Happy Holidays from Clearwater Beach 12-15-08

We have decided to stay here for a month. We will be flying from Tampa to NY to see family from 12/25 to 12/30, and with a monthly marina rate of $15 per foot, this is a great option.

Clearwater Beach is a wide, white sand, expansive beach and the boardwalk area has recently been refurbished with lush landscaping and Pier 60. There are plenty of shops and restaurants nearby as well as a Publix grocery store 1 mile away. The Jolly Trolley offers area transportation for $1 and there are bike paths also. The Clearwater Recreation Center offers yoga 3 times a week.

We rented a car from Enterprise for the weekend and toured St. Petersburg’s museums. The Salvador Dali Museum is extraordinary and offers the largest collection of his works in the U.S. The Museum of Fine Arts and the Holocaust Museum were very thought-provoking and all can be reached via the Looper Trolley bus.

We had wanted to go to Honeymoon Island and Calidisi Island State Parks with our boat but were concerned about water levels so we did the next best thing—packed a picnic, brought our beach chairs and hiking shoes and drove there. Definitely worth a visit.

Bob and I want to wish you a happy and joyful holiday season. We will start blogging again in January when we start heading south to Marathon.

Back in the Intracoastal Waters Again (Clearwater) 12-10-08

We undocked at 9:30 in Tarpon Springs with strong SE winds from a dock that you had to hold your breath to exit. Bob did a masterful job maneuvering our little single engine, no bow thruster Baby Grand. It is overcast, sticky FL humid at 68 degrees and I know that any of you in the northern climes would trade places with us now that you have snow and cold.

It is a short trip of 23 miles to Clearwater along the Gulf the Intracoastal Waterway—so glad to see you again. We have missed your protected waters and signposts to keep us out of danger. We could have stayed a few more days in charming Tarpon Springs, but with storms forecast for tomorrow, we decided to move on. No hurry today so we cruise at 8mph which is way less than our last diesel guzzling trip at 10mph.

We pass Anclote Island and Light which marks a dangerous reef. Here’s a picture of a Spoil Island made from dredge—in a few years, you will probably see a realtor’s sign advertising home sites at outrageous prices. We passed under the Dunedin Causeway Bridge which has a clearance of 23 feet—we are 21 feet so we went through slowly, looking up all the way. Here’s Bob checking the paper charts, Chartplotter and depth sounder—who says that men can’t multi-task.

We pull into Clearwater at 12:30 and were greeted by a multitude of boats. We had a reservation at the Clearwater Municipal Marina and chose it as they had Valvtect diesel fuel at $1.86 with tax and Boat US discount—that is a deal. There are a lot of Loopers here and it was great to catch up with everybody and meet new Loopers. Everybody was busy washing their boats to get rid of the encrusted salt residue. After the work was finished, we went over to Sunset Pier to walk the beach and enjoy a glorious sunset and full moon.

Tourist Time in Tarpon Springs 12-9-08

We slept so well last night. I woke up anyway at 5:30 because I am on that clock again. It was 50 degrees and I decided to cook the Spice-Rubbed Pork loin and potatoes au gratin that I couldn’t cook yesterday due to all the crab pot duty. It is supposed to get to 75 today so using the oven in the early morning makes sense too.

We moved from Port Tarpon Marina to Tarpon Landing Marina which is downtown as we wanted to explore the area and be tourists. A better option would be the Tarpon Springs Municipal Marina but they did not have space for us this morning. Tarpon Springs is is an authentic Greek fishing village complete with sponge and dolphin tours, plenty of Greek and seafood restaurants to tempt you and lots of shops to explore. There is even belly dancing at Zorba’s. You can take the Tarpon Trolley bus for $1.00 and get a narrated tour of the town and then decide what you want to do.

We had great gyros at Santorini’s on Dodecanese Blvd. We also visited the Shrine of St. Michael where Greek icons of the saint are located and are believed to help the sick. The Safford House is a mansion museum that looked very interesting but is only open on Wednesdays and Fridays now. The painter, George Inness, Jr., has several large paintings on display at the Unitarian Universalist Church and tours are available. His works have a remarkable ability to capture light.

Spring Bayou Park is an amazing place to while away an afternoon. There are 14 manatees residing there and here is a picture of a mom and calf. It is a great place to people watch and enjoy the lush scenery. The Pinnellas Trail is now a 34 mile bike and walking trail to St. Pete’s but it will be expanded to 75 miles in the near future. We didn’t do that much distance but did feel entitled to a treat. My internal GPS (Get Peggy Sweets) got us safely to the National Bakery where we had a healthy serving of baklava.

Tarpon Springs is the “sponge capital of the world” and we toured the factory and learned about how Greek divers harvest them. One boat reportedly was out for 2 months harvesting, returned with 18,000 lbs of sponge, but if it had rained heavily, the sponges onboard may have kept absorbing water and sunk the boat. I am doing a lot of boat washing down here in salt water land and decided to get a deluxe natural sponge. Maybe it will make the job easier?

Bloomin’ Flower Field of Pots 12-8-08

Golden Lily, Highlander and Baby Grand were all aground this morning at 6:30 am in the Twin Rivers Marina. It is a stressful way to wake up but we quickly devised a plan to depth sound the marina and the Salt River channel by going out in the dinghy and using a premeasured boat pole to get depth readings. Bob and Jim brought back the good news—the entrance was not as bad as we thought; the bad news—since high tide will not come until 12 noon, it may be difficult to get to Tarpon Springs before dark.

Our plan was to keep pulling our stern boat lines to see if we could wedge the boat out slowly with every inch of tide water coming in. Baby Grand only draws 3’10” and by 8:15, we could inch her back safely enough and then turned on the engine to power off—success. Plan was for us to go first and give depth readings to Golden Lily and Highlander. Shell Island was reading 5’—it looks pretty in the picture but can snag you. The other boats tried to leave at 10, but Highlander, unfortunately, found a shallow spot and grounded again in the marina. With the help of a Boat US tow, they got off and went safely to another marina and will try again for Tarpon Springs tomorrow.

By this time, we were already on the Gulf on the way to Tarpon Springs and were confronted with yet another challenge—mine fields of crab pots with floating lines that wiggle just below the water trying to grab our propeller. It was a blooming flower field of pots out there in assorted colors, usually dark which were harder to see especially when the sun is in your eyes and you are hand steering.

Dodge and weave was the sport of the day all the way to Tarpon Springs. We let down our guard just before approaching the Anclote River and ran over a lurking gray one. We shifted immediately to neutral, held our breath and both wondered aloud who was going to dive under the boat and free the propeller. We looked under the boat from the swim platform and could not find any debris or line. Maybe we lucked out and the cutters and/or the "shoe" extension from the keel worked. Bob started up the engine slowly and I looked for problems--none. Phew, were we lucky!

We were rewarded for our hard efforts today by many visits from dolphins. Here is a frisky one who played in our bow wave for 10 minutes. We made it to Tarpon Springs by 5pm and tied up at Port Tarpon Marina fuel dock for the night. We are tired, very tired.

Would it have been easier to take the overnight 160 mile trip from Carrabelle to Tarpon Springs instead of the 3 legs from Carrabelle to Steinhatchee to Crystal River to Tarpon Springs? Fast trawlers certainly have this as a possible option, maybe we should have. It would have taken us 20 hours away from land and if there were engine problems with a single engine boat….

Anxiety and Fun in Crystal River 12/7/08

The day started with a jolt when one of the Looper boats discovered that they were aground in the Twin Rivers Marina. This was very disconcerting as we had all asked the water depth and were assured that there were no problems. Being aground in the marina also raises questions about getting out safely back through the 7 mile channel to the Gulf. High tide came at 10:42 but the Looper boat did not really float until after 11 am and then was aground again. We had to wait for tomorrow to go anywhere so what to do?

Enter Tom and Debbie, our Looper friends who live in this area. They devised a perfect day of fun and entertainment to showcase the beauty of this area as well as offer local information about the tides and challenges of boating in this area.

We looped with Tom and Debbie from Joliet to Alton. They were transporting their 32’ PDQ catamaran from Lake Michigan to Crystal River, FL. They are a new couple together with so many adventures between them and they inspire confidence with a “can do” attitude. Sometimes you meet people in your life and you instantly think, “these guys are great”—that’s how we feel about Tom and Debbie.

When we last saw them, their sailboat, Catrina, had the mast down to get through all the locks and was running on 1 outboard engine. She has now morphed into this beautiful butterfly sailboat with mast up proudly and fully rigged. Tom and Debbie took Jim and Barbara from Golden Lily, Jeannette and Charlie from Highland and Bob and I for a ride on Catrina to explore the beauty of the Crystal River Wildlife Refuge. What a treat! We did see dolphins and manatees, but again, my camera was not quick enough to capture the moment.

Tom built his own home, complete with a 360 degree cupola overlooking the canals and wetlands, in Crystal River and they graciously gave us a tour. He is definitely a Renaissance man which is so nicely complimented by Debbie’s sense of fun. We topped off the day with an early dinner at one of their favorite local restaurants, Crackers.

Thank you so much for giving us such a great day.

92 Miles to Crystal River 12-6-08

Jim and Barbara from Golden Lily, Jeannette and Charlie from Highlander and Bob and I met this morning at 6 a.m. to review the forecast and decide if this is a go day. It is an agonizing process as there is no real right answer for everybody. Today’s NOAA forecast looked great for our immediate area but mentioned west winds building this afternoon which would mean beam seas. NOAA forecasts have not always been right the past few days and when this happens, you tend to question their accuracy. We evaluated that most of the day looked good, so let’s go for it. However, if we stayed, there was going to be a pancake breakfast in Steinhatchee as well as the holiday parade so no choice was totally bad.

We left with gray cloudy skies and a light East wind with a 1 foot chop on the Gulf. Here’s a picture of crabbers setting their pots and we did find a number of them. Baby Grand is the slowest boat and the lead was taken by Golden Lily, followed by Highlander and the boats initially had a 1 mile spacing which increased to 6-10 miles as the day wore on. All of us stayed connected on Channel 69. The cloudy, sometimes foggy day, was brightened by a solar breakthrough which cast a halo on the water ahead and urged us forward.

We monitor Channel 16 and heard 3 distress calls to the Coast Guard and towboat companies from boats in our area that were “dead in the water”, “having engine problems” and one from a 13 foot hydrofoil with kids aboard with no insurance. We began to have some concern about our situation when a Boat US Towboat operator interrupted us on Channel 69 and advised us that the tide charts that we were using for Crystal River were not accurate, that there was less water in there and that boats with a draft over 4 feet might go aground.

This created immediate panic and problem solving. Our boat, Baby Grand, only draws 3’10”, so we volunteered to go into the 7 mile channel first and scope it out and relay our depths to Highlander and Golden Lily. Here’s a picture of them following us through the notorious Shell Island section. We did find a few 5’ sections in the channel, but generally, there was plenty of water depth. Here’s a picture of us approaching the Twin Rivers Marina at 5:30 at sunset. We made it.

This day had a relaxing ending when Tom and Debbie, who live in Crystal River and are former Loopers, met us at the marina and took us all out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant. There is goodness in the world.

“Red Sky in the Morning, Sailors Take Warning” 12-5-08

We were all dressed up and nowhere to go again this morning. The NOAA forecast or guesstimate issued a small craft caution with a front due through our area this morning with 15-20 knot winds with 3-4 foot seas. We had an impromptu Captain’s Meeting at 6am with lots of coffee and decided to stay put. The red sky in the morning sunrise was taken as an omen that we made the right decision.

We had a very interesting and information discussion with Charlie Norwood, the owner of Sea Hag Marina. He explained how the crab pot lines are arranged along LORAN lines and so are not as haphazard as they appeared to us. The crabbers do not want to lose their lines and pots anymore that we want to run afoul and tangle our props. We also discussed the real advantage of a single engine boat with a keel that protects the prop and even more protection if you also have cutters. He said that he’s seen more prop damage from boaters having their own dock lines get tangled in their own prop when docking.

Let’s talk about the real marauders of FL. They are more feared than the pirates of old and more voracious than any shark. I am talking about the saber tooth sand gnat, also known as “no see ums”, which are hungry beasts that swarm around sunrise, sunset and all day on cloudy days, tearing off bits of flesh and pieces of ears, ankles and neck until they finally overtake their prey and drive them crazy with itching.

The Legend of Steinhatchee claims that so many early settlers were overcome by the even more lethal version of the beast, gave their blood in this effort and that Deadman’s Bay is named after them. This fierce little predator has been beaten back a bit by pesticides and bug sprays but it has never met a competitor that it hasn’t whipped.

Bob is a particularly tasty target for these critters and we now call him a “bug magnet.” He is in desperate need of an antidote. The $85 dollar Buzz-Off shirt is not it, nor is Deep Woods Off which is an aphrodisiac to them. We have checked with the locals and found out that rum Painkillers is the only known remedy, or in a pinch, drink a lot of beer and don’t bathe.

Decisions…Decisions (12-4-08)

We arose again at 5:30 am fully expecting to do Part II of the Gulf crossing. NOAA issued a forecast for south to southeast winds at 10-15 knots with 2-3 foot seas. This was similar to yesterday’s forecast but we actually experienced 3-4 foot seas for half the trip. A charter fishing captain met with all the Loopers this morning, and said that in his opinion, it would “ be rough out there today because as the coast turns eastward, you will lose the protection from land.”

What forecast to believe??? Each Looper couple had to evaluate the information based on their own experience and knowledge and decide for themselves. 2 boats, Gulf Cart and Freedom’s Turn, decided to go; Highlander, Golden Lily and Baby Grand, decided to stay as Friday’s forecast looked better.

Bob and I always enjoy a lay day and took off this morning to explore Steinhatchee. It has a colorful history as it was initially Seminole territory, was colonized by Spain in the 1500’s and was a pirate area from 1500 to 1800’s and was known as Deadman’s Bay. The name was gentrified to Steinhatchee which means “river of man.” It has supported logging, sponging by Greek divers in the 1940’s, and now is known more for small scale commercial fishing.

We have been very pleased with the Sea Hag Marina. You cannot beat the price of $.56 per foot with Boat US discount and tax plus $5 for utilities for a floating dock. The staff is very helpful, restrooms are clean, a gulf cart is available to do errands and they have a nice patio area for 5pm Captain’s Meetings.

Crossing the Gulf Part I (12-3-08)

5 Looper couples (Gulf Cart, Golden Lily, Highlander, Freedom’s Turn and Baby Grand) were up at 5:30 to consult all the weather and navigational aids (NOAA, both maritime and aviation, on XM; Looper emails from those who have recently crossed, and local knowledge). At 6:30, we met with Buddy, harbormaster at Carrabelle, who has unique local information and forecasts. With today’s forecasted East wind, his recommendation was that if we avoided going directly across to Steinhatchee and stayed more in the shallower waters initially going towards Buoy 26, we would have less wind and waves.

We decided to go for it as the odds looked more in our favor and headed out at 6:45. It did start out initially pretty calm as this sunrise picture shows and we hoped to have these calm seas for the whole day, but by 9:30 we were rockin’ and rollin’ with 2-3 foot bow waves. We thought that we were back on Lake Superior as the Gulf was churning the same green color. It was so comforting to be with a Looper flotilla through these waters. We kept up a steady chatter on Channel 68 checking in with each other, warning of obstacles, and getting weather updates.

Bob and I have been cruising in these protected waters too long and forgot to really batten down everything. When the waves increased to 3-4 feet, our secondary anchor on our bow pulpit broke away and Bob had to go forward to secure it. Our dinghy also started to shift and more lines were needed. We won’t make those same mistakes again. Even the pelicans were having a hard time just flapping their giant wings and not able to get airborne again after snagging a catch.

The faster Looper boats, Golden Lily and Freedom’s Turn, reported back to us in the afternoon that they had sighted land and the seas were calmer. This was welcome news to we slow trawlers 90 minutes back. However, the new menace was the dreaded crab pots which lay in rows scattered throughout the shallower waters. These yellow and red crab pot markers look pretty innocent and colorful but their underwater lines can reach out and grab propellers and bring even the biggest boat to an abrupt halt. We did not want to be a casualty.

We made it to the Sea Hag Marina at Steinhatchee by 5:15 which left just enough time to thoroughly wash down our salt-encrusted teak boat and go out to dinner at Fiddlers to celebrate our adventure. Dinner was quite good but some entrees were a little too salty or maybe we were just permeated with salt from today’s Gulf emersion.

Carrabelle 12-2-08

A little later start today but it is only 30 miles over to Carrabelle. Another cold front has come through and it was 43 degrees this morning. It is certainly possible that we Northern Loopers are still bringing the cold fronts with us. The silver lining is that this pattern of showers, cold fronts, high winds, then high pressure and low winds is predictable and can lead to a weather window to cross the Gulf.

This was an easy journey today following the red and green buoys over to Carrabelle. Apalachicola Bay is a prime fishing area and here is a picture of a shrimp boat looking like an antebellum Miss with a hoop skirt. Oystering is big here and there were 30 small boats here all raking up the oyster treasure. We did see about 3 pods of dolphins this morning, but just as I would ready the camera, poof, they were gone. I am trying not to take it personally.

We passed Dog Island on our way to Carrabelle and had a chance to survey our route out to the Gulf. We went to the fuel dock at Moorings Marina and Buddy helped us in. He is so knowledgeable about the area and the right conditions to cross the Gulf. More Loopers are coming in this afternoon and we will meet up with them and discuss strategies. Buddy will meet with all of at 6:30am tomorrow and give us his recommendation.

Meanwhile, I got to do a less glamorous task of cleaning the bilge. We have had a lot of rain and did not put the cover on the windlass and had a little extra water in the bilge. The pump handles most of it, but not all, so that’s where I come in.

We did a quick walking tour around Carrabelle and one of its distinctions is having the “smallest police station”. It was fully functioning in the 1960’s and a credit to their lack of crime. However, vandals found it an easy target for illegal calls and one tourist even tried to load it in their truck. So much for progress.

St. George Island 12-1-08

We have 25 knots of wind and cannot go to Carrabelle, so what do we do? We went online and found a car rental deal at the local small airport and booked it for today. We would rather spend money exploring a new area than going out to dinner—it’s about the same cost.

We had read about the volunteer effort to save the St. George Lighthouse and had to see it. A group of volunteers salvaged the 22,000 bricks when the 3rd version toppled over, got grants totaling $525,000, solicited private funds and rebuilt it in a safer central location. It is a work of art patterned after the original but with 92 new wood steps, brass details and reinforcements, it will hopefully survive in this fourth revival.

St. George Island State Park is another barrier Gulf island that has been preserved in its natural state. Like the St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, it offers bay and Gulf views but St. George has a more remote feel. I walked for 6 miles on a deserted beach, made firm by low tide, overnight rain and hard packed shells. It was a red flag day of 25 knots and my footprints were vacuumed by the strong west winds. I treasure times like this.

The internet is great and we were able to find out that the local health dept was offering flu shots today so we got that done too. With a little grocery shopping, we are topped off for the next 2 weeks. On to Carrabelle and crossing the Gulf if the sea gods allow.

Apalachicola 11-30-08

Rain..rain..rain but that does not stop these intrepid Loopers from exploring. Apalachicola is a town steeped in history and charm. It has undergone feast to famine cycles so many times from cotton, lumber, salt, fish and oysters (90% of FL oysters are still from here) and now to tourism. There are a number of Victorian houses, B&B’s, and interesting galleries, shops and restaurants. Fresh fish and oysters are readily available and we went to Papa Joe’s for our fill. The chocolate mousse cake at Café con Leche is not to be missed. There was a musician at Gibson House playing jazz alto sax which added a sultry dimension to this rainy afternoon.

There are a number of museums to be explored. We toured the Orman House which is part of the FL Park system now and received a $300,000 grant for restoration. It has had a colorful history with Thomas Orman, the original owner and transplant from Syracuse NY, mirroring the town cycles of fortune and misfortune in the 1800’s. At 6’7”, he was a robust man who regularly had a breakfast of eggs, ham, grits, biscuits and 2 dozen oysters at the dining room pictured above. His last descendant, Miz Andrews, lived into her 90’s and kept a horse in the parlor and a shotgun under her bed.

We also toured the Gorrie Museum which featured the ice machine invention by the venerable Dr. John Gorrie. This is the antecedent to modern refrigeration and air conditioning which he developed to help the suffering of patients afflicted with various fevers. We had wanted to tour the Maritime Museum but it was closed so we headed to the 2nd best—the Tin Shed which features all sorts of nautical bric-a-brac.

Lest you think that we are all play and no work, Bob changed the impeller which sorely needed it. He also tested the long distance capabilities of the Ham radio and made contact with the maritime Ham network in Toronto, Canada. We will need this when we go to the Bahamas to get weather and make any emergency calls.

Pushing East to Apalachicola 11-29-08

It takes about 6 Loopers 5 minutes to figure out what day it is and now that we have crossed into the Eastern Time zone, add 5 more minutes. I wake up in the morning to the familiar surroundings of my v-berth bed, but I have to lie there awhile and ask myself, “Where am I?” I would definitely need more time and a little coaching to pass even a Mini-Mental Status exam these days. I like that about cruising life—everything is different practically every day except for your boat and your partner and I would not trade either of these.

We are off to Apalachicola today and hope to get there before major rain is expected. Our trusty "Intercoastal Waterway Chartbook" directs us through long narrow sections with very interesting descriptions of the adjoining land masses—the impenetrable swamp, cypress swamp, low swampy area, bayou and marsh. I can not tell you what the differences are but all have a subtle beauty and quietness as we proceeded almost alone for the whole morning. Questions that I cannot answer: "if the swamp is so impenetrable, how did they get a house there; what is the story behind the chair; how shallow is that island"? I think that these are the proverbial FL swamplands that are for sale to naive investors.

We then entered Lake Wimico which is very shallow (1-3 feet) off the narrow buoyed channel. This was made a bit more interesting by increasing winds and tidal flow so we had to be very vigilant to stay within the markers. There is anxiety with cruising, and in these situations, we do a rehearsal for the worse case scenario, i.e. “What would we do if our engine cut out right here and we are blown into the shallows in this really remote area?”

We arrived at the Water Street Marina at noon. We chose this marina as it is close to town and they have floating docks. However, at extreme low tide which is today, there is only 4’6” of depth at this marina which discouraged other Looper boat with deeper keels, "Golden Lily" and "Highlander", from coming in.

The forecasted rain did materialize but we were able to get a picture of palm trees with Christmas evergreen decorations in front of Water Street Hotel and Marina. The Yule Log lighting ceremony was cancelled but Santa did arrive by shrimp boat yesterday so Christmas is on.

We did tour the Raney House in the rain. It is another example of Greek revival architecture during the antebellum period and gives a glimpse of life in the mid 1800's. We plan to tour more historical areas tomorrow, rain or shine.