Moving on South

Leaving Clearwater Beach.  Follow that thar pirate ship
& seize the booty!  At least get their rum!

We left Clearwater Beach on Sunday May 26 for a cheaper marina in St Pete.  Because the winds had kicked up, and because we had had enough rock and rolling this past week, we decided to run the inside ICW to St Pete, rather than going outside.  We soon found out just how crazy the narrow ICW can be with countless boaters zooming around at full speed on a holiday weekend.  Once we got south of Clearwater, the boat traffic wasn't as bad, and we began to enjoy the weather and the scenery.

He caught the fish......now he has to swallow it!

We ended up at Maximo Marina on the south side of St Petersburg, just off the ICW.  We hadn't seen this marina in about 50 years, when Sue's brother was the dockmaster here.  Additionally, Sue used to live in this neighborhood from 1966-1970, when she was dating the Deck Ape.  We went to find the old house & I talked about where in the back yard that I got down on one knee & proposed to her.  As they say, the rest is history (at our ages, there's more & more history!) 

To top it all off, we were visited by Sue's nephew & family from the east coast of Florida, who just happened to be visiting their daughter & family from Seminole FL, who brought along some relatives of the relatives. So we concluded a very enjoyable day at the "golden arches" having some ice cream.

We plan to stay at this marina for a week.  Tomorrow we rent a car to drive back to Panama City to retrieve our car (6 hours each way).  We want to visit other relatives in the area this week, plus visit the Salvadore Dali museum in St Pete.  We hope to go to the local beaches where Sue used to go, and then drive to Bradenton & Sarasota to sightsee.  When we finally leave by boat, we'll leave our car here until we get to Florida's east coast, and then retrieve our car to head back to TN for a couple weeks to care for Sue's mom.

Memorial Day (a.k.a. Decoration Day) decorations

Clearwater Beach

We spent 2 days & 2 nights amid the hustle of a major tourist beach on Memorial Day weekend.  Can you say "traffic jams & bodies everywhere"?  Our marina was right across the street from the beach, adjacent to the Causeway Bridge, so it was an easy walk to go squish some snow-white powder sand between our toes.


The very broad Clearwater Beach with powder sand


We checked out a couple restaurants & attended "Sunset at Pier 60" at the city pier, along with a couple thousand of our closest friends.  Apparently, it's a big deal for the tourists to watch the sun set into the Gulf of Mexico.  I guess not too many of those folks cruise their boat overnight across a corner of the Gulf & routinely see gorgeous sunsets & a huge orange full moon rising out of the blackness. 




Sunset at Clearwater Beach Pier 60




















We were amused at all the different tourist amusements (traps) which were offered along the beach.  For example, people actually pay money to go on a boat ride to see dolphins, when we've seen hundreds of them during the past 2 months.  I decided to photograph what I think were the tackiest tourist transports & let you vote for the worst one.  They all passed right in front of our boat.  See the following 3 photos & place your bets!

Tacky trap #1 - Pirate ship

Tacky Trap #2 - Sea Screamer

Tacky Trap #3 - Shark Bait

The Formidable "Crossing"

The reason we had to travel 184 miles to our next port is that our boat draws 4.5' of water, and the topography of Florida's "Big Bend" area has no port or protected anchorage which is deep enough for the Admiral's yacht.  The reason it takes us 18-19 hours to do this is because we are a "crawler" which travels at only 10 mph.  Oh my.......the problems of owning a ya-chut!!

We left Carrabelle about 1300 at slack tide (see, you CAN teach old dogs new tricks about tides & currents!), and headed to East Pass through Dog Island cut.  Winds were south at 20 mph & we began to wonder if the forecast of west winds 10-15 mph was really accurate.  As we got into the Gulf of Mexico, the winds shifted to obey the forecast.  Seas were 1-2', but on our starboard beam, which caused constant rolling of 20-30 degrees.  We would have to live with this all night.  We thought we had secured everything on the boat, but the rolling dislodged much more personal gear.  We learned to keep one hand on the boat to balance ourselves & use only one hand to carry stuff like our food.  Of course, if we had a little green sailboat named "Coquina", or a white one named "High Noon", this trip would be even more adventurous, but we're supposed to have a big ya-chut, which ain't supposed to rock & roll.  We were a mere speck in the big Gulf of Mexico!

The two biggest assets during the crossing were a working chart plotter (with the "go to" point plotted) and a full moon (to help maintain a heading, as well as to allow us to see the waves & sea swells).  Well.......having the engines run flawlessly also helps, since we were 60+ miles off shore.  Early on, the Admiral started feeling queasy, but after a couple ginger beers (non-alcoholic) & eating something, she started feeling better. We tried to cat nap when we weren't at the helm, but neither of us got any sleep.  So, at sunrise when we finally made the sea buoy at Clearwater inlet, you can imagine how punchy we were!

We entered the inlet with an incoming tide & winds behind us (the proper way to enter an inlet) & found Clearwater Beach Marina, surrounded by the tourist attractions, high rise hotels & condos.  The Admiral backed into the slip very nicely (with expert "guidance" from the Deck Ape) and secured the boat.  We took showers to wash the sweat off ourselves, then crashed & burned into bed.  All that's left to do is wash the thick layer of salt spray off the boat!

East to Carrabelle FL

We left Panama City as planned on May 22 & had a nice morning trip across St Andrews Bay & East Bay.  Very few other boats were out........where were all the people??  Maybe they all still had J-O-B-S & couldn't enjoy the beautiful morning breeze and the clear water filled with dolphins!

Osprey nest up close (I've been told by two
ornithologists that these are ospreys)

As the bays ended, the GIWW became narrow again through Wetappo Creek.  Saw lots of wildlife in the wilderness areas, including osprey nests on top of the navigation day markers.  I was surprised how close we could get to them.  Maybe we saw the young birds in the nest, and momma was out hunting. 

We had originally intended to stop in Appalachicola for the night, so the Admiral could eat some big juicy oysters, but we had to make Carrabelle in order to leave the next day for the crossing of the Florida panhandle.  But as we passed Appalachicola, we saw at the docks a 60' DeFever boat named Sea Dog from Put-In-Bay OH (not Sea Dog III from Chattanooga).  We first met the owners of Sea Dog back in Oct 2009 at Goose Pond Marina in Alabama.  Our boat is home-ported in Middle Bass Island OH, just a mile from South Bass Island & Put-In-Bay OH, so we had lots of sea stories to share.  Unfortunately, we were unable to contact them this time.



You can do this only at slack tide!!  They live on a sailboat
anchored in the river & dinghy in for a dog walk
and supplies at slack tide.

We crossed the Bay into Carrabelle with no trouble in good weather.  With the narrow ICW channel thru this shallow bay, I can see how 15+ kt winds would make this very uncomfortable.   We arrived at C-quarters Marina on the Carrabelle River about 1730 (which, for you retired USMC-types, is 5:30 PM), with a strong outgoing tide (due to a full moon) & currents at the dock of 4 mph.  Add to that a 10-15 mph cross wind, and let's just say that Admiral Sue got us into the narrow slip on her third attempt.  And she didn't damage anything doing it!!  Like they say in aviation, "Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing!"

We confirmed the weather for our crossing the next day, and then tried to get some oysters for the Admiral.  Unfortunately, the restaurant had none, because the price had increased too much for them to serve them.  Does that mean we'll have to return to Carrabelle in the future?

Gettin' Underway

I didn't really enjoy spending many many dollars with the diesel engine mechanic, but he did a good job, and he did it quickly.  The port engine was all put back together yesterday, and he didn't have any parts left over!  It roared back to life & made lots of noise. 

Today we took the boat out for a sea trial & both engines ran well.  We anchored just across the inlet to the Gulf & went swimming to try to clean the bottom & running gear.  But us Yankees forgot that the tide was running out, and there was about 3 kts current flowing past the boat.  It was too much to do any swimming or cleaning.  What ever happened to those nice quiet coves on the Tennessee River where the water was clear & calm? 

Sunset at Bay Point Marina in Panama City

So, tomorrow at zero-dark thirty, we're getting underway heading east.  We originally wanted to stop at Appalachicola to eat some oysters, but there is a weather window to cross the Big Bend of Florida on Thursday nite, which goes to hell on Friday nite.  So we're making over 90 miles tomorrow to Carrabelle FL to make our open water crossing Thursday nite.  The crossing is about 170 miles long, going 60 miles offshore, and taking 18-20 hours.  We leave about 3 PM Thursday, cruise overnight (remember, we travel at "crawler" speeds of 10 mph), and arrive Clearwater Beach about 10 AM Friday.  Should be interesting, and we'll have lots of sea stories to tell - some of which might actually be true!!!

Tourist attractions at Panama City

"B-reak O-ut A-nother T-housand"

and another...........
and another..........
and another..........
and another...........



Who stole half my engine !?!?

Ahhhhh......the joys of owning a boat!  This past week, we had the engine mechanic look at our port engine to figure out why it has been shutting down at exactly the wrong time (like approaching the fuel dock inside a very narrow channel with the wind blowing in the wrong direction!).  The conclusion was that the fuel pump had a seal leaking inside of it, allowing air to get into the fuel system.  For some strange reason, a diesel engine doesn't run very well without a good supply of fuel.  The solution?   (Get out your credit card & sit down before I tell you.)  Remove the fuel pump (a 6 hour effort), all the high pressure fuel tubing, and the fuel injectors to send to Mobile for repair/rebuild.  And we need it done within 5 days, if we have any hopes to resume cruising about May 22.  So all the parts are removed & boxed for UPS shipment.  And of course to get the box to Mobile by Monday, it must be air freighted.  So, don't put away that credit card yet!!!

BUT........

The best part of the past 2 days is that we were visited by our good friends and our boating buddies Clint and Leigh from Lynchburg TN (home of Mr. Jack).  We've kept in close touch ever since we took joint week-long cruises up & down the Tennessee River a couple years ago (and our boat earned the name "crawler").  We shared family stories and sea stories (at least half of them were true!), and found all the great oyster restaurants in Panama City. 

One of the restaurants we ate at, was across the street from a topless place called "Tan Fannies".  But why should Clint & I care when we already have all we can handle?



Week of May 5

So, we spend 2 weeks in TN caring for Sue's mom, who is doing pretty well.  In fact, she got pretty feisty for a 90-year old.  We intended to leave May 7, but stayed an extra day to receive a replacement Xantrex inverter.  It was a brand new one, to replace the one I had sent in for repair when we were in Pensacola.  The old one was only 6 weeks out of warranty, and after much pleading over the phone, Xantrex agreed to take it back under warranty.  After we shipped the old one from Pensacola, we had to go to Harbor Freight to buy a cheap (relatively speaking) inverter to get us to Panama City.  We use the inverter while we're underway to run our refrigerator, so we don't have to run the generator.

Since we had that extra day, we were able to hook up with some of our best friends in Chattanooga, John & Susan, for dinner.  This couple from the Power Squadron has visited us in Biloxi & in New Orleans & in Chattanooga - no matter where we are, they seem to find us.

On the way home from TN, we passed through Eufaula AL, where Sue lived for 4 years way back when.  She found many familiar landmarks, but couldn't find the house she used to live in.  Was probably torn down.  She has to be careful when she says "I remember back 40, no wait, 50 years ago..."  It's getting harder to believe that she is still only 39 years old!

We arrive back home at the boat & make a general check of things.  Wouldn't you know that our center bilge is full of water!  The float switch had quit (stuck open) and ran the pump until the pump burned out.  Had we not come home for another week, we'd have a mess on our hands.  Guess the next time we leave the boat for weeks, we need someone to look inside.  So, late that night, after driving for 9 hours, we got to spend an hour in the engine room replacing a pump and switch.  Ahhh.......the joys of living on a boat!