Final Leg

     We planned on staying in Carrabelle for a few days to clean up the boat but when Beth pointed out the impending thunderstorms for the weekend and that Friday was the best weather we would have for several days, the decision to get to Doc's Holidays new home port was made.  We filled up the forward tanks with fuel and took off for the 6 hour ride across Appalachicola Bay into the Intercoastal Waterway, and around the end of the canal into Port St. Joe Marina.
                                                                             

                                                          Leaving Carrabelle

     Stopping when we saw a fellow in a small boat waving his arms in distress we quickly determined that he had a problem that we couldn't fix and called Sea Tow for him.  We made sure he and the two girls aboard were safe and had water then continued towards our destination.
                                                                           

  
                                                                                   

                                                                                   

                                                                 Apalachicola                                                                                      

                           Oyster beds our starboard prop met when we were here in 2012

     The wind came up and thunderclouds threatened as we entered and navigated  through Apalachicola and the ICW but we only had to go to the lower helm  for a brief period of rain. The cruise was easy and relaxing, allowing us to talk about the good times, good anchorages, nice towns and museums, our favorite islands and ....the difficult times. It seemed like such a long time ago that we left Eastport . Both of us were relieved the traveling was coming to an end and we could have a rest from our vacation. Indeed, we had experienced a lot, and no doubt learned a lot about cruising on our boat... The bottom line was,"Our experience continues to grow."
     However, our experience was not over! As we entered St. Joseph's Bay I could see  the wind had increased producing white caps and some rollers coming into the canal.  Beth quickly went forward and closed the forward hatch just in time to prevent a huge wave from filling up the front state room.  We had to turn side to the waves to get to the marina and the boat began to roll.  Out of the corner of my eye I saw Beth squat down and hang on.  When the boat righted itself she went into the main lounge, sat on the floor and hugged her knees.
      "Oh! This is the motion I hate." she moaned
      " Are you going to be able to get by the rocks at the entrance to the marina?  I guess the weather gods are giving us a reminder that they are the ones truly in control!" she said in a low nervous voice.
       "Please just relax. I have to concentrate on getting through the entrance. I am going to have to power in through the turbulence." I responded.
        We flushed in with a swell and as I maintained control of the boat Beth said with a glee, "Oh my Ralph. Look! The have a Doc's Holiday Welcome home banner strung up!" When I looked up boat horns were blaring, people were waving and I could see the smiling faces of our friends and club members. It was heartwarming.

                                                                         

                                                      Click on picture to enlarge.

     We managed to turn the boat around the very narrow fairway and glide into Doc's Holidays new slip.  We were greeted by more smiling faces; Vicki and Danny-Dale Hellemn; our club commodore Dave and his wife Margo; and holding a bottle of wine and the biggest smile of them all, Huin.
     Thank you all for being so kind and making us feel so much at home. 
                                                                           

                                                                                   

  
                                                                                 

                                                                                 

                           
                                                                                 

                                                                                

Bittersweet!!!......until the next adventure.

 

 We celebrated by opening the bottle of champagne Beth had on chill for when we reached our final destination.

The Crossing

     As discussed in a previous blog, there are many suggestions of how to safely cross from the panhandle of Florida to the west coast of Florida. At trawler speed most people will make a night crossing, leaving in the afternoon to travel the 150 miles so that they can arrive at daylight on the other side,  enabling them to see and avoid the numerous crab pots. I hate traveling at night. My imagination contrives all kinds of things that could be just under the water that we might hit and sink the boat. On top of that, with no definite horizon to focus on,  mal de mer sets in quickly and I am pretty much bedridden trying to hold my cookies down.
     Running at top speed didn't appear to be an option for two reasons.  One, I didn't want to travel a further 90 miles north to Steinhatchee, since it would add another 2 days to the trip and I would miss this weather window. Two,  I really didn't want to push the motors that hard for that long. I have babied this boat since the day I got her and I just don't like traveling that fast.
     I came up with a plan. If we left before daylight, we would have only a few hours of darkness and would be able to see not only what is in the water but when and where any storms were threatening. Pushing the boat a little to a 10 knot cruise, we would be across in about 15 hours.
     We were up and off the dock by 4:30 a.m. and passing by the Clearwater entrance marker by 5:00.  The waves were less than 2 feet and  only a moderate ocean swell which did increase when the 10 to 15 knot wind was on our nose but we passed by Dog Island just as it was getting dark. Beth met us at our assigned dock and we were securely tied up by 8:30p.m.
      We watched on our weather XM as storms passed behind and ahead of us, and laughed as we saw the one waiting over Apalachicola Bay move on out towards Tallahassee about an hour before we got to Dog Island.  The ride over was no doubt tolerable for most, but I remained supine in the lazy-boy chair or on the bed for most of the trip, relieving Mike at the helm when he needed a break. Hiring him was a good move.  He is used to being out in heavy weather and high seas and sea-sickness is just not a problem for him.
     My apologies to all who were following this part of the journey... I did not know that SPOT, the signal that shows our boat position at all times, automatically shuts down after 24 hours.  Since I did not shut it off the night before we left it looks as though Doc's Holiday went out into the Gulf Of Mexico and just disappears @ 1005AM! Beth was especially upset since she was following a storm that looked like it passed over us when spot stopped working! It wasn't until we were almost all the way across that I discovered the problem and got SPOT working again.  I guess that explains the 140 hits on the blog for that crossing.....sorry...but .....I'm BACK!!
     
     p.s. Beth and the dogs were still grinning when we arrived!

Fort Myers to Venice to Clearwater

     Waking up on Aug. 31, I  poured a cup of coffee for Beth and handing it to her said, "Happy Birthday, sweetheart.  What do you want for a birthday present?"  Laughing she replied, "I want off this boat!"
"What!"
     She added, "Seriously, we have been working on this boat since June and have been traveling daily since we left Eastport, Maine in July. Except for the days when we couldn't, because of the weather we have been moving.  I absolutely do not want to make the crossing across the gulf and besides the dogs want off the boat!"
    " Well, the dogs didn't tell me that", I quipped.
     I understood. It really has been a hectic trip, more like a delivery than a vacation and the most stressful part would be ahead of us.  We have been agonizing about crossing the gulf since we left the east coast. Several times a day we would watch the thunderstorms across the northern gulf, trying to see a pattern so we could time our crossing. On the east coast the storms had been fairly predictable. We could travel in the morning and be anchored or in a marina by 2 or 3 in the afternoon and safely watch the thunderstorms pass. The pattern on the west coast was different. The storms were occurring not only in the mornings but also overnight.  We discussed several scenarios such as going 90 miles further north to Steinhatchee to easily cross the 60 miles to Carrabelle, or running at top speed to make it across as quickly as possible or leaving the boat on the west coast of Florida until winter brought more settled weather, etc. etc.
                                                                       

              Our pass time during storms. Of course the Admiral had the large glass.
                                                                                                                       

                                                      Storm brewing in Fort Myers

     "OK, You got it. I will hire a captain and you can meet us in Carrabelle." A look of relief crossed Beth's face and I swear, both dogs grinned!
     I made the arrangements. Mike Chapman is married to Jaimie Chapman, our circulating nurse in the operating room at the hospital. He also has his captain's license.  He captained crew boats to the gulf oil rigs and now works for Sea Tow in Port St. Joe.  He agreed, drove down to Ft. Myers and gave Beth his truck so she and the grinning dogs could wait for us in Carrabelle.
    Tom  Delouche, the diver recommended by Coastal Props in Fort Myers, put the props back on and the next morning we headed on the outside to Venice.  As I throttled up the Detroit's to see if the motors were going to handle running on the top end we heard and felt a vibration. I immediately pulled the throttles back. The vibration was not so bad at cruising speed but the vibration was still there.
     " Damn! Did they do the props wrong? Did something come loose? Did we pick up a crab line? Are we doing any damage to the running gear?" rapidly shot through my mind.
     We eased into our dock in Venice and as soon as we were secure Mike donned a bathing suit and jumped into the water to take a look at the running gear. I expected him to come up with a handful of line. He came up with a surprised look on his face.
     "Your prop nuts are loose!" he exclaimed. "I can turn the locking nuts and the main nuts by hand!"
Immediately, I called Coastal Prop and they had the diver call me.  I explained the situation to him and asked him to come to Venice and correct the problem. He gave me some bullshit story about how the vibration was probably from a line that must have come off when we reversed gears to dock the boat and the props wouldn't come off because the were constantly pushing the boat forward and there was a cotter key preventing the nuts from coming off, blah! blah! blah!
"We see loose prop nuts all the time." he said.
"You need to come up here and fix this." I replied.
"I'm not coming to Venice. Get a diver to go down and tighten them up." he replied.
     That ended the conversation. There was no way I would have another diver go down and replace a prop again. They just can't put them on securely underwater.  To do so is a temporary fix, at best.
     We eased out off the dock in the morning and headed for Clearwater and I started working the phone to find a marina that could do a quick haul on the boat to check the running gear and tighten the props.
     Francisco Costa, (Yacht Solutions) at Cortez Cove Marina could handle us as soon as we could get there.  It was a tight squeeze to get in but they had 4 men helping and within an hour had the boat pulled, the running gear checked, and the prop nuts securely tightened down.  I took pictures of the nuts as soon as the boat came out and they weren't even touching the props.  I immediately called Coastal Props and the Fort Myers Marina to inform them of this divers shoddy work and lack of professional customer service.

                                                                             

      It turns out that the loose nuts were probably not responsible for the vibration. There is a computer relay that controls the stabilizers that had come loose. We had no further problem once I pushed the relay back in.
     We headed back out and enjoyed a smooth ride all the way up the coast to Clearwater.  No waves, just a slow undulating swell and the deep throbbing hum of the big Detroits.  Mike pointed out a number of sea turtles and flying fish.   It was interesting how these fish seemed to tail walk across the surface of the water. Since my photographer had jumped ship, I had no way to capture the images.
     Pulling into the fuel dock at Clearwater Municipal Marina was straight forward. I  filled the aft tanks to make sure we had enough fuel to get across the gulf.  Jumping in to fire up the port motor.....no go!  Depleting every curse word in my vocabulary, I used the starboard motor to coax the boat to our assigned slip.
     "Where was Beth and her magic finger"?  I thought silently. She was always able to get this motor going when I couldn't. This is a problem that has plagued us intermittently for the trip to and from Maine. Mike and I wiggled pushed and poked everything we could  thinking a wire or something must be loose...no luck. I tried to call a mechanic....no luck. All I could think of was the weather window we were about to lose if we couldn't get away in the morning.  Once we maneuvered on one engine and got all the power and water hooked up I passed by the lower helm and out of frustration jabbed at the start button one more time.....VROOM!  I still don't know what is wrong but it appears that given time to cool what ever is wrong is made right. We would be leaving in the morning.