Tarpon Springs to Anclote Island 11/9/17

I got dog walking duty this morning so we took the bike and rode through the downtown and the sponge docks over to the dog park about a mile away.  I felt when we entered the "large dogs" section that Abby was the little princess in her party dress meeting the local trailer trash. There were all kinds of mutts all doing their best to hump her or sniff her butt. She was quite intimidated at first but she became more comfortable as time passed and ran and played with the other dogs.  After about half an hour she was tired and we rode back over to the marina.  I don't think I will be hearing much from her for the rest of the day. I spent the morning sorting out why I had not received a renewal for the motorcycle in the mail.  The plates expired in August but I hadn't noticed and now I had to find out why.  It appears that when I changed the address on my drivers license it automatically changed the address for the registration of the motorcycle to Charleston County.  The DMV told me they would not renew the plate until the property taxes were paid and that I had to pay them in Charleston County.  I spoke with the Tax Auditor in Lexington County where I work and paid them last year and he advised me to just pay them in Charleston County and ask for a special mailing address so the renewal went to my address in Lexington. That took an hour or so and I also checked on the property taxes for the boat.  The reason I changed my drivers license was to save money on the property taxes in Lexington County for the boat.  Lexington wanted $11,000.00 dollars property tax and I ended up paying less than $800.00 in Charleston.  Lots of hoops to jump through but well worth it. While it looks like there are as many hoops to jump through again this year and I got started in finding all of the information required to have the lower rate in Charleston County.

Debbie had gone off shopping at the Sponge Docks and we were to meet at Rusty Bellies for lunch because we were too full to go last night.  I completed the motorcycle renewal and got it mailed off with the forms and check.  We had a very nice lunch on the water at Rusty Bellies, Debbie had shrimp and I had a whole grilled fish, Porgy I think, that was very good. Beer today I'm done with Sangria!!   After lunch Debbie dragged me to a shop where she had found nice men's shorts that she wanted me to try on and I did.  They were nice and I got two pairs.  Thanks Honey.

A statue dedicated to the sponge divers that this Greek inspired community grew up with

Abby goes to the Dog Park

She didn't know which way to turn, so many dogs

Cute little Australian sheep dog

We had to wait for the tide to come in before we could get out of the Anclote River, so around 3:00 we headed off as two other Loopers docked at Turtle Cove.  We didn't go very far out the river and anchored behind Anclote Island for the night.  It was a peaceful evening on the hook and we are excited about moving to Marker 1 Marina tomorrow where we will stay for a month.  It's been non stop travelling for 7 plus months and a stay for a month should be a nice break.

Tarpon Springs 11/8/17

We unloaded the motorcycle this morning because we wanted to do some shopping and also because we wanted to go for a ride.   We are now in central west coast Florida and it's time to slow down and stay somewhere for awhile. We had made inquiries at Marker 1 Marina in Dunedin (just north of St Pete) and wanted to stay there for a month.  When we had called last month, they were unable to take a reservation as far out as we had called and it was basically a first come first served basis.  We decided to ride down to Marker 1 and check the place out to know if we wanted to stay. When we arrived the place is pretty big and we liked the feel and location.  It's very close to Dunedin which has lots of shopping and restaurants and it's also close to Honeymoon Beach State park and the causeway leading over to the park.  Not too far to the airport in Tampa and we liked the dock that was available.  Also the price is right $11.00 a foot a month including power and cable TV.  They have a small pool and we think we will be happy.

This is Marker 1 Marina. We will be on the far top left of the docks on the left of the causeway.

After we had made the arrangements we rode back north to Tarpon Springs  and stopped off at West Marine to make some purchases.  The things I wanted they didn't have in stock so I ordered them online and I will pick them up on Friday as they are having a 10% off sale Thursday and Friday. We stopped at Ace hardware and bought some screws to complete the assembly of the chairs we recovered last week then off for lunch.  When we went to Costa's last night I forgot my hat and the food was very good so guess what, we went back for lunch.  Debbie had a shrimp souvlaki and I had a pork souvlaki along with a (wait for it) Greek salad and 4 sangrias.  I told Debbie many times through dinner how happy I was to be in Florida and know where we would be for the next month.  I'm sure after two weeks I will be ready to move on but maybe not, it just feels good. Debbie walked across the street to the Greek bakery and bought two Baklavas for us to enjoy when we got back to the boat.

We went back after lunch and made a grocery list and rested for a bit. We ate half of the Baklava and  then it was off to the grocery store.  On the way we passed the dog park and I thought it might be fun to take Abby over to play tomorrow.  We got everything back on the boat and we had planned on going out for dinner at Rusty Bellies but both of us were too full and decided we would go to Rusty Bellies for lunch tomorrow instead.  

We watched a movie The Double with Topher Grace and Richard Gere.  Not bad..... then off to bed.  Tired!

Carrabelle to Tarpon Springs 11/6&7/17

We got up this morning and we had the day to pass before we would leave for Tarpon Springs.  The plan is to leave late in the afternoon and travel overnight so that we arrive in Tarpon Springs with the sun high enough to be able to see all of the reported thousands of crab pots that line the coast off of Tarpon Springs.  We calculated that we should leave around 4:00 PM and that is what we did.  I walked down the dock this morning to watch a fisherman unload his catch into a buyer truck from a local fish market.  He had red grouper, red snapper and black grouper.  I'm sure there were others but that is what they identified to me.   Each one of these plastic totes below weighed in at around 110 lbs and there were about 6 of them.  The fish were all well packed in lots of ice and some actually looked like they were half frozen, anyways still very fresh.  The fisherman was about 70+ and he goes out with his wife to fish.  They usually stay out for 3-4 days and then come in and unload.  He takes care of the boat and she does the fishing.  Looks like a very hard life and I was amazed in what good shape the old guy was in.  I'm sure the sea toughens you over the years.

Red Grouper

The cold chests with all of the catches

Red Snapper

We had a big lunch aboard so we wouldn't have to deal with cooking tonight while underway.  I even had a couple of beers hoping that I could have a siesta after lunch.  The siesta never happened and we ended up busy with new arrivals coming in and finally two boats came in that needed our spots as they had reservations and the marina had been very gracious in allowing us to stay almost until 4:00 PM.  A late check out if you will.

I hope SeaTow has another boat here because this one doesn't look too good.  There are quite a few abandoned or sunken boats in Carrabelle and I'm guessing the economy is not very strong.  It's sad to see the parts of old Florida falling apart.

We worked our way out of the river into the sound and then passed through East Pass which is the deepest and best marked of the three passed out of the sound.  There are a couple of jogs as you follow the deep water through the pass and then it is a straight line to R4 off of Anclote island near Tarpon Springs.  The beginning was a beautiful afternoon cruise and then the sun went down and we were well out of sight of land and it got dark.  Not just dark, really dark.  So dark we could hardly see the burgee on the bow pulpit and nothing else. I don't know about others but I didn't feel all that comfortable plowing along at 10 knots and not seeing a thing. I kept thinking that others have done this for centuries and that's just the way it is.  We also have radar which to my thinkng is a huge comfort and AIS which helps too.  BUT neither of them will show you a half submerged container or sunken boat!! Anyways we didn't hit anything and all was well.

Around 8:00 PM the moon rose as a huge orange ball and turned a bright white as it rose in the sky.  Once it was up it cast a light across our path and you at least felt there was a chance of seeing something before you would hit it.

Heading out onto the blue yonder

The sun setting to the west, nice calm seas and a west wind to push us along

The guiding moon

Sometime in the middle of the night.  The radar is set on a 12 mile range and there was no one else out there

The view of the navigation and instrument panel

Debbie and I took turns standing watch and trying to get some sleep. We had chicken vegetable soup with left over pasta as one of our many snacks and then later on we had popcorn.  No drinking on this cruise that would need to wait until tomorrow. There was some very good music playing on Sirius radio and it made the time fly along while it lasted. I love it when you know every song and like it too. We got to a point where the water starts to become shallower and it is a well known place for the fisherman to place their crab pots.  We didn't want to run into any and risk fouling the props, so we stopped the engines and drifted until the sun had come up enough for us to see.  The problem we expected was that the sun would come up and blind us from being able to see anything on the water until it got high enough.  Good sunglasses helped a lot and also we were heading about 30 degrees off of the sun so it really wasn't too bad and we made it to an anchorage where we stopped and slept for a few hours before going in to Tarpon Springs.  The main reason we didn't go straight in was that with the almost full moon the tides were higher and lower than normal and we saw some very skinny water coming in behind Anclote Island and when I called the marina to confirm our reservation she suggested we wait until 3:00 PM when the tide would come up before we made our way up the river to Turtle Cove Marina in Tarpon Springs. Somewhere in the morning I thought I had picked up a crab pot line or just a line and when we anchored I dove under the boat to check.  No lines and everything seemed good.  I cleaned off the scaling from the zincs so they would work again and checked to be sure they were all in place.  Everything looked good and I spent about a 1/2 hour in the water which was very refreshing.  Debbie and I had a nice nap after and woke up around 2:00 PM to head into Turtle Cove.

The sun will be up soon

There is the sun.  Good Morning

We checked into Turtle Cove and unloaded the bicycles so we could go out for an early dinner at Costa's Greek Restaurant.  We showed up around 5:00 PM at Costa's and ordered Greek Salad (one of their specialties. I ordered the Greek Combo Platter and Debbie had the Soutzoukakia.  Debbie had wine and I had 4 sangrias.  We were so stuffed we rode back to the boat and rubbed our bellies hoping that we would feel better soon.  It wasn't too long before we went to bed for the evening, but before we did we had a visit from the Harbor Host Herb Seaton who won the True North award as the Harbor Host of the Year. He delivered a map and showed us where everything is and also brought us a box of Streusel Cakes.  What a guy!  Thanks Herb.

The menu from Costa's

Port St Joe to Carrabelle 11/5/17

We really enjoyed Port St Joe.  Nice dock neighbors and a friendly atmosphere all around. The decision today is, do we go outside the long way around 50-60- miles to Apalachicola or go up the GICW in a canal and get to Apalachicola in under 30 miles?  It's a beautiful day but I have worries about the two passes to get us into the bay where Apalachicola is located.  On the charts it looked pretty good but then I spoke with a dock neighbor and he said that the channel shifts constantly and it might not be as good as it looks.  With the combination of an iffy pass and almost double the distance we regrettably will take the ditch as tomorrow we will be out in the ocean for about 18 hours to cross to Tarpon Springs.  We arrived in Apalachicola and didn't see anything or place we wanted to stop so we kept on going to Carrabelle.  This decision was influenced by the fact we had been conversing with Herb Seaton the Harbor host from Tarpon Springs and he has expressed an interest in buddy boating across to Tarpon Springs tomorrow night. He is now ahead of us and we will meet in Carrabelle.  By continuing on today we will take 20 some odd miles off of the crossing tomorrow. Carrabelle has the C-Quarters Marina with reasonable rates, cheap fuel and a restaurant with oysters nearby.  When we left out of Apalachicola there is a narrow dredged channel leading out to the bay and we came across two markers that didn't seem to be right.  Now the decision is which one is wrong and which one do you believe.  I'm not sure if I made the correct decision or not but we could see our wake rising over the sandbar close to port and we were almost against the green mark to starboard.  Saw 0 feet of water and felt a couple of shudders and maybe a little lift as we passed through.  I hate those feelings.  Anyway we didn't get stuck and made it safely to Carrabelle where we were greeted by Herb at the dock.  We ended up having docktails and going out to dinner at Fathoms for oysters.

Well the first thing the waitress said to us was she was sorry but they were out of oysters.  What a let down! Herb and I had the grilled grouper and Debbie had a shrimp quesadilla.  It was pretty good but like I said I had had oysters on the mind for days. We walked back over to the boat and watched an episode f Downton Abbey and then bed.

Port St Joe Marina

The breakwater off of Port St Joe

Debbie and Abby.  Two walks this morning

Drift Away at Port St Joe. That's me adjusting lines.

The Office and restaurant bar at Port St Joe Marina. Happy hours (3) everyday and they will cook your catch if you clean it first.

Panama City to Port St Joe 11/4/17

We left after breakfast and headed outside to the ocean for our trip along the coast to Port St Joe.  The ocean was calm with maybe 6" waves and a following breeze to push us along.  The beaches are endless here and beautiful white sand with no one on them.  It is Saturday so there is a lot of fishing boats out and pleasure craft enjoying the warm fall weather. It was about a 3-4 hour run over to Port St Joe and we checked in around 2:00 PM.  Nice small friendly marina with lots of locals.  The guy on the Ocean next to us is from BC and lived in the Okanogan valley.  Damn Canadians everywhere you go.

I checked in at the office and got the WiFi codes so we could work on the blog and start planning our crossing to Tarpon Springs.  This is usually done as an afternoon departure with an overnight crossing and arriving off of Tarpon Springs late enough in the morning that the sun is high enough so you can see the crab pots in the sun's reflection on the water when you are near Tarpon Springs. Some find this very intimidating but I see it as an adventure especially since the weather forecast is very good and there will be a full moon to guide us on our way.  We have been discussing with another 50+ trawler about buddy boating across.  I guess we will see if they make it to Apalachicola in time for our departure Monday afternoon.  The time changes tonight but for us it will stay the same since we crossed back over into the eastern time zone.  That was easy no clocks to change or sleep schedule change.  I will still wake up at 5:30!

Debbie and I gave Abby a bath, she is so well behaved and now she looks and smells great.

Next up was to do the final assembly of the chairs we have been recovering.  It went well and we celebrated with cocktails trying out the newly recovered chairs on the aft deck.

When we had dinner at the Italian Restaurant the other night I had the Veal Piccata and enjoyed it so much that I thought I would try making chicken piccata since I had all of the ingredients and it sounded pretty straight forward. It turned out really well and I will make it again.  We watched a double header of Downton Abbey and then off to bed.

View out onto St Joseph Bay from our dock

Panama City Day Two 11/3/17

I took Abby for her morning run with the bicycle and then we had breakfast.  Next it was down to the engine room to change the 4 oil filters.  These things are huge and hold a 1/2 gallon of oil each.

 There are two per engine and the hardest part is getting in a comfortable position to remove them without getting oil all over me or the engine room.  I have a good filter wrench now which helps a lot in getting them loose.  This was something I struggled with greatly the first couple of times I changed them. They are all located in varying levels of difficulty to access and I can promise you the engineer that designed the installation never changed the filters on one of these.  Sometimes a little practical experience would be good for engineers! So armed with buckets to dump the used filters in, bucket for trash, a roll of shop towels, tools, some pillows to sit on and an old t shirt.
We finished up after a few hours and took a break.  The next job is to get rid of the used filters and oil.   This marina has an oil dump and also takes the used filters so I emptied the used oil tanks into buckets and toted everything over to the recycling oil dump.
After lunch it was chair recovering project and we got all of the material Debbie had sewn up attached to the frames and ready for install another day.  The material is a four way stretch and the staples seemed to go right through it and cut the material rather than holding it.  It was frustrating work, but we got it done and it looks pretty good. We were tired but wanted to see the downtown so we found an Italian restaurant to go to for dinner.  Ferruchis was the place and the meal was pretty good.  There was a first Friday of the month downtown party with blowup slides and fun houses for the kids, live bands and also a DJ in the middle of the street.  A fun and lively atmosphere, too bad we were too tired to stay and enjoy it.

Fort Walton Beach to Panama City 11/2/17

Bye bye Fort Walton Beach its been nice.  We crossed a large sound called Choctawhatchee Bay after we left the narrows at Fort Walton and then entered a narrow man made canal for about 12 miles before coming out into West Bay and then down under the bridge to Panama City.  We passed a tow in the canal and the tow captain was very helpful and slowed and pulled over so we could have an easy pass.  Just about at the end of the canal section and before West Bay we saw an airboat with a bunch of tourists scooting along over the marshes and narrow canals leading off of the main canal. They looked like they were being well entertained.

Looks like fun.  He had slowed way down when he passed.  My wake might have helped him in that decision! Also notice he is wearing hearing protection but none of the passengers are.

We passed under the bridge leading to the beaches and we were hailed by a small navy ship asking us for a one whistle pass.  Absolutely love my AIS.  He knew my boats name and knew where we were and who to call.  Makes life easy and safe We pulled into the marina and checked in for two nights as it is time to change the oil again.  It's an every 150 hours thing and for the most part its easy, just the oil filters are a pain in the ass.  Once we were tied up I drained all of the old oil while it was still hot and any contaminants were still in suspension.  This sounds like hot dirty work but this part is actually easy.. I go down to the engine room and open a few valves and then push a button.  Now for the hard part.  I get a drink and go sit on the aft deck and wait for the sound of the oil pump to change which tells me that all of the old oil is out of that engine.  Turn some more valves and repeat.  Now tomorrow I will change the filters when everything has cooled down in the engine room. Debbie's knee and foot have been bothering her so I now have dog walking duty added to my chores.  I usually take the bicycle as I walk less and Abby runs more.  Win win for both of us.  We did a complete tour of the parks and marina and I spoke with a guy cast net fishing and also he had three rods out and was busy tending them all.  I found out you don' need a license to cast net fish so I will be trying that sometime soon.  I guess I will get a fishing license here in Florida because we will be here for long enough to make it worthwhile.  I've never been a fishing guy but I think Florida might change that.  I do like fresh fish and love shrimp so those are my goals. Maybe I will take a lesson from a fishing guide to get what I need and learn what I need to know.  I don't want to run afoul of the law especially when they have the power to seize your vessel!!

Fort Walton Beach Day 2 11/01/17

We got up this morning and it was such a nice spot and free, we are in no rush to get anywhere so we decided to stay another day and get some chores done.  My main project was to wash the mustache off of the boat on both sides which requires launching the dingy. The davit is long enough that I can boom out across the dock and launch on the far side of the dock we are tied to.  Otherwise I would have to turn the boat around to do this.  Now if I turned the boat around I wouldn't need the dingy cause I could do it all from the dock.  My preferred cleaning solution is a 50/50 mix of On/Off and water.  Just spray it on and brush it around and the mustache is gone.  Bad part is so is all the wax that might have remained.  I purchased a handicapped suction handle that I thought would allow me to hold onto the boat as I worked my way down the side but it did not stay on well so I tied the dingy off and moved the painter  along as I worked my way down the side and dragging the hose along to rinse off after the On/Off had done its magic.

I took the bicycle and some cloth grocery bags up to a Publix about 4 blocks away and did some grocery shopping.  I also passed bars and restaurants along the way that would have been the source of the live music last night that we could hear from the boat.  Nice Publix with a good selection of fresh veggies and fruit.

After with no mustache.  Much better.

Once the mustache project was completed it was time for a cocktail cruise in the dingy with Abby.  We have always had Tervis Tumblers for drinks and recently we purchased snap on lids that close so you can take your cocktail with you and it won't spill, even if it falls over in the dink.  Great addition to the cruising equipment.

This afternoons view.  The bridge in the background leads over to the barrier island and is really busy even at 6:00 AM. Fortunately it's far enough away you don't hear it.

Sunrise from our dock this morning overlooking Fort Walton Beach

The Free City dock also has water and free pumpout which would be really good if the pumpout had a little more suction.  As it was it barely lifted the effluent out of the tank and never totally emptied the tanks.  There is a nice park adjoining the city docks and when you check in you call the police dispatch number and the Police then patrol the area at night to make sure there is no trouble.  Made us feel good.

Joe Patti's to Fort Walton Beach 10/31/17

We had everything we needed fishwise so we untied and left after breakfast.  Nice calm day with a breeze coming in from the ocean as we crossed Pensacola Bay and rejoined the GCICW. This stretch of the Waterway follows inside the barrier islands and just off of the main land.  We first passed Tyndall Air Force base the home of the Blue Angels.  We didn't see any jets but starting tomorrow they are practicing for their annual homecoming airshow.  Sadly we will miss it, but I have seen them before at Sun n Fun in Lakeland FL.

Next up is Eglin Air Force Base which has more land than Rhode Island!  We saw Ospreys the plane/helicopter combination and some other weird plane I didn't recognize.  They have a bombing range off of Santa Rosa Island and I've heard they practice there with A10 Warthogs a flying gun. They built the plane around this huge gun.

We looked at an anchorage that might have been nice but there were two things that bothered me.  One; there is no access to the beach here, it is government land and you will be arrested for trespassing.  Two; they do lots of night exercises so being right under the flight path to the main runway can be potentially very noisy.

We kept on going and read about the Fort Walton City Dock, free dockage with free pumpout and water, close to bars, restaurants and a Publix.  Sounded good and it is.  We pulled in around 3:00 and settled in for an afternoon of sewing and boat washing.  I washed all of the mustache off of one side of the boat.  When you travel inland rivers there is often a high concentration of tannins in the water which stains white fiberglass a coffee color.  Commonly called a mustache.  Well after some On/Off no more. We were joined by another Looper boat last night a 35" ChrisCraft tri-cabin with Perkins diesel engines.  Came that way from the factory and he purchased it in Ottawa Ontario.  They didn't make many and this one was in the boat shows to show they could.

We had pan seared scallops with garlic, wine and lemon for dinner with black beans and rice.  I think I almost aced the recipe.  The flavor was great just need to thicken the sauce a touch.

The view from the free city dock at Fort Walton Beach. This is a floating business, Mexican food, wave runner rentals, paddle boards and beer.  All floating and mobile

Debbie and I have taken all of the seats for the deck chairs apart and now Debbie is cutting out all of the panels that need to be sewn together to reassemble them.  She was short one piece of fabric but it goes on the bottom of the seat cushion so she has another left over piece of white fabric from the flybridge cushions that will do fine.

Lots of Dolphins playing in our wake.  Abby kept running around and barking.  I guess they make a sound/call that Abby can hear, but we don't

We clipped Abby's toenails tonight and even with the guard on the clippers we got one short enough to make her claws bleed. We put styptic powder on it but for insurance we put one of my socks on with a rubber band so she wouldn't spot the floor

That's her "you hurt me Daddy" look! The sock is under the tail.

We watched two episodes of Downton Abby and took a look at the growing moon and stars then off to bed.  We were close enough to the bars that we could hear a live band playing but it did not keep us awake.

Ingram's Bay to Joe Patti's Fish Dock 10/30/17

We woke up to another beautiful day.  Ingram's Bayou was very peaceful and we slept well.  Now off on our way east and into Florida.

Anchorage view this morning

Welcome to Florida

We didn't really have a destination in mind when we left but I wanted to see Pensacola and thought it would be a good stop.  We read through the suggestions on Active Captain and a Waterway guide and found a reference to Joe Patti's Fish dock.  The write up and reviews said it was an amazing fish market and a free dock for overnight, also a tourist and local destination.  We called ahead and the lady that answered said to dock anywhere we could find a spot and to come on in.  We first docked at a long tall fixed dock used by the trawlers that come in to drop off their catch and then went ot visit the Market.  It reminded me of Waldmans in Montreal with dozens of fish mongers and cases full of every kind of fish, shellfish, shrimp and more.  They had a Sushi bar where we had lunch and a bakery with homemade Italian Cream cake like I used to make for Thanksgivings.  We decided we would have steamed shrimp for dinner and I would come back later to by the shrimp.  They will cook anything you want any way you want while you wait.  They close at 7:00 so I went back around 6:00 and bought fresh caught shrimp, large scallops, smoked salmon, some deli meats and fresh bread.  We steamed the shrimp in Old Bay and had the fresh bread and a small salad for dinner.  I overcooked the shrimp, apparently they only need 5 minutes and I pulled them out at 8 minutes.  Too long, too bad.  Next time..........

This is the view of Captain Joe from our dock.  Not far to walk to shop.

Our night was peaceful after they closed and we enjoyed relaxing here. Tomorrow off to the east maybe Fort Walton Beach or Destin.