Night Passage!

October 29th, 2014
Wednesday morning the Gulf  Crossing weather prognostications told us today was the day.  An approaching cold front and north wind a would make the gulf a mess untill at least the 6 th of November! 15 to 20 knot winds with seas 3-5 which means occasional seas over 6.  No place for small boats like ours.

At 8AM Brigitte and I started the process of cleaning the boat stowing all stuff breakable. We took the dingy motor off the dingy and lashing it down in the cockpit.  To much weigh on the transom if we encounter heavy seas.  I spent a couple hours in the engine room checking oil,  sea strainers and change the Racor Primary  fuel filters.  The three primary failures on diesel engines are fuel issues, fuel issues, and fuel issues followed by clogged water intakes.  Topside I loaded a series of latitude and longitude coordinates into the chart plotter. Gina one of our new travel companions was our naviator and she had plotted two courses depending on the weather we would face along the route.

At noon the crew of Island Time, Gina and Capt. Steve along with Master Capt. Glen and Brenda from Young at Heart, Brigitte  and I assembled on Putz'n Arounds deck. We re-read weather reports, conferred with Eddy's Weather Wag. Eddy is the new crossing expert for all us loppers. Daily he collects all facets of weather date such as tides, wave highth, wind direction weather fronts etc. And he gives the thumbs up or down on our crossing. We matched time, speed, course approach and determined it was time to go. It was important to arrive after sunrise to be able to spot the crab pot bouys that litter the waters We said a prayer and Brigitte attended to casting off our  lines. I was ask to lead as we had better radar capabilities and we are the faster boat.

At 12:40 we entered the bay and went out into the gulf.  Once in the gulf we had 1-2 for waves, mostly off the bow with a 5-10 knot wind.  Very doable weather!  As expected I-2 foot waves means Mother Nature throws a few 3-4 footers at you. This was the first time I had used the Navigation function on my chart plotter with my Auto Pilot so it took a few miles to get them to talk to each other and as a result I zig-zagged like a drunk in sailer.  Glen had the same issue.  Finally out about 9 miles out we  had our band of boater is a relatively straight line. We are in our 60's the next boat were in their late 50's and the last boat in their late 70's.  None had done the golf crossing and only one of us had done a night crossing. So why are these experienced boaters asking me lead!  I wore my new tee shirt that states on the back " no one much cares about the storms you incounter in life, only did you bring the ship into port!   So that's my job!

At 7:30 PM the sun went down and at 7:30 AM the sun came up and that was a very good thing.  We had dinner, snacks, lots of  caffeine   and took two hour watches. We had a little moon light on the starboard side for a while. It was mostly overcast but when the clouds broke the stars where amazing.  Mostly we watched the chart plotter to make sure we where on course, checked the AIS and Radar other ships, and monitored engine gages. It was a mild night so we sat on and slept on the flybridge with all the front curtains  wide open.  It was very strange look out the window and seeing nothing but black. I spotted only 2 other boats all night . I picked up a commercial tug on AIS about 10 miles out before his lights came into view.  We talked and tracked our courses which showed he would pass behind us about 1.2 miles.  The second boat I picked up as a radar blip about 6 miles out.  I tracked him on radar and  about 4 miles out I could see his white Nav. light.  I tracked him until daylight as he narrowed his distance between us to 1.2 miles then he turned further south. We did have to slow to idle for about an our in the morning as it was getting down to about 30 ft of depth which is about the depth start dropping crab pots and it was to dark to proceed.  We arrived into our marina at 10:20 AM
We took Cody off the boat, what a boat dog. He mostly slept the entire trip!  Yup he made it 22 hours without relieving  himself.  We both took a shower and went to bed for 3 hours.

Statistics
175 statute miles  Carrabella  ,FL to Tarpon Springs
22 hours
Speed 7.1 knots
Fuel burn approximately 55 gallons

Observations:
Cross with a buddy boat
Putz'n rolls less at 10 12 knots but burns

Night night!

Sunday Oct 26 - Tuesday Oct 27

Sunday we pulled out of Pennsicola and end up some 60 miles latter at Baytown Marina in Sandestin.   We were the small boat in the Marina , this a 2800 acre resort which included Golf , a village with all kinds of shops, resteraunt, bars, and the beach. You could even rent a golf cart for $80 per day that you could drive to your slip.  We wish we could have stayed longer but we were trying to catch a weather windows to cross.  Rates were $ 3.25 per foot but because we are loopers it dropped it to $2 a ft.  Life styles of the rich and famous they even proved you with charge card to use on the property----not!
We left before sunrise the next morning for a 99.1 mile run to Port St Joe, Fl.  We started the morning with dolphins surfing or bow wake  on and off again all day.  It was so cool to watch,  every once in a while they would roll on their side so that they could look you right in the eye!  We stopped in Panama City to fuel up on $3.39 diesel.  From Mobile to Panama City we got 3.18 miles to the gallon!   I underestimated the time and miles for today so we ended up running for 11.5 hours to get to Port St Joe FL,  99.1 miles.  We ran out of the ICW into the bay at 19.1 knots to get to our slip as the sun dropped into the ocean at 7:30 Eastern.  So here comes the fun part! As we entered the Marina at dusk,  a guy was  fishing off the pier and we snagged his line and spooled his reel on to the prop.  Just terrific, I am tired, qranky and pissed!  We have a few words and after being accused of being a Northerner, we get tied up, so nothing to do till morning.  I talk to the Mariana manager at 7 AM and he had  a kid in a dive suit in the water at 8:30 AM.  No issue he cuts off the line and we are out of the Marina at 9:05.

We have been talking with two other boats behind us that want to cross the gulf weather permitting, on Wed.  So after 2 days or texts and VHF talk we dock in Carabella, Fl and meet for the first time.  We had Docktails on our boat, then walked into town for dinner.  We stopped at the local grocery store borrowed a cart and took our collective provisions back to the boat. Tomorrow is the big day!
We are planning to leave the Marine around noon and will run for 22 hours straight to Tarpon Springs This is about a 181 mile over night passage. wish us luck and Gods speed and protection!  We will talk to you on the other side!!!
Putz'n Around!

We made it to Florida!!!

Saturday, we cruised at 6.4 knots only planing to make 30 - 40 miles.  As we passed through an extremely narrow pass we contacted an approaching boat 60 ft at least.  We discussed the approach and agreed to pass on the one whistle ( port to port).  Further conversations lead to recommendations that we needed to stay in downtown Pensacola Fl.  Yes we have crossed the line into Florida!!! Our new friend " Shell Cracker" radioed that he was not using his slip tonight so we were welcome to use his slip! We only made about 28 miles today.  The Marina / yacht club is right in the middle of town.The downtown is a lovely area.  I took the bike to the liquor store as we had run out of rum to make lum and remonades .  We will need to make some miles for the next couple of days to make a passage from Carabella to Tarpon Springs on Wed or Thursday. Weather permitting! Will,post again as we can based on internet availability !  We hope all is well with you and yours!  God bless!

Putz'n Around

Dinner at Pirates Cove

10/24 pictures