“The Crossing” to Clearwater

 November 15^th through November 19^th

I hardly slept Sunday night in Carrabelle.  I was so worried about “The Crossing” that I played it over and over in my mind.  Who would help us if we had engine trouble?  What if one of us fell overboard?  How would Louie do on a 24-hour nonstop trip?  What if the weather changed and it was so rough that all we could do was stay inside the pilothouse and point ourselves toward Clearwater?  What if we couldn’t go below to get food or use the head? Could the Coast Guard or Tow Boat/US hear us on Channel 16 or would we have to rely on other boaters to relay our call for help?  Oh brother… 

 

What a waste of a good night’s sleep!!  We traveled with 2 other boats, Barefoot Shoes and Falkor, and not one of us had even one minor problem.  We left at 10 a.m. on Monday and expected to arrive in Clearwater 24 hours later if all went well.  It actually took us less than 23 hours.  We ended up being the lead boat because we had both radar and autopilot and the other boats had one or the other, but not both.

 

It was a calm, sunny day when we left the marina.  Oyster fishermen were out and the water was smooth.  The dolphins and flying fish kept us company.  We radioed our travel companion boats occasionally, but Roger and I just enjoyed the beautiful day.  Roger had put in our waypoints on the chartplotter and it was as simple as letting the auotpilot take us from Point A to Point B, albeit 190 statute miles.  We had to watch the instruments to adjust course back to the sailing line when the motion drifted us off.  We had to keep an eye out for other boats, but the navigation itself was pretty easy.  

 

We had our XM Satellite radio on and heard that the Space Shuttle Atlantis was going to launch around 2:30 p.m.  Sure enough, we looked to the east of us, and we saw the shuttle’s vapor trail after listening to the countdown on the radio.   If you look at the picture in the Trip Photos section, you will see a dolphin in the bottom left side of the photo and the shuttle’s vapor trail on the right (it’s pretty faint, but you can see it).  Wow, at that moment, we thought “what an amazing world we live in!”  It doesn’t get much better than this!

 

We watched the sunset and maintained our 2-hour watches.  When one of us drove the boat, the other rested or read until it got dark.  If we went downstairs, we put on our lifejackets and called up to the other person when we got there, and then again before we left the cabin to go back up on deck.  I had the 6-8 p.m. watch and that was the scariest part of the entire trip for me.  Roger was resting on the seats behind me, but I was a nervous wreck!  The sun had just set and I could only see the stars in the sky, zillions of them.  But there was no definitive horizon to help me keep a perspective, not to mention that I couldn’t see anything in the water.  I would just have to trust that we wouldn’t hit anything that didn’t show up on the radar.  Even though there was practically no wind, the seas were still 1-2 feet and they were abeam of us, so we rocked back and forth, back and forth.  I had to adjust or I would go crazy.  Roger didn’t even think about it; with all of his seagoing experience, this was nothing to him!  I finally relaxed and my next watch was better.  We both slept a little when it was our time.  Roger listened to Kenny Chesney and Jimmy Buffett.  On my 2-4 a.m. watch, I drank a little Diet Mountain Dew and put on my iPod.  I listened to Andrea Bocelli and Bon Jovi.  I had a hard time keeping myself from singing out loud!!  So I just danced standing up instead and that made my shift go by really quickly.  I admit it was magical.  I felt great!

 

In fact, I let Roger sleep an extra 1 hr. and 15 minutes.  When he woke up, he was really upset that I’d let him sleep, because I’d messed up the schedule.  I didn’t understand why he was so cranky about getting a little extra sleep, until the edge of daylight came.  He had planned the shifts to time it so that he would be able to take the last shift, rested, because the closer we got to Clearwater, there were a million crab pots in the water.  He had to hand-steer for the last 2 hours to dodge the crab pots.  Sooooo…….for future reference, I’ll follow the captain’s orders (but only when it comes to boat issues!).

 

On Tuesday morning, we saw the sunrise and the buildings of Clearwater Beach in front of us.  What a welcome sight!  What a feeling of accomplishment!  We were so thrilled to be in Clearwater, that none us got more than an hour’s nap that afternoon!  Everyone came to our boat and Rae & Steve brought some grilled mackerel that Steve had caught during the crossing.  Then we went to Frenchy’s Beachside Café and had a celebration dinner.  

 

On Wednesday morning, both of our travel companion boats left and we stayed at the Clearwater Municipal Marina.  It’s a great location, just a little commercialized for our liking.  But we paid for a month’s dockage and will look around to see where we would like to go next.  I was finally able to get my hair cut and colored in the afternoon and lucked out to find a nice hair salon.  I felt so much better.  That afternoon, Roger and I enjoyed a glass of wine on our top deck and lamented how much we missed Rae & Steve from Barefoot Shoes.  It was such a strange feeling --  we had pushed hard to catch up with them after we got back from Indy in October.  And we traveled with them and were so comfortable with them.  But we were anxious to stop the wanderlust for a while.  Knowing that we will stay put for a month or two and that is what we’d been working toward, we became a little sad when they left us.  Cruising around and exploring new areas is on hold for us until after the holidays.  It’s just another adjustment, that’s all.  

 

On Thursday, our son Heath who lives in Tampa and is in the Coast Guard, came to see us.  He was in shock that we were actually here in Florida after talking about this for so, so long!!  It was great to catch up with him and we will have Thanksgiving dinner at his apartment.  No, Heath is not cooking.  I guess I’ll have to do that!  It looks like one of Heath’s friends will join us for dinner, as well as our friends that left us behind, Rae & Steve.  By then, Roger will have been back to Indianapolis for a meeting on Monday and driven his car back to Clearwater.  In the meantime, we rented a car for me so that I will be mobile while he is away.  You know, there is a ton of grocery shopping I need to do for Thanksgiving dinner. Heath has a big appetite and wants leftovers for sure!

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P.S.  About Louie & the Crossing…..he waited 24 hours to take care of business.  He would not use the piddle pads in the cockpit, most likely because the engine noise was too much for him.  He was such a good dog on this crossing, but he almost broke my arm when we got to the marina and I took him off the boat.  The vet on Falkor had told us that dogs could hold it for up to 48 hours.  I hope he never has to experience anything like that again.

 

P.S.S.  About “The Crossing”……it was the best weather window anyone could have asked for at this time of year.   We had pushed so hard to take advantage of the weather window!  We prepared for the trip as best we could.  We had reliable companion boats with us.  We did it!!!  But you ask, would I ever do it again???????  NOPE, NO WAY, NO HOW, NEVER AGAIN!!!!  No more inland rivers ---- no more Gulf overnight crossings.  Except that Roger tells me that he wants to go to the Bahamas next winter, and we’ll have to do an overnight and cross the Gulf Stream.  That guy of mine, he likes to keep life interesting, doesn’t he?  Let’s hope I still have it in me by then!

From the Florida Panhandle to “The Crossing”

 November 13 to November 15^th

 

We pushed forward for 3 days straight across the Florida Panhandle, from Pensacola to where we are tonight in Carrabelle, FL.  This is the place where people wait for good weather so that they can cross through the Gulf of Mexico to get to the west coast of Florida.  

 

When we left Pensacola, the water was so smooth – just like glass.  I had put together some homemade split pea soup and it cooked all day in the crock-pot.  The cabin smelled wonderful.  We went about 65 miles and traveled with 2 other boats, our Canadian friends on Barefoot Shoes, and another Canadian couple in a Grand Banks 36 called Falkor—these people have done the Great Loop 3 times!!!  Unbelievable!  We all put our hooks down (anchored) near a bridge.  We invited everyone over to our boat to share our soup.  I made a chopped salad and Gayle brought homemade biscuits.  Rae made some delicious stir fry vegetables and chocolate cake.  It was a pretty healthy dinner, and very enjoyable company.

 

Roger pulled up the anchor at 6 a.m. the next morning and off we went.  The anchor was loaded with that awful black mud we have encountered too frequently on this trip already!  Other than cleaning the mud off the anchor chain, it was a beautiful day.  There were so many dolphins off the bow of our boat.  They were swimming along with us for miles.  It was a thrill to watch!  We stopped for fuel around noon near Panama City.  We usually don’t stop in the middle of the day, but one of the other boats needed to fuel up.  

 

I took advantage of the unexpected stop and phoned my doctor to prescribe an antibiotic for a problem I was having.  I knew I wouldn’t be able to see a doctor for 4 more days, so I was lucky it worked out.  The owner of the marina drove me to the pharmacy and by nighttime I was feeling a little better.  Definitely my mind was at ease.  But we had a schedule to keep and if we didn’t push on, we might miss the weather window to cross over the Gulf.  There were no marinas on this stretch and last night’s anchorage wasn’t all that friendly.  It was a narrow finger off the intracoastal waterway.  There was no chance of taking Louie ashore because we were surrounded on three sides by Florida swamp.   And we were introduced to the no-see-ums.  We stayed inside and watched a DVD.  In bed at 8:30 p.m. (can you believe this?), but wide-awake at 4:30 a.m.  

 

Anchor was up and we were on our way by 6 a.m. for the final miles on the Panhandle.  We went 65 miles today and the Intracoastal was winding and narrow and shallow for a long time in the morning.  It was swamp and on both shores for a long time.  Very boring.  And then we heard gunshots from the shore.  We were worried that someone was shooting at the Canadian boats behind us!  But it was a hunter.  More dolphins swam along with us and we saw a huge turtle, but I couldn’t get my camera out fast enough before he dove under.  We pulled into a marina in Carrabelle, FL for the night.  Roger was looking forward to his beer tonight.  We did over 190 miles in 3 days.  And now we need to prepare ourselves to go 190 miles in 24 hours, overnight, NONSTOP.   

 

The weather is going to be good enough to cross the Gulf tomorrow.  So we will press on.  We will leave around 10 a.m. and travel with the 2 boats we’ve been with.  I’ll go to the grocery store in the morning and pick up some Diet Mountain Dew.  I’m scared that I won’t be able to stay awake during my shifts at the helm.  (Remember I slept 9 hours during Tropical Storm Ida!).  We are going to alternate every 2 hours. 

 

Our son Heath is in the Coast Guard in St. Petersburg and he assured me that “in terms of open ocean, this is the most populated area with fishing vessels and recreational boats.”  BUT there is no cell phone service and no internet once we leave Carrabelle until we arrive in Clearwater 24 hours later.  There are no marinas to pull into and no anchorages.  Only ocean.  We will have radio communication, but that is only good for about a 12-mile range.  Do I sound nervous?  I am.  I just want to get it over with and get to Clearwater, where we will plant ourselves for 2 months!  

 

Thank God for Autopilot.  Roger will set the compass heading for our departure from Carrabelle and we will go in a straight line all the way to Clearwater.  We’ll just have to keep an eye on any other boats around us and the autopilot should follow the sailing line on our Chartplotter.  Soooooooo, wish us luck.  Especially wish Roger luck that I can stay awake for my watch every time!

 

From Stormy Skies to Blue Angels

 November 10^th to November 13^th

 

Tropical Storm Ida gave us no real problems.  We were protected from the Gulf swells by several layers of obstacles:  we were in a harbor, which was behind a long jetty of land, then came the Intracoastal Waterway, then another jetty of land, Pensacola Beach.  Every time I walked Louie outside on Tuesday night and Wednesday, I wondered if we were going to be blown off the dock.  We had wind gusts of more than 50 mph, and the boat rocked quite a bit.  It was uncomfortable, but around 7:00 p.m., I decided to stop fighting the motion and just go with it.  I kind of had no other choice.  I made our linguine and clam sauce as planned and we ate without spilling it all over ourselves.

 

Roger had stowed away nearly everything on the outside of the boat.  But he was up all night, checking lines and adjusting the fenders, and he saved 2 of our window screens before they blew away.  I slept like a baby – 9 hours!  I don’t know how that was possible.  The winds kept up all day long on Wednesday and we waited until today (Friday) to leave the marina.  

 

On Wednesday, we rented a car for the day and drove around Perdido Key and Pensacola Beach.  There was quite a bit of flooding in the area and part of the road along the beach was closed.  Roger made the mistake of reintroducing me to civilization.  We stopped for lunch and then went to a fish market.  Then went to a Starbucks, and when I got back in the car, I whined, “Rog, I wanted to stay there….they had the Starbucks music on, and the Thanksgiving blend aroma…I wanted to stay.”  He said, “Hurry up, we need to return the rental car!”  So much for my brush with civilization.  See what you guys take for granted?

 

On Thursday, the Blue Angels were practicing for their last air show of the year.  I guess they always end their season with a trip back to their home base in Pensacola.  We completely lucked out because we had front row seats for their practice yesterday right from our boat!  We stood outside the boat for a couple of hours watching them fly over us.  It’s impossible to describe the excitement we felt when we heard and saw them so close to us.  We were yelling and I was jumping up and down like a kid!  You could even see the guys in the cockpits!  Check out the pictures.  What an experience -- those pilots are amazing!  

 

This morning we are underway again, heading East across the Florida Panhandle.  We have 3 or 4 days of traveling before we decide our next move.  We will go to Carrabelle, FL and evaluate the weather and the seas so that we can decide if we will cross over to Tarpon Springs (which is just north of Clearwater), or if we will bushwhack our way along the coast to get there.  The advantage to going directly to Tarpon Springs is that it is quite a bit shorter in distance.  The disadvantage is that it means going on open water in the Gulf of Mexico and we will have to do it OVERNIGHT without stopping.  I’ve never done an “overnight” before, so I’m a little intimidated, especially because we will have to alternate 2-hour shifts at the helm.  One of us will sleep while the other drives the boat.  Louie will have to hang in there for about 20+ hours while we cross, if we decide to go that route.  

 

Once that is done, we will really be on the East Coast of the U.S. and I can almost guarantee that is where the boat will stay.  Neither of us is interested in repeating what we’ve done since our start on August 25^th!  It’s been okay, a good experience to do ONCE, but a little too rustic for us.  It was really clear to me last night, when we were talking to another boater who is a veterinarian and he was telling us that a week ago he was worried about confronting any of the 6 different kinds of poisonous snakes that are indigenous to Alabama.  The memories of those dinghy rides to the shore flooded back to me and scared the living _ _ _ _ out of me.  No kidding, I’m serious.  Ignorance is bliss, but NOW I KNOW – and when the vet tells you himself, well, you listen!   

 

In about a week from today, we will have to leave the boat in one place for a week while Roger goes back to Indianapolis for a meeting on the Monday before Thanksgiving.  I’m not sure if Louie and I will go back with him or stay with the boat.  Things are pretty well up in the air.  He is going to drive one of our cars back so that we will have our own transportation while we are in Florida this winter.  This will give us some flexibility and the opportunity to move around and visit friends too.  Oh yeah, and watch out, Starbucks, here I come!