The Crossing

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Our biggest challenge so far lies before us.  We must travel 175 miles from Carrabelle in the Florida panhandle to Clearwater on Florida's west coast.  We will be 45 - 50 miles offshore.  With calm seas, we can travel 9 mph, so the crossing will take 20+ hours.  Rougher seas may slow us and lengthen our travel time to as long as 22 hours; hopefully no longer!  Ideally we need to be able to see most clearly leaving port in Carrabelle and arriving in Clearwater, hence we will depart in daylight and arrive the next day, also in daylight.


Two other boats are also in Carrabelle waiting to cross and we are all conferring on the various weather forecasts.  One boat, another "looper" (boat cruising the Great Loop route) has a weather service subscription and is getting daily updates on the best time to leave.  His forecast is not significantly different from the forecasts we are seeing.  We expected the winds and seas to lay down this morning but at 2 pm, the wind is still blowing 20+ knots.  Finally by 3 pm, the winds start to lay and by 5 pm, we decide we need to leave lest the wind pick back up Monday as some models predict.

So off we go, crossing St. George Sound.  So far, so good with flat seas, although the Sound is quite sheltered.

Now in the open Gulf, the "farewell buoy" is visible behind us.  This is the last buoy we will see before Clearwater.  We touch base with the other boats heading out before we lose our cell phone signal and the VHF radio is out of range. Seas still look pretty good with 1' - 2' waves.

Sunset!  Soon we will be in total darkness.  Seas are now 2' - 3', which is still a comfortable ride for our heavy boat with stabilizers.  No word from the other 2 boats.  One went east to try to find calmer seas, and will go into Tarpon Springs, up the coast from Clearwater.  The other boat goes much faster than we do and will leave early tomorrow morning.

By 7:30 pm the last light fades and we are left with the most spectacular view of the stars I can recall seeing.  The Milky Way is visible as a dense disk of stars, stretching horizon to horizon.  The only light, our running light on the top arch, reflects the radar slowly turning overhead, reassuring it will see any boats in our path. 




Monday, October 24, 2016

Now the challenge is to stay awake.  Robert and I are alternating 4 hour shifts, trying to get a little sleep when not on duty.  Watch the radar, check the gauges (engine temp, oil pressure, battery charge, generator gauges), check the engine room, adjust our course ...  Our course is held by the autopilot, but we need to tweak it occasionally to stay on course.  Music on our satellite radio helps.  By midnight, the seas have built to 3' - 4' with occasional 5' waves.  It's getting pretty rock-and-rolly but we are still able to cruise at our maximum 8 knots.  We cannot see the waves, only feel their effect.  Boka is doing very well, considering this is her first overnight passage.

About 2:30 am, I notice a small dot of light on the horizon.  Is it some kind of ship?  Lighted buoy not on the charts?  I know I'm tired; am I hallucinating?  Soon it is crescent shaped, very bright.  Finally I realize it is the moon rising!  Woo hoo!  Light!  But only 30% visible, so not much help seeing anything, but welcome just the same.

Finally, 6:30 am and a soft glow is visible in the east.  

The seas are still rough, but the worst is over since the time goes so much more quickly when we can see.

Not much to photograph, so the sunrise is really welcome.

Time for coffee and an early breakfast.  Seas are calming, too.

Once the sun has fully risen, Boka is back on duty, watching for porpoise.  Don't tell her dogs don't have a long attention span.  She stared intently at the water for hours, watching for her buddies.  

Condos on Clearwater Beach come slowly into view.  Suddenly, we start seeing small floats marking submerged crab traps - really don't want to run over them!  It's hard to see the floats with the sun's glare on the water. 


We are now fully awake and watching intently for the next group of traps.  There must be hundreds!  We run a zig-zag course, dodging crab traps, for what seems like hours.  Finally we are through them and contact our marina for a slip assignment.







Exhausted, almost exactly 20 hours after leaving the dock at Carrabelle, we are tied up in the Clearwater Harbor Marina.  A BIG accomplishment is behind us!  We will stay here one week to rest, clean the boat, sight-see in this area and re-provision for our next leg down the west Florida coast.

Apalachicola & Carrabelle

Wednesday, October 19 - Saturday, October 22, 2016

Finally, we think we will get a weather window by the weekend and are on the move east.  We pass through a couple of land cuts / rivers, similar to those between Panama City and Port St. Joe.  Lake Wimico, shown here, lies between the cuts.

After an uneventful 30 mile, 4 hour cruise we arrive in Apalachicola.  The view from our dock on Scipio Creek illustrates the working seaport character of this small town.

l

The other face of this town is an upscale tourist destination with gorgeous, restored homes and city buildings dating to the 1830s when this was a major cotton shipping center.

Dr. John Gorrie practiced medicine in Apalachicola in the 1850s.  Motivated to relieve the suffering of his yellow fever patients, he designed the first known ice machine as a

way to cool the air in paient's rooms.  Although his motive was altruistic, his first public demonstration of his invention was at an elegant dinner party where his ice cooled many bottles of French champagne.





One of numerous historical buildings in town is the St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church.  Founded in 1866, the church is still active.

Lots of fun shops cater to a mix of tourists coming from all over the southeastern states.  Robert found lots to look at, including a fly fishing shop and this high-end outfitter.

Boka even found her favorite shop.  Free treat samples - yum!










Lot's of old, restored buildings offered important items for purchase.










We had a delightful dinner at this upscale restaurant.

Our marina provided a golf cart to get around town.  We had a blast exploring.








This nice city pier extends into Apalachicola Bay.

A small but well maintained botanical garden was Carolyn's favorite stop.  She also enjoyed a gallery opening on Friday night.

We stayed in Apalachicola for a couple of nights longer than our original plan to wait for a cold front to blow through.  We are now heading to Carrabelle for our final stop in the Florida panhandle.

Our route crossed Apalachicola Bay and St. George Sound - lots of open, choppy, muddy water to dirty the boat, as the north wind is still blowing pretty hard.  After 30 miles and about 4 hours, we are at the mouth of the Carrabelle River.

At our marina for the night, we are invited to a big fish fry setting up right next to our slip.  Turns out the marina owner organized the event for a few of the local boaters and his friends.  We ate great locally-caught fish and met some interesting people.

The "looper" boats are starting to catch up to us.  Two other boats are planning "the crossing" in the next couple of days.  We are now safely in Clearwater, but I will save details of our passage for the next post.  Stay tuned ...

Waiting for weather window

Monday, October 17. 2016

We are still in Port St. Joe!  We originally planned to stay here for 2 nights but we have been here for 3 weeks today and planning to stay 1 more night.  Ugh!  Can you spell "bored"?  This is really a charming town.  Here is the main shopping district.







Port St. Joe is an interesting town struggling to remake itself after a large paper mill closed about 20 years ago.  The old mill is gone and the marina was dredged on part of the property.  Targeting high end tourists, nice shops and restaurants have opened in historic downtown buildings.

We had a great dinner at Provisions last week and plan to go again before we leave.  They even have a dog-friendly patio!

Hike and bike trails are convenient to explore several lovely city parks, using loaner bikes from the marina.  Unfortunately there is no place close to rent a car, so we have been confined to nearby destinations.

As noted in previous posts, Robert has enjoyed wade fishing along the nearby shoreline.  We finally launched the dingy and have explored the area by boat and kayak.

And we have enjoyed a spectacular series of sunsets from our spot in the marina.








Our plan is to leave on Wednesday for the 30 mile trip to Apalachicola, then 40 miles on to Carrabelle on Thursday.

The Intracoastal Waterway ends at Carrabelle and begins again just north of Clearwater, due to the very shallow waters in the bend of Florida.  Clearwater is near Tampa on the west coast of the Florida peninsula.

Boats our size must cross the open waters of the Gulf to get to Clearwater, which will be a 22 hour overnight passage. We will wait in Carrabelle for a weather window to cross in calm seas (we hope)!

Guy stuff

Saturday, October 1, 2016


Maintenance
 
We've had no big mechanical issues but that still leaves the general maintenance on engines/strainers/generator and miscellaneous systems plus cleaning the boat, etc.

The vacuum pump on the master head required some maintenance. Fortunately a previous redesign of the pluming layout put it in a very accessible spot.

The master stateroom air-conditioner started tripping off with the digital display indicating a low AC voltage error. After trouble shooting with the service manual the control was re-calibrated and that fixed the problem.  All the problems should be this easy to fix.

The port engine continues to run 5-10 degrees hotter than the starboard engine. I flushed the raw water systems on both engines/gears while in Pensacola with Barnacle Buster and that helped a little. Next plan is to replace the engine thermostats which are readily accessible and spares are on board.

Anchor
 
The jury is still out on our new Vulcan/Rocna 122# anchor. We have had a couple of times where we have dragged in 20-30 feet of water while it was still buried (15-20 knot wind) and other times where when it came tight the bow dropped 12 inches with an immediate set. We are still trying different ways to get it to stay put.

Operation
 
I am very grateful that Buddy Moman, the previous owner who had the boat built, had the foresight to add the bow/stern thrusters and the wing stations as they make handling the boat very comfortable in close quarters.

Statistics

Currently we are in Port St. Joe about 50 miles south of Panama City. From Waterford Harbor we traveled 848 miles (GPS track) to Panama City, Florida where the fuel tanks were topped off. The engines ran 126 hours and the generator 273 hours. Several nights on the hook in 90+ degree temps with the generator on for AC and refrigeration really rack up the hours. Breaking down the engine and generator consumption, the engines burned 436 gallons or 3.4 gallons/hr and 1.94 mpg for the twin John Deere's and 164 gallons for the generator at 0.6 gallons/per hour. Engines were run at 1500-1600 rpm this gives us 8-9 mph depending on the current. Taking into account the generator time we have averaged 1.41 mpg for the 848 miles. As we reach cooler climates as well as the winter months the generator time will come down significantly.

Fun stuff

Finally took time to do a little wade fishing yesterday and again this morning. The water here looks like the Port Aransas east flats on a good day. There are miles of grass beds and sand pockets. Not another fisherman in sight. I am told it gets even better to the south. It is a long 200 yard hike from the boat to the sandy beach that runs for miles, all wadeable! Yesterday I caught 2 small trout and several rat reds, 2 small 6 to 8 inch grouper, a 12 inch barracuda, numerous skipjack and piggy perch on my favorite green Johnson sprite.

This morning I arrived a little earlier and lost count of the rat reds, 6 small grouper (not legal), more skipjack and piggys then into a nice school of reds. After landing a 23 inch red I tried to find the school again but with no success. Fresh redfish for dinner tonight.

Port St. Joe

Monday, September 26, 2016

We are moving east again, departing Panama City to cross East Bay, another large open bay.  Homes, grouped along the northern shore, become less frequent as we move further east away from major population centers.

We are starting to see some "Loopers", as we are called - boats doing the Great Loop.  This boat was heading west, but is typical of looper boats with dinghy in tow and "toys" on the decks - bicycles, kayaks, etc. 

We pass a shipyard which works on huge commercial vessels. This is a big offshore barge in dry dock.  Note the big slot at the rear where a tug boat would fit to push the barge securely in rough seas.

Boka Talks with Dolphins

Dolphins often swim alongside the boat.  Boka never tires of "talking" to them, way longer than our patience to listen to her!

East Bay narrows into a series of dredged creeks.  This modest home had botanical garden caliber landscaping in a very remote location.

Unspoiled woodlands line the banks.











We are finally tied up in Port Saint Joe.  This is a quaint, upscale beach town reminiscent of Port Aransas 20 years ago.  Two sporting goods stores are thriving while upscale clothing, interior decor and art galleries struggle to survive.

An historic lighthouse was recently moved from the nearby barrier island to this city park.

The sunset view from the park is stunning! 

Carolyn waits patiently on the sandy beach while Boka and Robert play in the clear, shallow water.

As we watch hurricane Matthew form and strengthen, the storm track predictions are so unsure at this time that we have decided to stay put a few extra days in Port St. Joe.  No need to go any further west until we are certain Matthew will not send stormy weather our way.





Friday, September 30, 2016

We are taking advantage of this friendly town while here.  This weekend is the Scallop Festival, mostly a music event featuring some local and regional talent.

Saturday, October 1, 2016
 
Dinner!  Robert's first keeper redfish from Florida waters.

I've been bugging Robert to do a "guy post" - boat stuff and such.  He finally relented, so his post will follow.