Thursday, March 13, 2014
Just as we had hoped (and had been forecast), by early afternoon on Friday (March 7) the wind had subsided to the point where we felt confident that we could depart Carrabelle and have a good 3-4 day weather window to make it around the Big Bend to Tarpon Springs. Everything on Sanderling was in order, and we cast off lines (it took about half an hour to get all the lines secured) and were underway down the Carrabelle River at 1415. We cut the corner of the channel after departing the river in order to save a few miles, then headed east in the deep water toward Alligator Point. A barrier island provided some additional shelter from the 1-2 foot waves that were still on the Gulf. By the time we reached the area where we intended to anchor the waves had died down to less than one foot; we spent a quiet night anchored in about eight feet of water about 1/2 mile off the spit of land that is named Alligator Point on the chart. Interestingly, there were a few houses on the narrow peninsula and a restaurant with unsecured WiFi which we could access with our ubiquiti WiFi antenna from Island Times so we were able to download our email and check the weather-related web sites to confirm that we’d have good weather while continuing our trip around the Big Bend.
Day: 18.5SM/16.1NM – 2H45M Trip 4520.8NM – 758H15M
On Saturday (March 8) we had the anchor up and were underway at 0640, just before sunrise. The wind was less than 5 MPH and the water surface was about as calm as it gets without being a “mirror” surface. We had an easy day cruise to Steinhatchee. The channel from the Gulf to Good Times Motel and Marina was no less than 8.5 feet in depth with the tide about 1.5 feet at the time we transited. When we got to the marina we called them on the phone (they didn’t seem to be interested in using the VHF radio) and suddenly four guys appeared on the dock to help take our lines. We got tied up and chatted with the volunteer dock hands from the bar for awhile – they were interested in what we were doing there and in Sanderilng – obviously they don’t see many boats and boaters like us since the majority of boaters doing this section of Florida do not stop at any of the Big Bend towns but rather head straight across the 180 miles from Apalachicola or Carrabelle to either Tarpon Springs or Clearwater. We ate dinner in the tiki bar (every marina in Florida has a tiki bar) and returned to Sanderlng and read while listening to loud music shared by a Hatteras sports-fishing boat and karaoke from the tiki hut bar.
Day: 68.8SM/59.9NM – 9H10M – Trip: 4850.7NM/5263.5SM – 767H25M
On Sunday (March 9) with the change to daylight savings time we were underway just after sunrise in order to see better with the topside plastic windows slightly glazed after trying to remove most of the heavy dew from the night. Even at 0745 there were a lot of small fishing boats heading out for early morning fishing on the Gulf and low tide there was still plenty of water for us in the long channel leading to the Gulf. Again, the water was about as calm as it could get with waves less than one foot. We headed essentially south after coming back into the Gulf and set a series of courses to just south of Seahorse Key (about 3-4 miles southwest of Cedar Key. We crossed the northern end of the Seahorse Reef and anchored on the southern side in about 15 feet of water about a mile from Seahorse Key and the entrance to the Main Ship channel heading into Cedar key. Since it was almost a 5 mile trip into Cedar Key and because the wind was so calm, we elected to simply anchor out in the Gulf rather than traveling and additional five miles in to Cedar Key where we’d have to anchor anyway and then another five miles back out to rejoin our route down to Tarpon Springs from Steinhatchee. At the time we anchored the wind was from the northwest at less than 6 MPH and the waves were less than one foot.
Day: 62.5SM/54.4NM – 8H05M Trip: 4635.1NM/5326.0SM – 775H30M
On Monday, March 10th we were underway just about sunrise and headed basically south to the entrance to Tarpon Springs, about 65 miles away. Again, the water was calm and although we had some 1 foot waves on the port beam for about 15 miles (caused a little rocking), when we turned slightly to the SSE the waves were quartering and we had a nice, quiet ride again. We entered the channel into Tarpon Springs and decided we might as well continue further south to an anchorage we identified near Dunedin since we still had a lot of daylight remaining in the day; we also decided to go into a marina in Clearwater the next day (rather than stopping at Tarpon Springs) for another land-trip back home so I could attend a chorus rehearsal Tuesday evening. We pulled into an anchorage between two spoil islands just off the marked channel and joined about six sailboats that were already at anchor. We had a very calm, restful evening at anchor.
Day: 78.3SM/68.1NM – 9H30M Trip: 4703.2NM/5404.3SM – 785H00M
Tuesday morning (March 11th) we slept in since we only had about 3 miles to go to get to the marina where we had reservations for a few days (Clearwater Harbor Marina – mainside). The weather is forecast to become very windy starting Tuesday evening and Bob wanted to get to a chorus rehearsal (only a month to go to the Brevard Community Chorus’s production of Carmina Burana), and we wanted to restage our car from Carrabelle to Clearwater so it would be closer to home when the time came to get it after we got Sanderling home. We pulled into the marina and had lines to the dock at 1035. By 1230 we were in a rental car from Enterprise and heading home to Merritt Island. Bob attended the chorus rehearsal while Judy worked from her home computer that evening.
Day: 3.6SM/3.1NM – 00H50M Trip: 4706.4NM/5407.9SN – 785H50M
On Wednesday, March 12th, we left home about 0740 in our rental car and headed to Carrabelle, Florida. At Carrabelle Bob got our car and followed Judy back to Clearwater. We arrived back in Clearwater about 2000, fed the cats (who had remained aboard Sanderlng during our absence) and walked a few blocks up the hill from the marina to have a late evening meal of pizza (at Tony’s – very good, a nice place and close to the marina). With high gusting winds forecast for Thursday we’ll be here for at least another day; depending on Friday’s forecast we hope to get underway and start down the west coast of Florida to Ft. Myers and the Okeechobee Waterway across the state to Stuart, then home!
Thursday, March 6, 2014
We’ve been watching the weather forecast and the tides since returning home in early December, waiting for a good time to cruise through the Florida’s Big Bend. By mid-February the northerly winds had receeded to some extent and the water levels in the northeast corner of the Gulf of Mexico were returning to near normal. Daylight was getting longer. Temperatures were . . . well, generally rising. Storm fronts kept sweeping across the US dumping snow throughout the midwest and stirring up the Gulf every week or so.
We had returned to Sanderling in early January and again in early February to ensure that all was well, and Bob changed the oil and equalized the batteries on one visit.
In late February it seemed like there would be a window developing around the 8th or 9th of March, if the storms would just stay away from the Gulf. By March 2nd the forecast had started to be consistently good for the second weekend in March, so we made our preparations to get to Carrabelle in anticipation of a departure on Friday or Saturday (March 7th or 8th). We loaded up the car with the few things we needed to bring back to Sanderling (including the cats) and drove to Carrabelle on Wednesday. Since Sanderling had sat for three months without being underway, there were quite a few things we wanted to do to ensure that she was still her reliable self, fill the 20# propane tank and water tanks, check out the engine and generator, run the windlass and bow thruster, check the running, anchor and deck lights, make sure the electronics were still playing nicely together, etc.
Currently there are some 20 plus knot winds on the Gulf just south of Carrabelle, but they’re predicted to die down on Friday. Although we can hardly feel a breeze here on the river in Carrabelle, we wouldn’t want to go anywhere today because those winds are stirring up the waves. Everything should calm down starting early Friday morning, and by early afternoon the wind and waves should become manageable enough for us to depart and proceed about 10 miles to the east where we can anchor in the lee of the shore (wind is predicted to be about 10 knots from the north by 1600) while the wind continues to abate. By Saturday morning the wind is predicted to be in the 5 knot range! Even if we decide we can’t depart Friday afternoon we’ll be able to leave the marina on Saturday morning. We hope to make the Friday departure – it will take us an hour or so just to remove all the lines that are holding us in position against the cross-current in the river.
No matter which day we depart Carrabelle, we’ll be in Steinhatchee on Saturday by late afternoon. From there we have a good weather forecast for the next two days, so we should get from Steinhatchee to Crystal River and then to Tarpon Springs without difficulty.
More later!