We enjoyed a peaceful night on anchor outside the low bridge into Mullet Key. The weather was beautiful when we woke, but within the hour, as fast as a light switch being flipped, we were surrounded by impenetrable fog. One second it was clear; one second later we couldn’t see two feet past the perimeter of our boat. By late morning, the fog began to lift, and we slowly motored towards St. Petersburg Yacht Club, where we had reserved a slip for the night. St. Pete Yacht Club has a prime location in the bustling arts center of downtown, directly alongside a waterfront boardwalk that extends for miles. It is such a fun place to base for enjoying all the wonderful things this vibrant city has to offer.

We hadn’t fueled up since before the gulf crossing, and had intended to fill up at the yacht club fuel dock on our way in. It was our bad luck that a large yacht arrived to the club shortly before us and took every last drop of fuel in yacht club tanks. The dockmaster said a fuel truck was on its way, but that it worked kind of like the cable repairman, you never really knew when or if it would show up. After completing our repairs, we waited for the fuel delivery for most of the day, but finally had to abandon that plan and move to the next marina since George needed to be tucked in there before a scheduled conference call.

Harborage Marina, just two marinas over from the yacht club along the same waterfront, was to be our home for the next three nights. It is a tight marina, and to get to our slip, George had to back Assisted Living down the entire length of the fairway to our assigned slip at the very end. Our next-door dock neighbor came out to assist with our lines, and when he saw our hailing port of Panama City, told us that he was from Defuniak Springs. Such a small world – he knew George’s surgical partner from Defuniak, Adrian Rivard. George jumped on a conference call, and I tidied up in preparation for a visit from a sailing friend, Laura Muma. It was such a treat to catch up with Laura and to hear about her work with The America’s Cup, Sail GP, and the World Surfing League. When George was able to join us, Laura took us to a great restaurant and gave us a nice tour of some of her favorite spots in St. Pete.

We woke up to a chilly 50 degrees! and bundled up to start our bicycle tour of museums. First on the list was Imagine Museum, an innovative museum filled with gorgeous blown glass art. We spent the entire morning there, and could have happily stayed longer, but there were too many other museums we also wanted to see. After a quick lunch, we spent the afternoon at the St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts, enjoying both their fine permanent collection, and a special Caravaggio exhibit. With the last bit of daylight, we biked along the long waterfront boardwalk and explored the St. Petersburg Pier.

We joined a docent led tour and after he pointed out the nuances and different ways to view several paintings, I became convinced that Dali was a genius. There is one painting where an angel (Dali’s muse, his wife Gala) is gazing up at Christ being crucified, but the view of Christ is painted as a direct view from above so all you see is the top and back of Christ’s head hanging down and his arms stretched out along the cross beam. There is a diffuse swirl of red and orange where His left hand is nailed to the cross, and some think this represents Christ’s blood.  The view of the angel gazing at Christ is set in dark cubist blocks that create the outline of a cross. That perspective alone was fascinating in and of itself, but then the docent pointed out that if you backed up and viewed the painting from a distance, through your phone, or with your eyes squinted, you clearly see the painting as a whole as a portrait of the head of Abraham Lincoln, and the red orange swirl is the bullet wound where Lincoln was shot in the head. Discreetly near the bottom of the painting, Dali had glued a small copy of the traditional portrait of Lincoln. Time and again, the docent pointed out surrealist paintings where at first glance you see one thing, and then if you look at it again or from a different angle or distance, you see something else altogether. Genius.

We ended up spending the entire day at the Dali Museum. After the docent tour, and going back to look at all the paintings on our own, we went to the museum’s Dali Dome, and enjoyed a 40-minute immersive experience of Dali’s art in 360 degrees.

We had a quiet New Year’s Eve dinner onboard Assisted Living, then took a nap to wait for the fireworks at midnight. From our boat, we had a good view of the extensive fireworks show at the St. Pete Pier. George set up his camera tripod and captured some great photos.