Monday, December 7, 2009

Now this is the Florida we’ve been looking for! It was close to 70°F in the morning with sunny skies and flat water. The homes and businesses along the channel were brightly painted and the pelicans, gulls and dolphins were out enjoying the day.
We left our anchorage at 9:30 am and backtracked a few miles to the Dunedin Municipal Marina where we had secured a place at the end of one of their docks for the night. Upon arriving at the marina, we found it tightly packed with sailboats and a few small fishing and power boats. We made our way to the only available space that could accommodate us and secured the boat.

Maureen talked to Craig and made a date to meet tonight on Blue Heron and then go out to eat. We busied ourselves with the cleaning chores and headed to the showers about 3:30 pm. Craig arrived shortly after 4 pm and found Gale and Lucy on the boat. The three of them went for a short walk and waited for Maureen to finish in the showers. She was very excited to see her brother and they enjoyed a very happy reunion! Craig mentioned that Dawn was sorry she wasn’t with him tonight, but she wasn’t feeling the greatest and needed to rest.

Craig took us for a ride around Dunedin to help orient ourselves with the downtown area then we pulled into Sea Sea Riders for dinner – a place where Craig and Dawn like to eat. After a wonderful dinner and even better conversation and company, we parted ways with Craig and walked across the street to the marina. We took Lucy out for a little walk and ran into the toy poodle, Alexander, along with his master, whom Lucy had met earlier in the day. We introduced ourselves to Alex’ owner, Walt, and learned that he was aboard the trawler anchored outside of the marina. Walt and his 85-year old mother were living on his boat full time and had been in Dunedin for about three months. Walt’s mother was having some health issues and they had found a doctor at the hospital that they liked very much. We also met Diver Bill who was waiting for his girlfriend, Kathy, to return from the grocery store. Bill and Kathy were living aboard his sailboat which was also anchored off the channel near the marina. He offered to take us to the grocery store in his van whenever we wanted to go. We learned from Walt and Bill that there is usually a third boat anchored with them – a German nudist – but he had taken his boat to Key West for three weeks to attend some kind of festival. We hated to ask – Which festival??

Gulf Crossing - Sat/Sun, Dec 5th & 6th. 2009

It was another chilly morning with a gusty northwest wind. We spent some time on the daily chores as we listened to the marine weather forecast. Gale was thinking about taking out across the Gulf today since he didn’t want to wait around for the 28°F freezing temperatures that were forecast overnight – Maureen was tending toward waiting until Sunday or Monday when the seas wouldn’t be as rough. In the end, the Captain convinced the First Mate to leave this morning so we called Craig and Dawn, Maureen’s brother and sister-in-law in Clearwater, and left messages with Gale’s son, Casey, and his friend, Bob, to let them know that if they didn’t hear from us by sunset on Sunday night, to call out the Coast Guard.

We gathered our foul weather gear, including sweaters, hats, gloves, boots, rain coats and the survival suits,
and went through our usual sailing checklist before pulling the anchor at 11 am and setting our sights on Clearwater. We motorsailed all the way and averaged about 7 knots for most of the trip. The skies were clear and the waters were rough – we experienced 6 to 8 foot seas throughout the night. The moon came up about 9 pm which helped to light the way but it wasn’t enough to keep the seasickness at bay for Maureen.
She was okay during the day and did all the driving when she could keep her eye on the horizon, but once the sun went down it was all over. She was able to relieve Gale for an hour or so a few times, but not as much as she would have liked. Gale had a bout of seasickness during the night which, thankfully, passed after he was able to get a brief rest.





With a 10 to 23 knot northwest wind behind us, we made the 180-mile crossing to the ICW at Tarpon Springs in 23 hours and then spent another couple of hours traveling the last few miles to Clearwater where we found the dock at Frenchy’s Saltwater Café just before 1 pm and tied up for the afternoon. Lucy was happy to get off the boat and go for a walk – she had not rested since we left Alligator Harbor!

After our walk, we napped for an hour, took showers and then left Lucy on the boat to rest while we enjoyed a nice meal at Frenchy’s. Gale had the Grouper Reuben sandwich and Maureen chose the She Crab Soup and salad. Excellent!
After dinner we moved the boat a few yards north of the café’s dock and dropped anchor for the night. We were in bed by 7 pm and slept the clock around in this quiet anchorage.

Friday, December 4, 2009

We pulled anchor at 8:45 am and said goodbye, for now, to Ladybug and Dahlin. The skies were overcast and it was a cool 50°F, but we were in protected waters and the current and tide were with us so at 2200 rpm our speed was a swift 7.5 knots. We were unable to maintain that speed for long, though, and averaged around 5.7 to 6.2 knots for most of the day.

With the overcast skies and chilly temperatures, we were very glad to have the isinglass up in the cockpit. It rained most of the day and the isinglass kept the wind and rain outside. With the heater running in the cabin, we could leave the door open into the cockpit and heat that, too!

The original plan for the night was to anchor on the east end of Dog Island at Tyson’s Harbor. At 2:15 pm we stopped at The Moorings Marina in Carrabelle to top off the fuel and refill our fresh water tanks and inquired about anchoring at Dog Island. The staff recommended that we avoid Tyson’s Harbor because in the winter, it was way too shallow. How shallow was that? “Dry,” was the response. They suggested we try Alligator Harbor which was about 15 miles east of Carrabelle. At 3 pm, it was going to be difficult to get to our new destination before dark, but we went for it anyway.






We arrived at the entrance to Alligator Harbor at 5:15 pm as the sun was setting. There was just enough light for us to find a great spot and set the anchor before it became too dark. We enjoyed grilled chicken and potatoes for dinner even though Gale had to stand out in the rain for a short time to tend to the food. The wind and waves rocked us to sleep and we rested comfortably all night long.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

After 27 days at Port St. Joe Marina, we were on the move again! We waved goodbye at 1:30 pm and continued our search for warmer weather. Our decision to take the ICW to Carrabelle rather than traveling “on the outside” through the Gulf from Port St. Joe had just as much to do with the forecast as the fact that our Gulf crossing would be shortened by about 30 miles if we started it from Carrabelle. We fought the current during the first five miles of the trip as we traveled through the channel between Port St. Joe back to the ICW. After turning east, the current eased somewhat and we started making better progress.




The afternoon weather turned sunny and warm making for a very pleasant journey. The anchorage we had in mind for the evening was just west of Apalachicola at Saul Creek where we were planning to meet Ron and Cindy of Ladybug, and Bob and Suzie of Dahlin who had left Port St. Joe a few minutes before us. It’s always fun to ask people how they named their boats. Dahlin was so named because Bob, who is from Alabama, always calls his sweetie Dahlin’. Ladybug is for luck since many think that if a ladybug lands on you, it is a good omen. Ron and Cindy’s previous boat was named Double Lucky.

Late in the afternoon, Gale turned on the water faucet and couldn’t get any pressure. He made sure the manual pump had not been engaged and then checked the tank. It looked like it was empty! Checking the bilge, he found it full of water – the hose clamp had vibrated loose and came off emptying the port side tank. Fortunately, we had extra clamps on board and Gale was able to make the repair. Since we were getting close to our anchorage, we saved the part of the job where we had to pump out the bilge for tomorrow.




We arrived at Saul Creek at 5:30 pm and found our friends rafted together and tucked back into a side creek. We prefer to anchor solo rather than rafting up, so we looked for an anchoring spot nearby. Our depth gauge showed 50 feet but the charts indicated it should be 8-10 feet at that point. We hailed Ladybug to find out what kind of depth they had and were told that it was 13 feet. We thought our gauge might be malfunctioning so we dropped the anchor. It was not malfunctioning – we had, evidently, found a big hole. We let out all the chain and some of the line. We also put the stern anchor out to keep us from swinging too much. Obviously, we could have brought the anchor back up and looked for a shallower spot, but we were happy with the holding and stayed where we were.

After getting set, we were invited to join everyone for dinner aboard Dahlin. Bob was making beef roast and Cindy was preparing her peach cobbler to serve with Blue Belle ice cream. Russ said it would be awhile before we ate, but we were welcome to come over and enjoy happy hour(s). We put our own dinner preparations back in the refrigerator, made an hors d’oeuvre to share, and motored over to the big boats for dinner.

We enjoyed a fun evening with great conversation, wonderful food and new friends and surprised ourselves upon discovering that it was after 11:30 pm when we finished dinner! There aren’t many nights we can say we’ve stayed up until midnight!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

It rained and rained and rained last night! It seemed to let up around 4 or 5 am, but only to a sprinkle followed by heavy rain and wind for most of the remainder of the morning. In addition to all the marine warnings mentioned in yesterday’s journal, there was a tornado watch for our immediate area. The thunderstorms were severe but there wasn’t a lot of thunder and lightning. Maureen tried to do some computer work during the strongest wind, but ended up feeling nauseated and had to lie down until it passed over. Gale worked on charting our intended and alternate courses from Port St. Joe to Tarpon Springs to Clearwater and beyond.

The afternoon skies started clearing some and the rain let up. Late in the afternoon, we ventured out to the showers and to let Lucy go for a walk. She was so eager to get off the boat that she misjudged her leap to the dock and fell in! No problem – she just swam to the stairs at the back of the boat while Maureen gave her a little boost back aboard. We pulled the boat close to the dock and stepped off without difficulty the second time.

We learned that many of the Loopers at Port St. Joe Marina were planning to eat at the Sunset Coastal Grille tonight and if we were interested, we needed to add our name to the list. Sounded like fun to us so we joined the group at 6 pm and spent a couple of hours getting to know some of these people a little better.



Just as we had finished eating, Clara, the manager of the marina, called to say that the water was rising over the transient dock and we needed to return as soon as possible. Since we had moved Blue Heron a few days ago, we were no longer on the lower “lay along” dock and did not have to step through any water to get to our boat. One of the cruising boats in a covered slip, had to move to the fuel dock because their fly bridge was getting too close to the overhead covering. The tide was about five feet, rather than the usual 1-1/2 to 2 feet. High surf and coastal flood warnings were now added to the Gale and Small Craft Advisories. There was a little bit more rain during the night, but the tide went back down to more normal levels and there were no further problems at the marina.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

We prepared for another big blow! The forecast called for a Small Craft Advisory beginning today at 1 pm until late tonight when a Gale Warning was to take effect through Wednesday evening followed by another Small Craft Advisory through Thursday afternoon. Winds would begin coming in from the east this morning and then work their way clockwise around the compass headings, blowing from 15 to 20 to 35 knots, with gusts to 45 knots expected from the south and southwest Tuesday night and Wednesday. By Friday, the winds were to be back down to around 15 knots from the northeast. The seas were predicted to be 20 feet offshore tonight with numerous showers and thunderstorms as well as a much higher than normal tide. A cold front was definitely on its way.

Since Wednesday was supposed to be very rainy and windy, we bought our groceries, did our laundry, retied the lines, put up the isinglass and battened down the hatches. In the past few days, several Loopers had arrived at the marina and were planning to stay put until the seas calmed. Many folks were anxious to get on their way, but they were not foolish enough to set out under these conditions. We were among those looking forward to moving on to the next port and warmer weather.

We actually ate out twice today – both times at the Dockside Café. For lunch, Maureen tried the chili and Gale had the jambalaya – both were excellent. At 5 pm, during Happy Hour, we shared the 2 for 1 oyster special – meaning you were served 2 dozen oysters on the half shell for the price of a dozen. As our friend, Tim, put it, these things were “as big as cow’s tongues!” It was our understanding that 60 percent of the oysters produced for the US come from Apalachicola Bay. They were very tasty, indeed – and, according to Maureen, so was the key lime margarita!

Leaving the restaurant at 6:30 pm, we discovered that the rain had begun.

Monday, November 30, 2009

From 10 am to noon, we had a young man, Ben Russ, aboard the boat who was trying to help diagnose and repair the problem we’d been having with our WiFi connection. We had met Ben at Radio Shack a week or so ago when we stopped in to see if anyone there could give us a clue as to why the computer wasn’t working properly. Yesterday, we saw Ben at his second job at McDonalds and asked him if he would have time to stop by. After checking various settings and trying different things, Ben was as puzzled about it as we were. He didn’t think it was the computer, but rather something to do with the marina’s router and WiFi settings. Hopefully that is the case and everything will work fine at the next stop.

During the afternoon while Maureen updated the blog, Gale did some more of those little projects that make you feel like you accomplished something – he put together a safety bag that included all of our small pieces of safety equipment in one place and could be easily grabbed in case of an emergency; he also did a little more work on the mast cleat, the lower unit, and the insulation projects that he started yesterday. Gale was able to get a short workout in before we joined several others at 4 pm for a cocktail party sponsored by the marina where we met many of the Loopers who had come into the marina in the last few days.

After the gathering, we toured Russ and Cindy Varney’s Ladybug, a 40’ Mainship trawler. They invited us to go out to dinner with them and the couple they were traveling with but we declined since we already had our dinner planned at home. Just as we got back on our boat, it started raining heavily and continued for a couple of hours.

Higher than usual tides were predicted for tonight. The normal tide is less than two feet but with the approaching weather system and full moon, the tide could be as much as five feet.