Calling all Scientologists or wannabes. We had no idea what Clearwater has become for this belief. Their “Flag” building is located here.
The Flag Building, also referred to as the Super Power Building, is the largest building in Clearwater, FL. It is owned by the Church of Scientology and was built principally to deliver thesuper powr rundown, a high-level Scientology training course intended to train Scientologists to use what Scientology describes as all of their 57 “perceptics” or senses. The interior of the building contains training suites, course rooms, theaters and various devices intended to test these “perceptics,” including a “time machine”, an anti-gravity simulator, an “infinite” pit, and a pain station.
The complex occupies a city block at 215 South Fort Harrison Avenue. It includes a 15-story tower topped by a bronzeScientology cross visible from much of Clearwater. Construction began in 1998, was halted in 2003, and was ultimately resumed to reach substantial completion during 2011. The long delay in construction led to substantial fines being levied by the city authorities. The building is valued at $80 million and at least $145 million was raised by Church fundraising towards the project. It covers at least 1 square block. Scientologists and their companies have purchased many other buildings around The Flag. Many are left dormant and empty. It is their idea to create a Scientology City and they have picked Clearwater to be that city. We wander around through the city and see busses of young people going into the building. All wear the bus boy look with black pants, black vest and white shirt. There is a donation area for used items from the public as well.
We head to the beach for awhile which is across the causeway from the marina. On the beach there is the typical touristy bars, restaurants and shops all busy for a beautiful afternoon in the sun. The sand is a crystal white which is one of the reasons folks flock here.
We also find a few places to play pickleball. We uber to one area and find decent playtime with fun folks. There is a basketball/pickleball area near the beach that becomes our choice of play spots. We can get “Otter” out and dingy to the free day dock, walk across a small pedestrian bridge and the 3 courts are right there. The play is better than the other place and offers many more players. We did have to wait our turns to play more here but coming later has proven to be better to get those elusive “good” games.
Scott is still working on the mercathode fault. I think he knows more about pod faults now that are above the waterline than the techs do. Have I mentioned how brilliant this guy is? Narrowing it down he discovers that we have zinc anodes on the boat but aluminum on the trim tabs. Another design flaw with Prestige. This creates a problem with mixing the two metals in anodes. So now he will order aluminum for the entire boat and see where the fault takes us after that. Also we developed a problem under the floor in the front stateroom from crossing the gulf and being pounded for so many hours. He will likely tear up the floor to check what the sound is. Stay tuned for that fix.
We leave tomorrow for an anchorage at LongBoat Key just south of Sarasota.
