Clearwater, FL

We have enjoyed some nice relaxing days in Clearwater.  There are two municipal marinas in Clearwater, one is on Clearwater Beach and one is on the downtown side of the ICW where new docks and marina were opened a year ago.  We are at the downtown docks, next to another Cruiser’s Yachts owner that Ken met through the Cruiser’s forum on the internet.  Jeff has been so helpful in giving us transportation to the local grocery store and of course West Marine.    We have so enjoyed his company and look forward to spending more time with him and meeting his family.

The beach is only a short dinghy ride away and it is beautiful, miles of beautiful sugar sand!  We have and will again enjoy walking on the beach, collecting shells and visiting some of the local restaurants.  

It is getting close to the Christmas holidays and I love Christmas, all the lights and decorations.  I very much will miss putting up our Christmas tree this year so the next best thing is to decorate the boat, which we did.  Melissa’s parents called it “decking the hull and bow” with holly!  I like that so am using it on the blog.  Friends, Peggy and Terry had sent us these stockings, we picked up the tree in Fairhope, AL and the lights here in Clearwater.  Remember the restaurant in Tarpon with the decorated life ring buoy, well ours is just as pretty.    Hanging in the middle is one of my favorite shrimp boats!  :>)

Enjoy our attempt at creating the Holiday spirit aboard 20BUCK$.

We will stay in Clearwater another week before we make our way down to Sarasota where we will spend January! 

Feliz Navidad!  Pat

Tarpon Springs!

Another beautiful and interesting city!  We went exploring this morning before leaving Tarpon Springs.  We walked over to Spring Bayou, shown above to watch the manatees!  They are as hard to photograph as dolphins but here is a butt and a fluke!  What a beautiful area with gorgeous homes and a wonderful walking path.

We bid good-bye to another beautiful city and headed for Clearwater.  We cruised very slow today and only 20 miles.  What an enjoyable ride compared to our two days of over 230 miles on the BIG water!  We are at Clearwater Harbor Marina and will be here for at least a week.  Ken is down to only one pair of underwear left so it must be time to do laundry.  It has been a very busy last week and laundry was not high on the list! 

Remember those dang crab pots!  Well I was in no frame of mind while doing the crossing to take a picture of one but here it is!  Add to this 3 - 4 foot waves that hide the buggers, running at 25 mph and a multitude of colors - black, red, yellow, green or brown.  You never knew what to watch for! 

 Here is my little friend sitting just off the bow on the pelican pole bidding us good-bye as we prepared to leave Tarpon.  Love these guys!

The pictures below will be our view for the next week.  It is 81 today!  Now this is what I expected FL weather to be!   Hear MN had snow.  So far I am not missing the white stuff! 

Ken has an acquaintance whose boat is next to us here and my good friends Wanda and Ted are staying here for the winter with Ted’s 96 year old mother.  We are hoping to be able to spend time with both while we are here.

We are so lucky!  Pat

Steinhatchee to Tarpon Springs!

Yesterday we awoke to a nice, clear day! The weather looked good for the next run to Tarpon Springs. The weather forecast was for 10 to 15 MPH winds in the NE. Wave heights were predicted at 3’ to 4’. That would mean we would be taking the waves on our port stern quarter as we head south. As we are new to this “big water” running, we weren't sure how this would affect the boat. But - we figured the worst that would happen was if we didn’t like the conditions, we’d just turn around and head back to Steinhatchee.  So off we went, out to the “deep blue”! Well - not really deep - we ran in 20’ to 40’ all day.

Leaving with us was the boat “At Last” They are a father / son team from Canada doing the loop together. As we had 110 statute miles to go, we knew we’d have to be able to get up on plane, and run 25 to 30 MPH to make it during daylight.  Again, we were not sure how the boat would handle this, so we figured we better find out right away. As soon as we cleared the channel,  we put the pedal to the fiberglass. The first thing we discovered was that salt water does not run off the windshield, even thought I had RainX’d the glass. Thank goodness for the monster wiper we have on the drivers side.

However, Pat could not see a thing out her side. As she was the designated “crab pot” spotter, this was a problem. For those of you that do not know about crab pots, here is an explanation. The “crabbers” drop wire cages with cement bottoms in them in water from 20’ to 50’ deep. The cages have a rope attached with a small, colored float at the end. The float is not much bigger than a kitten ball.

The pots are dropped in lines, about 200’ apart.

Now imagine running at 30 MPH, with 4’ waves, trying to see the floats! Not real easy. The issue is if you get a line in your prop, or wrapped around the prop shaft, it can lock up the shaft, and that side is out of commission until you dive down and cut the line off. The other issue, is if the rope does not get cut, or does not break, that pot will come screaming up, and smack the bottom of the boat. More damage!

We quickly discovered that the pot lines were running at a 45 degree angle to our line of travel.

Pat could see the lines out the side windows, and let me know they were coming. Then I would spot a float, and turn the boat to run about 75’ from it. That way, we knew we’d miss the next float in line.

20BUCK$ was handling the water nicely, so we figured we’d keep going. A radio call to At Last confirmed they were continuing also. 

As we were busy watching for crab pots, and trying to stay on course while dodging them, we didn’t get many pictures. About all you would have seen would be salt water spray, and water, water, water! We did get a shot of this ocean tug when we slowed down near the entrance to Anclote Key, the barrier island by Tarpon. 

We  heard the Coast Guard handling a few distress calls from other boats. One was from a 60’ pleasure craft taking on water. The CG dispatched a chopper with a pump to drop to the boat. A while later we heard the CG asking the Captain if he would be willing to abandon ship if they sent a chopper to pick him up. We could only hear the CG side of the conversation, and do not know what the final outcome was. However, I think the dispatcher was getting a little frustrated with the guy, as he had been in communication for almost two hours until we lost the transmissions.

We arrived at Anclote Key early afternoon, and ran up the inlet to a marina to get fuel and pump out the head. There are sure not many pump outs in Florida. Most boaters just go out past the 3 mile line, and puke it over.  We do not have overboard discharge capabilities.

Then we headed to the City Marina, which is right at the Sponge Docks, and in the heart of the Old Tarpon Greek district. I’ll let Pat take it from here.

Capt'n Ken

Pat here - 

An added note from me about the crossing.  We did it and I really don’t ever want to do it again unless they outlaw crab pots - hate them!  Here we are coming into the Anclote River on our way up to the marina where we will get some much needed rest, especially the Captain.  When we are up and running hard, I can’t drive because I can’t see over the bow so Ken had to stand at the helm the entire day dodging crab pots.  

The further up the river we drove, the busier it became.  Lots of commercial fishing and sponge boats. 

After we had relaxed a little sitting and doing nothing, we headed down the street to a restaurant recommended to us - Dimitri’s.  It was Ken’s birthday and in addition to crossing the gulf without hitting any crab pots on his birthday, it was time for a nice dinner!

After dinner we wandered the streets in search of a birthday cake for Mr. Sweet Tooth.  We found the other place recommended to us - Hella’s restaurant and bakery!   Ken was in heaven!  He picked out his piece of cake and off we went back to the boat to celebrate.  Birthday candles were not on my provisioning list so I had to improvise. 

The town was decorated for Christmas and I now have an idea of what to do with our ring buoy!   Ken likes projects so this will be a good one.  We will have to look for some decorations to add to it.  Pretty neat!

All the dock pilings were wrapped with Christmas garland, quite festive.  Still weird to see decorations and have it be warm.

So we said goodnight to a very tiring but exciting day!  Happy Birthday to Ken, one he won’t forget!

Did I mention that while in Hella’s bakery last night, the Captain had to pick up his breakfast treat too? 

And another day begins!  Today we will enjoy the town of Tarpon Springs and thank God for getting across the gulf safe and sound!

Apalachicola to Steinhatchee!

Today is the day we make the much thought about “Gulf Crossing!” The weather has not been real cooperative lately, and today was the first decent weather window in site. However, they were still talking 2’ to 4’ seas, and some wind.

We decided to get up early and decide if we’d go.

The rest of the group had moved to Carabelle, and was leaving from there. They are doing the slow overnight to Clearwater. We decided against that, and decided to do it in two runs: Apalachicola to Steinhatchee, then Steinhatchee to Tarpon Springs. When we awoke, this is what we saw. You know the saying: Red Sky At Night - Sailors Delight. Red Sky In The Morning - Sailors Take Warning!

Pat  was a little nervous. She said: “You drive the boat - I’m crawling into a fetal position and seeking shelter in the salon!”

What you see is a down sleeping bag we bought at the Goodwill store in Port St Joe for $10.00.  We had been thinking about what could go wrong on the crossing. We have heard many stories of rough weather, big waves, seasickness, and dinghys being lost or damaged. The dinghy we carry tipped up on the back has a 15 horse 2 stroke outboard. The motor weighs 85 lbs. With that hanging on the dinghy, we figured it may be a problem if we get into very rough water. So - I ran the gas out of it, we wrapped it in a large plastic trash bag, put it in the sleeping bag, and tucked it between the couch and the table leg. Shouldn’t go anywhere there. Had you guessing - didn’t I! 

We had done a final check on Weather Underground, read Marvs Daily Virtual Bouy Reports, checked the AGLCA site, and looked at Windfinder. Everything pointed to an OK, not great day. Looked like it could be a little choppy. We decided to go for it, with the understanding that when we hit East Pass and entered the Gulf, about 30 miles from the marina we were staying at, if it looked too rough, we would turn back and go into Carabelle. The pic to the left is what we saw just out of east pass. Looked like a GREAT day! We ran up to about 30 MPH, and made some miles.

About an hour of running, it started to get a little choppy. We were taking some spray over the hard top. Seems some of those pesky 4 footers were finding us. And these were not “rollers” or swells. The water was getting to be confused and a tight chop. Then we heard a “bang!” Something fell! Turns out one of the stand offs on the dinghy had lost a nut, and one arm fell. Lucky we didn’t have the motor on! We slowed down, and Pat took the helm while I donned my life jacket, and went out onto the swim platform to fix it. I had a good assortment of fasteners on board, and got the bracket bolted back together.  We tried to get back up and running, but it was now too rough. We put it down to 15 MPH, and slugged through it for about an hour.  After about an hour of slow running, it calmed down, and off we went at 30 MPH for the rest of the run.

We made it to Sea Hag marina, washed the salt off the boat, and had a little toast to our adventure.

Tomorrow promises to be 4 MPH winds for our 130 miles to Tarpon Springs.

Check back tomorrow night to see if we made it!  Captain Ken

Apalachicola!

I loved this town!  I am fascinated by these shrimp boats.  Early every morning they would pass by our boat on their way out for the day.  At the end of the day, they would all come back in with flocks of seagulls and pelicans following them hoping for a small morsel of shrimp.  They weren’t the cleanest or fanciest boats but this is how these folks earn their livelihood!  Hard working folks for sure.  Added to my bucket list is to spend a day on one of these shrimp boats.  They just fascinate me.

We spent a day and a half wandering around Apalachicola and had dinner with our friends Jan and Rusty from CBAY.  They left yesterday to go to Carabelle and wait for a Navy man who has always wanted to make the crossing! 

One of the fun stores we went into was the Holly Holy Liquor store!  What a hoot!  We picked up a bottle of wine called “Crossings” to have when we hit Tarpon Springs.  No idea what it will taste like but the name sold us.  They gift wrap any alcohol purchase you make.  The store also has a bright red antique glider in the middle of the store for shoppers to rest their weary bones!!!!

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Apalachicola.  What a charming fishing village.  This place has more oyster bars then anyplace I have been to.  I am not an oyster fan.  When I was little, my father told me he would give me $0.50 if I would eat an oyster.  Scandanavians love oysters, I guess.   Anyway, I couldn’t get the slimy little thing down.  I got the $0.50 anyway.  I haven’t had one since.  If I were going to try them this would have been the spot as they were extremely fresh and everyone in the restaurants that ordered them raved about how good they were!  

We stayed at the Water Street Marina and Hotel.  It was all decorated for Christmas and so charming.  If you ever find yourself on the gulf coast of the panhandle, Apalachicola is a must stop!

Tomorrow we check the weather and if the stars are all aligned we cross the gulf! 

Stay tuned!  Pat

And the waiting begins!

We are leaving Port St. Joe Marina this morning.  It is cold, cloudy and sprinkling but still much better than the past couple of days.  We arrived here on Saturday thinking we would just spend one night and then the wind started.  It blew and blew and blew!  When the wind blows in this part of the USA, not only does it make the waves high but it also brings in higher tides.  The water actually blows into the bays.  Needless to say Ken had a 3 a.m. outing to readjust the fenders and the lines to accommodate for a much higher than expected tide.  The water was up to the dock and by mid morning I needed help climbing up and off the boat.  Mother Nature - she is one strong lady!!!  We enjoyed Port St. Joe.  It is a charming seaside town with several excellent restaurants, a grocery store two blocks away and a marina that brings the morning paper and on Sundays.......muffins.  Life is good!  By yesterday afternoon, we could tell the weather was improving.  God sent a rainbow to tell us it was OK to leave this morning.

We are back on the water!  There is a 5 mile canal that takes us back to the ICW.

Our destination for today is Apalachicola, FL.  Weather permitting we will move over to Carabelle, FL, the jumping off point for the gulf crossing.  And then we wait and wait and wait depending on how long it takes the seas to flatten out and the wind to calm down.  We have plotted the crossing a multitude of ways and yesterday when we realized that the Admiral (moi) was giving the Captain the miles to Tarpon Springs in Nautical Miles thinking it was Statute miles we were destined to run out of gas before we reached the other side.  I recognized my error thankfully so we once again began to rethink our crossing. 

20BUCK$ can get up and run 30 mph allowing us to make the crossing during the daylight which is our goal, but it leaves us too shy on fuel if we do Carabelle to Tarpon Springs in one leg.  We will make it in two hops - Carabelle to Steinhatchee, a tiny fishing village on the west coast of FL, and then Steinhatchee to Tarpon Springs.  The down side is that means we have to wait for two weather windows.  That’s OK as this is the part of our trip where we must be patient!!!!!!  The Captain, Admiral and 20BUCK$ will all be better off if we exercise caution, patience and choose our crossing day wisely!

So we will say a prayer for winds less than 10 mph and seas with wave heights less than 2 feet and until that time we will enjoy cruising to Apalachicola and on to Carabelle.  The pictures above are from the Port St. Joe area for you to enjoy! 

Loving every minute - Pat