Today, we make the 190 mile+ Gulf crossing to Clearwater, Florida.
We wake up to fog…again.
It is 7am. The sun seems like it is trying to burn away the fog. We wait a bit and hope for clearer skies.
By 9 AM, it looks much clearer. The gulf wave forecast today calls for epic calmness. We want to take advantage of the flat seas, so we compromise with the little bit of fog.
The closer we travel to the inlet, the foggier it gets.
Sun is struggling to dissipate the dense fog.
Well, our “little bit” of fog morphed. This is our view for approximately 160 miles (8 hours) of our 190 mile trip. Our own eyes are useless. Our vision is strictly instrument dependent. The charts and radar will be our only guides for this crossing. Our “epic” trip was definitely “epic”, just not in the way we thought! But, at least the gulf was calm, 1 foot or less, thankfully!
Finally, around 4 PM we break out of the fog! If only the whole crossing was like this!
The sun is already making its descent.
We are thrilled to see Clearwater with our own eyes! For us, its not Clearwater; its Clearair!
While we definitely see many buildings, along the coastline, with hurricane damage, it is nice to see that Clearwater’s pirate ship weathered the storm and is resuming its tours.
We pass the Ultimate Waterfront Compound. Yes, that is its official name. Boasting 20 bedrooms, 20 bathrooms, and 16,000+ square feet, the name fits! For $39,000,000, you can own the Ultimate Waterfront Compound as it is currently on the market!
As the Clearwater Municipal Beach Marina is still closed from hurricane damage, we will dock at the Clearwater Harbor Marina, which is in the city of Clearwater, across the bay from Clearwater Beach.
Remnants of Clearwater Beach Municipal Marina.
Clearwater Harbor Marina is adjacent to the newly built (2023) Coachman Park. The park is very nice!
A splashpad for the kids!
A playground, near a bridge, but not quite under it!
For those of you not from Cincinnati, in November 2024, a massive playground, situated under The Big Mac Bridge ( major bridge across the Ohio River) caught fire melting the bridge beams causing 13 million dollars in damages, along with traffic nightmares, as the southbound lanes were closed for weeks.
Who knew a playset could take out a bridge!
Coachman Park also boasts a music venue called The Sound. It has 4,000 shaded seats and 5,000 lawn seats. The weekend we are here, Alice Cooper is performing.
On Saturdays, Coachman Park is the site of a very nice and large farmer’s market. They have many varied food and retail vendors participating.
Along with other various displays!
From Coachman Park, you can easily access Clearwater by climbing the steps to downtown.
The main hub is Cleveland Avenue where you can find many restaurants and bars. The street is shut off from traffic, except for bicycles.
Unfortunately, we see many shuttered buildings in what appears to be an up and coming main entertainment and tourist area for Clearwater. If you assume the many vacancies are the result of hurricane damage, or a failing economy, you would be wrong. In fact, the truth of these buildings remaining vacant, hindering downtown’s economic growth, is quite surprising. The root cause: The Church of Scientology.
This is the historic Fort Harrison Hotel, famously known as the place where the Rolling Stones wrote the song ” I can’t get any Satisfaction” and as the home to the Philadelphia Phillies during spring training. Since 1975, the historic hotel is no longer open to the public. The Church of Scientology, under a shell company, purchased the hotel for organizational purposes. One such use is for their Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF), a program used to punish the Sea Org staff members for “serious deviations.” RPF participants are subject to prison-like conditions, forced labor and other human rights violations. Over the years, there has been at least 3 suspicious deaths at the hotel. In 1997 alone, Clearwater police received over 160 emergency calls from the Fort Harrison Hotel, but they were denied entry into the hotel by Scientology security.
Beginning in 1975, The Church of Scientology began its takeover of the city of Clearwater. The Church of Scientology now owns approximately 101 acres and 185 properties in downtown Clearwater. The last remaining major landowner, not attached to Scientology, sold his 58 million real estate portfolio to them in 2024. They are now the primary landowner of Clearwater, controlling what businesses and developments fill their downtown buildings and vacant lots. They can purposely chose to keep the land and buildings vacant, thwarting future city development, until they decide how and what businesses can occupy these properties. This appears to to be exactly what they are doing today. It is estimated that approximately 72% of their holdings are tax-exempt by claiming religious exemption. City leaders are in a quandary!
We spent a couple days in Clearwater visiting friends from Cincy who were in the area escaping from the snow. A special thanks to Kathy and Mike Haines for picking us up and treating us to a pizza lunch!
Also, thanks to Richard and Maura Johnson for a wonderful dinner at their Clearwater Beach condo. Finally, a perfect sunset night!
Another celebration of neighborly friendships of 30+ years at a restaurant appropriately named Clear Sky!
Well the skies didn’t remain Clear that long!
Here it comes…
Rolling in.
Next stop: Longboat Key, Florida for an extended stay.
2 thoughts on “Carrabelle, FL to Clearwater, FL (The Gulf Crossing)”
Yikes! My only clarification is that Christian Scientists are a different group entirely. Founded by Mary Baker Eddy.
The Church of Scientology is based on writings of L. Ron Hubbard.
We stayed at the Clearwater Marina in early August 2024. They were planning a closure for dock repairs. I guess we didn’t get far enough into the town to learn about that. Thanks for your blog, it is always so interesting
Yikes! My only clarification is that Christian Scientists are a different group entirely. Founded by Mary Baker Eddy.
The Church of Scientology is based on writings of L. Ron Hubbard.
We stayed at the Clearwater Marina in early August 2024. They were planning a closure for dock repairs. I guess we didn’t get far enough into the town to learn about that. Thanks for your blog, it is always so interesting
Kate, thanks for the edit! You are so right! I meant Church of Scientology and changed it appropriately! Thanks for the correction!