses which were nearly a year ago.  No turning back now!  The water was extremely calm tonight (which we are thankful for) so we are hopeful that's a better omen than the kamikaze hawk episode.  Here's to fair winds and forgiving captains!