Catch Up Time!

Friday 1/23/09 We left Homeport Marina @ 7:10 am to the ignored protests from my shipmate! We ran the GICW passing thru Wolf Bay, Big Lagoon, Pensacola Bay, Santa Rosa Sound, The Narrows, past Fort Walton Beach and into Choctawhatchee Bay where just shy of mile 230 we pulled into Joes' Bayou near Destin, Fl. for our anchorage. Somewhere between Homeport and Pensacola we entered Florida. Just like on the highway they have a sign posted to welcome you! The evening was spent watching the planes come and go from Eglin AFB located across the bay from us. A good days run of 75 miles. I'd tell you what we had for dinner but to the dismay of Pam, I can't remember. I just know I cleaned my plate!

Saturday 1/24/09 Once again to the diminishing protests of Pam we got underway at 7:10 am. A little overcast but getting warmer. Back into Choctawhatchee Bay. (Sounds like that bridge Billy Joe McCallister jumped off many years ago). I've been listening to NOAA for weather and sea condition reports trying to get an idea for a time to make the Gulf crossing. NOAA, the funny guy that sounds like a computer talking, is forecasting good weather and low seas (1 to 2') through Tuesday followed by deteriorating weather and bigger seas (5 to 6') after that. Time to go! We decided to run a little harder today and cover some ground in an attempt to be in position for the crossing before we lose the weather window. We stopped in Panama City at the Municipal Marina for fuel and continued East. (pcmarina.com) Panama City is where Moose and I were for the 4th of July this past summer. We passed through East Bay, Wetappo Creek, past the turn to Port St. Joe, through Searcy Creek, Lake Wimico, Jackson River and turned left into Saul Creek for our overnight anchorage. We made one more turn and came face to face with what looked like an old pirate ship! Keep in mind that we are in an area that gives us no cell service and we haven't seen anyone for 20 miles! We passed him with a watchful eye and anchored 1/2 mile beyond in one of the neatest spots we've been in so far. All you could hear once we shut down were the owls in the trees! Half sunk on the shoreline was an old fishing boat. Probably a casualty of some past hurricane.

We made 116 miles today through some wide open water and some very narrow water and someplace along the way entered the Eastern Time Zone.

Sunday 1/25/09 Sleep in day! Kind of anyway. The sun doesn't come up now until 7:15 am EST thus a later start. That and we only have 40 miles to go to Carrabelle, Fl. to be in position for our Gulf crossing. We passed Apalachicola, through Apalachicola Bay and St. George Sound on our way to Carrabelle. Carrabelle is a neat little fishing town that sometime in the future is worth exploring. For now though we're getting full tanks of fuel and heading back out to Dog Island to position ourselves for an EARLY morning departure. It should take us 11 hours to cover the 170 miles of open water and with limited daylight it's better to come into port while you have daylight and the facilities are still open.

A word about the GICW. Shallow!! Several places we had readings of under 7' with some of 4' when we entered Apalachicola Bay. We never hit bottom and in fact met several barges along the route so I suspect there is a lot of silt on the bottom. Also it's not a place to be asleep at the wheel. Standard ICW procedure is to keep the green markers between you and the sea at all times except when an incoming (from the sea) shipping lane intersects and runs along the same course. Then you switch over to the Red, Right Returning rule so now the greens are on the left! Just like school, a little homework is in order each night to review the next days route.

1/26/09 Monday 3 am! Yes 3 am. Time to go! We upped anchor and picked our way past the markers in East Pass and out into the blue waters of the Gulf. Chartplotter, radar, spotlight, and chamois (to clean the dew off of the isenglass) all came into play while transitting the Pass. Talk about trusting your instruments! It's blacker than the inside of a cow out here! We set our course for Clearwater and throttled up the motors. Our intent was to run at 10 mph until after sun up and then kick it up to around 20 for the remainder of the day. seas were running around 2' causing a comfortable rolling motion of the boat. Almost like a cradle.

The forecast from NOAA was spot on. As the sun came up we had coffee in the midddle of the Gulf with not another boat in sight! At one point we passed though a wall of fog that we could see for miles before we got to it. It lasted 12 minutes and when we popped out on the other side the sun came back and the seas dropped to about 1'. Couldn't be better! As we neared Clearwater we started dodging more and more crab pots. Almost like a mine field! It was a great crossing with the only minor problem coming when the auto helm deciced to take a siesta! Pam noticed the direction indicator was suddenly pointing toward Texas and and decided that we would visit that area on another journey. We made the course correction. Explained to Otto the importance of staying on the job and continued on.

We pulled into the fuel dock at Clearwater Municipal Marina at 2:50 pm. Mission accomplished!Almost forgot ...the sun is shining and it's 70 degrees. Sorry. Just had to add that in.