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.
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….
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….
