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