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 ...