Friday October 28: Caladisi State Park

Our arrival to the Caladisi state park didn't go quite as we planned - thanks mostly to the wind!

In my mind I knew just what I should do to approach the dock. Starboard tie so the wind would blow us right into the dock. Easy, right? Not so much !

And I should have known -- ALWAYS dock into the wind/current - whichever is stronger. And it is very hard to turn this boat into the wind - which is exactly what we needed to do!

After a few minutes, we were finally in and tied up!

The beach here is a 'natural beach' - definitely not like the beaches of the Ft. Lauderdale type that are smoothed and cleaned every morning!

Lots of shells and birds.










There is a 3 mile nature hike around the island. (The "Island" name is not quite accurate!) - click here.

Steve said it was really fun to see the different variety of trees.

Here'a a sample of the shells Steve found on the beach.

And there were always birds around.


These were Little Blue Heron on the dock next to us.

Gopher tortoise.

The coolest thing Steve found was a Gopher tortoise. When we spent some time near Punta Gorda last year we saw many signs to be aware of the burrow of these tortoises but never saw one! Pretty fun - for more info, click here.

A couple of jobs - touch up the rust spots on my bike (this salt air is a killer for anything that can rust).

And a new bike tire to replace the one Steve wore out!

Sunsets are still beautiful ......












Off tomorrow for St.Petersburg for a few days!

Thursday October 27: Tarpon Springs - No Need to go to Greece!!

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Leaving Crystal River Monday morning was the start of a nice 9 hour run to Tarpon Springs. We were finally able to travel a relatively close 8 miles from shore and the shallow water begins to more closely follow the shoreline as we continue to move south.

The tide was high which assures we won't be running aground - unless of course I veer off channel :-) And the wind was from the NNE so we had a little push from that as well.




The channel out was a combination of marsh grasses, palm trees and lots of wildlife. We are still waiting for our first alligator sighting though.

Maybe tomorrow ...

The inlet to Tarpon Springs looks like all of the other ones we've been  through. A bunch of red and green markers - stay in the middle - watch the depth finder so we know the minimum tide level for us to leave ....

This is the third time we've been here but it is still fun to see the Greek writing everywhere and the gentlemen in the restaurant next to us speaking Greek. I mean, seriously, do I ever need to go to Greece?

Lots of stores around selling sponges of course and lots of restaurants serving Greek food (which by the way I have come to the conclusion I do not like!)


Steve of course wore his Greek hat everywhere :-)

Not sure what he world have done if anyone had started speaking Greek to him!
















Lunch the first day was charbroiled octopus and moussaka. Steve loved it - I passed on after a taste.



I was on the hunt for an oyster po boy. Always thought it sounded interesting so I scouted around on the internet and found Rusty Bellies - just around the corner from our marina. We actually passed it on the way in on the boat.


It was quite good! Very lightly breaded oysters with a dill sauce on the side.

And because this is a tourist town, there are many opportunities for photo ops :-)







There are some really nice park areas around town plus a really nice bike trail called the Pinellas Trail. It's 37 miles and runs from St. Petersburg north to Tarpon springs.

Along it's path (only a mile from the boat) was Toula's Cafe! Having seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding, we just HAD to go there for breakfast!

It was very good :-)

By Thursday, we moved on. This time to Caladesi State Park.

Entrance to Caladesi State Park

The entrance into the mangroves gives an idea of what this place is like!

More in a couple of days ....

Sunday October 23: Time to Go Again

We've  really enjoyed the last few days relaxing and getting a few things done.

We've also relearned the idea of 3 1/2 foot tides! This is the first dock we've tied to that wasn't floating so as the tide goes up and down so does the boat!

It is crazy with the remains of the full moon (which produces high highs and low lows).

The boat goes from too high to even stop off to so low that you have to step down to the boat. There is a real art to tying up the boat in these kinds of tides and Steve has it down perfectly! It's an art that he learned pretty quickly when we first traveling in the southern waters.

We've been tied up at the fuel dock at Pete's Pier here in Kings Bay at the eastern end of the Crystal River.  The marina wanted to put us in a covered slip - which is normally welcomed - but there was no way our satellite dish could see the SW sky. Too many football games this weekend to not have TV!

Most important thing? Some close restaurants for a change! Sara's Diner for breakfast and Thai Phoon for Thai lunch!

And West Marine, Big Lots and Save-a-lot grocery store all a 10 minute bike ride away - perfect :-)

Steve scored on a new pedestal for the captain's chair on the flybridge. West Marine and on sale for 1/2 price! Can't beat that.

First remove the old one which rocked like crazy because the vertical tube was loose in the round base.

No problem on the rivers coming down from Chicago but definitely an issue in rough water. Way too wobbly.


Might be one of the easiest projects we've done! Fortunately we didn't use the impossible to remove 5200 caulk when we first installed the seat and the holes in the new base actually matched up with the holes in the old base!


Put the seat on and good to go :-) Still a very comfy seat even after all of these miles.

The second project was to fix the corner piece of teak in the aft railing. The intricate way the entire railing is made is very interesting with bends and curves as the straight lengths connect to the curved pieces.

But the reward for the day's work was the final batch of oysters from Apalachicola for Steve. I'm quite sure it was worth it!!

The stay here at Crystal Springs was nice. We actually even put the dinghy down and took a short ride around the area.




Manatee are the big thing here. Because of the natural springs in this area putting out millions of gallons of water out per day, the water is always at 72 degrees.

Personally I don't think that's very warm but apparently the manatees like it! This is where hundreds gather in the winter to get out of the cold waters of the gulf.  Clearly some manatee have never heard of Banana Bay in the Keys :-) For more info about manatees, click here.


Finally time to move on though. Weather reports look good to move on to Tarpon Springs - the Greek city of Florida. It's a long day of 75 miles so we'll stay a couple of days.

Thursday October 20: Crystal River - Most Stressful Day Ever!!!

So tonight we are sitting in Crystal Springs another 65 miles south on our Big Bend trip. And we did travel 65 miles but are actually only about 40 miles further south!

This shore is SO shallow that most of our travel has been a minimum of 10 -15 miles offshore so by the time we go west 10 miles, south 40 miles then back east 10 miles we've traveled a long way but too much of it east and west rather than south!

Back to Steinhatchee on Tuesday. After the long 11 hour day and the harrowing docking in the current on Monday, Steve and I were both ready to stay an extra day. That extra time gives us a chance to check out the area - which Steve did by bike with the report that there really wasn't all that much around!

It was still very enjoyable and the sights along the river as we headed out Thursday consisted of a few marinas and many homes. We were off at first light as the tide was going out so we needed to be exiting at at least half-tide in order to be sure we had enough depth in the channel for us.

Destination? The Suwannee River!! You know - the Stephen Foster song "Old Folks at Home"? Florida's state song? "Way down upon the Suwannee River, far, far way ...." Sounds really cool, right? Not so much. But the fishing was interesting.

The waters of the Gulf were calm. Good so far. The fishing was interesting - if you like catching small sharks! As long as he is catching something though, Steve is a happy person :-)

We actually had to anchor for a couple of hours outside the channel to the river - waiting for the tide to be at least at half-tide to give us enough depth in the channel.

So what is a person to do but fish, right? Personally I enjoyed the time reading :-)

What I should have been doing was a bit more research into what turns out to be a question of how much water is actually IN this river!


So off we go - the Suwannee River! About 1/3 of the way up channel, I asked Steve to come to the flybridge. I'm seeing depths of 3 feet and less. Are these for real? Are we kicking up mud? Steve said no mud so we kept going - assuming the depth finder is reading mud or seaweed.

After a stressful 8 miles we finally make it to the marina. Didn't even check out the area as now the problem became - how do we get out of here??? High tide was back at 5 am. Half tide at 6:30 am. Sunrise? 7:30 am!!!

After a very long night with not much sleeping, I woke Steve up at 5:45. After a quick discussion we made the decision to just head out in the dark. Steve on the front with a fairly good flashlight and I was driving using our track on the GPS to go back out the way we came. What a nightmare!! Except for a momentary "I think we're grounded" we were able to make it back to the deeper water of the Gulf - all of 7 feet :-)

After anchoring and napping for an hour or so, off we headed to Crystal River.


Steve of course was fishing (trolling) along the way as we were about 20 miles. Caught two Spanish mackerel - very nice!! We had to anchor again for a while waiting to continue the 11 miles up the Crystal River to catch a rising tide. I'm getting very tired of these tides .......

Sunset was very enjoyable - no more major restrictions by tide as we move south along the western Florida coast .... I have a feeling we'll be here for a few days!!

Monday: Steinhatchee - Across the Gulf!! Plus a New Rule ...

It was time to leave Apalachicola Sunday and head to Carrabelle - our last stop on Florida's panhandle. We had a nice time there and Steve still has a cooler with oysters to enjoy along the way :-)



The shrimp boats were out on the water way and headed back in by the time we left.





At Carrabelle we stayed at Capt. Kim's place at C Quarters - nice folks, as always.

We tried to go to lunch at the Fisherman's Wife restaurant but sadly it was closed - just sounds like a fun place!

The best bonus? Steve asked Kim if they had ice - she responded with "how much do you need?"

And then opened the walk in freezer where the ice machine lives - told him to help himself :-)

The oysters are good for another day!

The full moon was once again up Sunday night. But then that was part of the plan.

To cross the Gulf of Mexico, traveling boats have more or less two options. One is to go straight from Carrabelle to Tarpon Springs - a distance of 170 miles and a 22 hour trip. That's what we did last time and considered doing it again but traveling overnight with no moon was not my favorite thing.

So by planning so far ahead (like well before Chicago) to be here for the mid-October full moon, we had the option of the all night trip OR we could travel what is called "the big bend" route and go to cross in four steps.

To do the Big Bend Route, the tides have to be good to enter and leave the small stops along the way.

Which were also what we needed in mid-October.

Perfect - especially since we don't have radar and would not consider going through the night without it. Last time we hooked up with two boats that DID have radar.

Not many other loopers around as we are about 2 weeks ahead of the bulk of others doing the loop.

The dolphins greeted us and let the way as we were leaving Carrabelle - headed for Steinhatchee a distance of 80 miles and 11 hours. We would have just enough daylight to make it.

The skies looked threatening but clear skies were predicted. Winds were 10 knots from the east with seas 1 - 2 feet and were predicted to lessen by noon.

But sometimes the forecasters aren't quite right! The clear skies part was correct. The winds/waves dying were right but the time a bit off. It was probably until 2 pm that the waves finally died down..

In the meantime it was definitely 2 - 3 foot waves but certainly doable - just very tiring.

And then the seas calmed :-) The last four hours were crazy great!









The dolphins were back and the water crystal clear. So much fun to see!





Steve did a great job with the pictures and also managed a short video which unfortunately I am unable to upload. Maybe next time.


All I know is that I was VERY happy to get to the markers leading to the Steinhatchee River!!

The New Rule? One of us WILL REMAIN on the boat until the
boat is secured to the dock. Period.

Seems like a pretty easy concept, right? So after a tiring 11 hour trip, the tide was running much stronger than I though  - pushing the boat sideways away from the dock and toward boats docked next to us. Fortunately Steve had jumped off of the boat and had a front line.



I was able to turn the boat around without hitting anything and then pulled up to a dock which was parallel to the current (which is very easy to do of course!). Then I goofed. With the engine still running I also go off  of the boat. All we had to do now was to walk the boat around the corner (red line).

Ever try to pull a boat that weighs 19,000 lbs into a dock with strong current pushing it away?

I wasn't good for much except re-wrapping the line on the cleat as Steve gained a bit of line at a time. Finally after 15 minutes, we managed to be tied to the dock. If I had stayed on the boat, I would have been able to assist with the engine.

So the real question we had was: we were ON THE parallel dock - why not wait until the current slacked and then easily pull the boat around the corner? We had no answer.

So we chalked it up to being brain dead at the time :-) Hence the new rule ......

Tired and going to bed ....... I have a feeling I'll be dreaming about our boat drifting down the river with the engine running ... actually a nightmare ...