Merry Christmas from Marathon

Merry Christmas

to one and all.

Linda and I went all out this year; 2 Christmas trees fully decorated.  Well more or less.  The trees were donated by Candy and Phred and the lights were given to us by Terese and Rick. 

Today 12 boaters are getting together for a turkey feast here on the dock.  Weather will not be a problem, 81 F and sun.  It is the only way to celebrate.

Just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and the very best for the New Year.  Thank you all for your e-cards and emails this Holiday Season.

The Keys Way of Life

(Dec 8 to Dec 16)

It has been hot down here and very humid for most of the week so "dingh'n and drink'n" was on the menu.  Six dinghies and 14 people made it out on this run to Sombrero Beach on the ocean and when the beer ran out we ended up at Castaways for a few more.  Since nobody had time to prepare any food a bunch of us ended up at the Keys Fishery for dinner.  'Twas a tough day, especially after the day before.

I ordered a bunch of stuff early in the week and it was all delivered by Friday.  Can't beat online shopping.  Even my 2013 decal from the US government arrived on time.

We even got a round of golf in at the par 3 course.  Bob, who had not golfed since last winter was the first to get a birdie; Linda won the wet t-shirt contest (I did say it was humid) and I, of course, got low score.  Sparky's was as good as ever: a couple of pitchers of beer and some wings got us home in time and in shape for Happy Hour.  Linda had three, (3), dark and stormy drinks after the round; it must have been hot and humid.

We have been knocking off some of the projects that we had put off until Marathon.  Trying at least to get 1 or 2 done each day.  I am getting some bicycle riding in but not as far or as fast as I would like.  It takes some time to build up some stamina... and callouses on my butt.

Yesterday a bunch of us went to Key West to view the festival boat parade.  There were other things to see as well, especially since everyone is in the Christmas spirit.

It was a long, tiring, very fun day.  We got back just after midnight this morning and now we are ready to send Terese home for the holidays and celebrate Bob and Stephanie's Anniversary.  There is always something.

Home at Last

(Saturday Dec 8 - Dist: 118.3 mi; Avg Speed: 17 mph; TTT: 7:50 hrs)

We have arrived at our home for the winter.  Slip B 34 as seen above.  The Dockside Bar and Grill is in the bottom left hand corner and the Sombrero Golf and Country Club is across the street.  The trip was good although Linda was quite stressed when it started to rain and we had some difficulty in seeing the hundreds and hundreds of crab pots.  We did not fool around on this crossing, we stayed on plane as much as possible and arrived in good time.

No photos yet, but we had an excellent start to our vacation.  There were about a dozen friends waiting at the dock for us and then the party began.  It was almost Happy Hours anyway but the parade of lights was scheduled for later that night so we had a good excuse for an extended dock party.  There were not many boats but they were decorated quite well. 

It was so great to see the Marathon gang once again.

Tonight, we visit the Keys Fishery for fresh crab claws and oysters.  We are already in the Keys groove.  I try to keep in touch once and awhile but for now just know that the forecast calls for a high of 82 F and a low of 73 F for the next five days.  Darn that is nice.

Venice then Naples FL

(Wednesday Dec 5 - Dist: 58.2 mi; TTT: 7:05 hrs)

Because of the delay in crossing the Gulf we decided to pick up the pace so that we would not miss our reservation in Marathon too badly.  When planning the trip we figured on spending a whole month on the Gulf coast of Florida but since we did not arrive until the 22 nd, we were far off schedule.

Our welcoming committee in Venice.

The MarineMax Marina was nothing much but the fuel was reasonable, relatively speaking, and the dockage rate was good so we stayed for the night and left early in the morning for Naples.

Pelicans roosting in the mangroves.

(Wednesday Dec 6 - Dist: 88.6 mi; TTT: 8 hrs)

You know when you are in Naples when:

Yes there is lots of money everywhere in this town.  We met with our friends Roger and Judy from Windsor and had a great time seeing the sights and catching up on the happenings in Windsor.  They have a very nice condo ans seem to really enjoy the snowbird life style.

Two nights was too short a visit but there was a good travelling window for the south east gulf and Florida Bay so we headed out early Saturday morning.

Treasure Island, FL

(Saturday Nov 24 - Dist: 18.5 mi; Temp: 78 F; TTT: 2:20 hrs)

Time for a mini vacation and the Treasure Island Tennis and Yacht Club is the perfect place.  The Olympic size swimming pool was heated to 84 degrees and had lounges and chairs that were super comfy, first class all the way.  The Tiki bar at the pool was open daily til 9 PM and served food from the restaurant which in itself was first class.  It too was open daily for lunch and dinner.

Besides enjoying our surroundings we had a great time with our friends from Windsor who have a condo nearby.  Jim and I got out golfing 4 times and Linda and Sandi went shopping.  How they could do it 5 days straight is beyond me but Linda was happy.  The only down side was trying to get my engines services from Cummins.  In the end they were serviced but we discovered a leaking seawater pump on the starboard engine.  That repair required a second visit and an additional $2,000.  Damn.

In short we stayed 11 wonderful days before heading off.

The Club at Treasure Island

The golf course across the harbor.

Jim and Sandi's place as seen from the GICW.

Linda a little more relaxed on this trip.

Clearwater Beach, FL

Friday Nov 23 - Day of Rest

This part of the Gulf coast has similar sand to the pan handle; nice, white, powdery and squeaky.  It is a joy to walk on.

Although the temperature was in the low 70's, the beach still had a lot of people, more than I would have expected.  I guess, though, that the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend can explain the number of people and the buskers and entertainers on the beach.

We managed to find a Hancock Bank in Indian Rocks so we took the Sun Coast Trolley and walked the couple of miles to cash the money order  to cover the damages from the accident during the Blue Angels Air Show.  At least that is behind us now and the financial impact was minimal.

While crossing the bridge to the mainland, we saw Second Noelle and The Bar-B docked at the Holiday Inn Marina.  Before heading back we stopped by but nobody was aboard.  We had lunch there at Iguanas but still no Linda and Ray.  Oh well, it would have been a great surprise but we have to wait to see them some other time.

Tomorrow we are heading for Treasure Island only a couple of hours away.  We will stay there for a week or so in order to get some routine maintenance down on the engines and to spend some fun time with our friends from Windsor who have a condo in St. Pete's Beach.

Is Christmas that close??

I'll send another update from there once I get a few photos for you.

We are Alive But...

(Wednesday - Thursday Nov 21/22 - Dist: 202.8 mi; TTT: 26:30 hrs)

We are alive but there were times when I was wishing, well, something else.  Let me start at the beginning:

We have been waiting for over two weeks for some calm seas on the Gulf so that we could make the 170 mile crossing in comfort.  We were not really suffering as you can see but we were already 9 days in this small fishing port. 

We committed to be the buddy boat for Seamoore which meant that we would do the crossing at 8 mph; which meant that it would take 21 hours to complete.  We thought that a window was opening on Thursday or Friday so we had already decided to leave beautiful Apalachicola for Carabelle in order to be 3 hours closer to East Pass and the Gulf.

When I got up Wednesday morning, Carlton was almost jumping out of his skin with excitement.

"This is what you have been waiting for, no more chicken parties, go, go,
go, go, go."

This was the guru who had saved us the previous week from a disastrous crossing.  We were so anxious to cross that we immediately packed up, fueled up and left Apalachicola at 10 AM hoping to arrive in Clearwater by 11 AM on Thanksgiving (US).  Our mood was exuberant and we headed out in beautiful sunshine and calm seas.  It took almost three hours to reach East Pass which would take us past Dog Island into the Gulf.

At about 2 PM Seamoore and Q's End left the sight of land.  Only 160 miles to go.  Everything was going well; the seas were only 1 foot and the wind was about 10 mph from the North giving us a push.

At sunset it was still a perfect trip.  The seas, which you see in the forefront, had shifted to our beam but were still comfortable and still about 1 foot.

When the sun went down it cooled off but we were prepared and had a number of layers of clothing nearby.  We ate some sandwiches for supper and I was deciding whether or not to turn the generator on and make some coffee for later.  I stalled for too long as the wind and the waves started picking up.  About 10 PM they appeared to be about 2-3 feet, still on the beam.  We were rolling a fair bit (rocking from side to side for our non boating friends) but with all of the Gravol (Cdn Dramamine for our US friends) in our system and a 3/4 moon it was a bit uncomfortable.  Not so uncomfortable that we could not appreciate the stars and the moon.  We even brought out the Ipad and used the Skyview app to locate the constellations in the sky.

Unfortunately, the beautiful moon went below the horizon at about 1 AM making it impossible to see the seas and waves.  Now most of you know that I am a very sensitive person and that I do not even ride in the back seat of a car... well this situation became much worse.  The only thing that my mind saw was the lights reflecting off the enclosures and swinging back and forth in about a 5-6 foot arc.  My mind spoke to my stomach and I was struggling.  Fortunately, Linda allowed me to lay down and the nausea passed.  I was popping Gravol like candy but every time I sat up my head started reeling and my stomach started churning.  I had to lay down again.  In fact our watch plan of 2 hrs on, 2 hrs off was thrown overboard.  I only got up once in order to adjust our speed so that we would not get to the crab pot fields when the sun's glare was too strong to see them.  Remember from our first Loop the entangling of a crab pot in the props was a show stopper; the only way to get under way again, that is if there was no damage, was to dive below the boat and cut if free from the prop or rudder.

Linda sat at the helm until daybreak.  Having been sick on and off for the past week she was really struggling... but there was no option.  Once I could see the seas, I got up and took off the auto pilot and drove the boat.  The concentration needed to do this in these gawd awful seas made me forget my sea sickness.  Linda immediately got sick and was struggling even more.  She sat on the deck between the helm seat and side seat so that she would not be thrown about the boat... with a bucket between her knees.

Now that we could see the seas it was even worse than we thought.  The waves were confused coming from different directions.  This made it impossible to alter course and find a comfortable path.  We were now seeing 5 footers always hitting us on the beam.   Carlton asked me whether or not we should notify the Coast Guard to give them our current position, just in case.  ???  Until that moment I never, ever thought that we were in peril or any danger.  It was as uncomfortable as all hell but...  It did not help that all night long we heard the Coast Guard looking for a boat named Sea Angel.  Then they were searching for a missing 43' Hatterass.  In the end we did not call.

When I saw the bottom of Carlton and Becky's boat, I knew that we and they were heeling (leaning to the side) far more than we ever had before.  I was sure that there would be a mess down below.  As it turned out, there was no damage for us below, just some items, which seldom move, were on the floor.  All our preparations were worth it.  Seamoore seemed to have more of a mess aside from the can of coke which spewed about the fly bridge.  Becky fell three times.  Once, while laying on the bench seat, the cushion and her went flying across the fly bridge.  A filing cabinet that was secured with a 2 inch railing crashed to their new hardwood floor leaving a gouge as a souvenir.  It was a sad experience.

At sunrise we still had at least 4 hours to go.  The sun was right in our path and we were concerned that we were nearing the area were the crab pots would be.  We decided to stall for an hour before attempting the run through the pots.  When we finally ventured towards shore, there did not appear to be as many as we remembered.  We got through with no problems although we did have to concentrate hard for a full 2 hours. 

Well now that we are safely in harbor, had a great meal (lobster for Linda and prime rib for me) and had a great night's sleep, we are good again.  The sun, warmth and white sand are making the horrors of the trip fade fast.  We are on the Gulf coast of Florida, albeit 3 weeks later than we wanted, but we have arrived.  We plan on spending at least a week at the Treasure Island Tennis and Yacht Club, a mini vacation with some friends from Windsor.

In closing here are a few calming photos from our time in Apalachicola.  It is good to be here.

Sunrise in Apalachicola

Oysters everywhere, at least 6 packing houses.

Half of the flshing fleet and shrimp boats.

Oyster shells are saved and used to seed the oyster beds from Pensacola to Cedar Island.

Monarch butterflys stop on their way to Mexico.

We toured the Thomas Gorman House, the founder of Apalachicola in the 1830's.

Linda picking cotton

Prudent: Yes, Yes, YES

(Friday Nov. 16 - Still in Apalachicola - Thankfully)

If you remember my previous post I was disappointed that we did not cross and was questioning the decision.

QUOTE:

Looks benign even pretty but we still sit here in Apalachicola. We did get excited Tuesday evening as a bunch (6-7) of Loopers decided that they were going to cross this morning. The wave and wind forecasts seemed to improve although still marginal. They all left but Carlton and I heeded the advice of an expert who has monitored the Gulf daily on behalf of all Loopers for many years:

"The Gulf was not real comfortable yesterday, at times the waves were over 3 feet with winds almost to 20 knots. Today will be slightly worse. My recommendation is to stay in port and enjoy a few more days in the Panhandle."

UNQUOTE

Here is an update from a friend who made the trip.

QUOTE

Tom,
It was THE most terrifying experience of my life!!

We actually had our life jackets on at one time.

The forecast was for 1-2 feet waves and 5-10 k winds. The waves were much bigger than that ( some said as high as 8 feet) and the wind was around 20kts.

Going east we took the waves on the bow which isn't too bad for our boat. Turning South , the waves hit us on the beam so hard that it threw Gary off the bench ( he was lying down -sick) and more than once threw me out of the chair.

this got worse ( the forecast said it would get better) as the night went on. At 8pm I was so scared I was shaking like a leaf, but I had to keep driving as Gary wasn't able to.

It was very dark, no stars, the only lights were the boats we were travelling with.

Our boat rocked so hard that the oranges in my hanging fruit basket was turned to PULP and where the basket hit the wooden trim strip in the galley it took the varnish right off down to bare wood.In the morning we were 30 miles off shore and because it was over cast we were able to spot the crab pots - they are EVERYWHERE
UNQUOTE

I am happy to report my friends are safe.

I am also happy to report that I don't care if anyone called me chicken, we made the right decision.   

  More Oysters anyone??  

  More beer anyone??

Chicken or Prudent??

(Monday Nov. 12 - Dist: 31.4 mi; TTT: 4:15 hrs)

Looks benign even pretty but we still sit here in Apalachicola.  We did get excited Tuesday evening as a bunch (6-7) of Loopers decided that they were going to cross this morning.  The wave and wind forecasts seemed to improve although still marginal.  They all left but Carlton and I heeded the advice of an expert who has monitored the Gulf daily on behalf of all Loopers:

"The Gulf was not real comfortable yesterday, at times the waves were over 3 feet with winds almost to 20 knots.  Today will be slightly worse. My recommendation is to stay in port and enjoy a few more days in the Panhandle."  

It is not the clearest picture but the drum in the photo has fresh oysters and cleans the sand and mud off of them before being packed in boxes and shipped all over.  Apalachicola is renowed for their oysters.  Even I have tried some (ie. I have never been a fan) and they are very good.  I have had a dozen a day since arriving and will have more.  The town itself is a neat fishing town with a surprising number of very good eating establishments.  We are eating and drinking well... except for Linda; she caught the flu or something similar and has been spending more time in the head than in bed or up and about.  Hopefully she will get out later today for a bit.    

In the meantime, we watch the shrimp and crab boats come and go, drink too much beer at the Tap Room (12 craft beers on tap and Happy Hour prices from 4-6:30) and eat oysters and shrimp for dinner.  Oh well, at least I haven't gotten sea sick in the rougher seas.  I'll suffer here until the Gulf lays down for us.  
  

 

Playing the Waiting Game

(Monday Nov.5 to ???)

We are still sitting tight here at Port St. Joe Marina and well why not.  The marina and staff are great, the Dockside Cafe here has good shrimp, the Haughty Heron bar and package store has great specials (on Ladies night we had 12 beer for $12, cheese and crackers and live entertainment), great pizza at Joe Mama's, great Mexican food at Peppers, and a Piggly Wiggly, a good grocery store only 100 yards from the marina.  We have enjoyed it all.

We have accomplished a few things most notably replacing the primary batteries for the boat.  I am stiff and sore from lifting the six Group 29 (bigger than a car battery) batteries from behind the engines, up through the hatch, out to the deck up, onto the dock and then to the parking lot and then doing it all again in reverse.  Of course I cannot fit behind the engines so everything, including the wiring and tie downs, had to be done bent over the generator.  Oh well, hopefully we are good for another 7 plus years.

We have also re-organised the packing of the boat.  All of the maps, charts and guide books for the Great Lakes and inland rivers were put away under the couch and the Florida gear was brought forward.  We have been stocking up on wine again.  The bottles are a pain to store.  I truly miss our 10 bottle tetra packs that we had brought from our home made stock.  So with the eating, drinking and the odd job taken care of, we managed to get out for a bike ride or two.  There are some nice paths in the area and with the weather a little cool, around 70 F, it is good to get some exercise.

Carlton and I have been studying the marine weather forecasts and reviewing the daily crossing advice column and much to our chagrin there is no suitable window in the foreseeable future for a crossing.  This time we are planning on travelling with Seamoore, a trawler that cruises at about 8 mph.  This means that the crossing will take about 21 hours.  This means that we will be out in the Gulf overnight, all night.  The standard way of doing this trip is to leave about 2 or 3 in the afternoon from Carrabelle and arriving at Tarpon Springs about 11 AM.  It is no good arriving earlier because the early morning sunshine makes it impossible to see and avoid the hundreds and hundreds of crab pots.  We are in for a new experience.

Our current plan is to go to Apalachicola on Monday for a couple of days and then onto to Carrabelle for fueling and more waiting.  Hopefully, we can get across next week.  That is all for now.