Sunset Sunday

On a lazy Sunday afternoon we decided to head over to the beach and grab something to eat and watch the sunset. We decided to go to the Hurricane Restaurant on Pass-A-Grille beach. The Hurricane sits across the street from the Gulf and has been there over 30 years. 

The rooftop bar offers a spectacular view of the Gulf

Outstanding fried grouper sandwich and shrimp tacos for dinner...now across the street to the beach

Cruise ship headed out from the Port of Tampa to points south

Palm trees, sand dunes and church steeples

Nothing like watching waves roll in

Great day for shelling

23 minutes until sunset the view is amazing

Sunset

A beautiful ending to a great day in Florida

The Columbia

Tampa is well known for all the great local restaurants we have...My favorite by far is the grand old Columbia Restuarant

The Columbia is the oldest operating restuarant in Florida and the oldest Spanish - Cuban restuarant in the United States

It has been in this same location in Ybor City on the corner of 7th Ave and 21st St. since 1905

The same family has owned and operated the Columbia for all of it's 111 years 

Inside and out it is a beautiful place. The tile work outside is beautiful

The entry way

Inside it's many dining rooms are also beautiful and a great atmosphere

The food is spectacular...starting with a 1905 salad and ending with the amazing and not to be missed guava turnover

Places like this make the Cigar City special...if you are in Tampa don't miss the Columbia

Pearl Harbor

We visited Hawaii a few years ago. This blog will be some pictures I took at the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor

Everyone has seen the images from December 7, 1941 of the Arizona as she lies burning in Pearl Harbor

The scene is much more serene today as you look across the harbor at the Arizona Memorial and the mighty USS Missouri keeping watch

At the visitors center you board a boat and the Park Service takes you across to the Memorial

People are very quiet as they walk up the ramp. This is the final resting place for 1,102 of the 1,177 men that died on the Arizona

A gun turret sits above the water line

75 years later she is still leaking oil

And the most somber thing about the Memorial....the names on the wall

An aerial view that I did not take

As you leave the Arizona Memorial you can drive across the bridge to Ford Island and visit the USS Missouri

The 16 inch guns on the Mighty Mo

The spot on the deck where the Japanese signed the unconditional surrender ending World War II

For the final pic I am standing in a spot where you can see the beginning and the end of World War II in one photo

Tarpon Springs

Take a short drive west out of Tampa and you will come to the small  town of Tarpon Springs Florida known as the Sponge Capitol of the World

Before the arrival of the Greek divers sponges were usually speared and brought aboard. In the late 1880's hundreds of Greeks, who had perfected the art of deep sea diving and specifically sponge diving, came to Tarpon Springs

The mural on the wall of a shop illustrates a diver at work collecting sponges

Sponge boats used to line the river here and go out to the Gulf to harvest sponges

As the marker says the Gulf waters here are one of the few places in the world where sponges are found. As the industry grew more and more Greek divers came and made their homes here. A large Greek community still resides here today

By the 1950's sponging was nearly wiped out in the area. But in the late 1980's as conditions improved new sponge beds started growing. 

Today a visitor to Tarpon Springs can go on a boat and see a sponge dive or just take a tour and see the sights

On Dodecanese Blvd many shops and restaurants have made this a great way to spend the day

Charter boats available for fishing trips

Tarpon Springs...you can easily spend a day here walking and seeing the sights. A great way to spend and afternoon