Tampa Bay

Ahhh Springtime in Florida. It was warm enough to get in the water, of course with my shorty wetsuit. I tried to make my friend Darrell proud by checking the anchor. It was buried. But it was warm enough that I spent the next half hour cleaning the parts of the boat you see from the water line.

Shelley helped me navigate today from Clearwater Beach down the Intercoastal Waterway as it winds it way through islands, small channels, past inlets, and across the open waters of Tampa Bay. It is 30 miles of condos, marinas, high rises, and beautiful homes with big boats behind them. It is a beautiful part of Florida, and one of the prettiest parts of the entire Loop. And the weather was beautiful...so warm for the Leap Day of 2012.

We love to kick up our speed a bit which makes the boat create a 3 ft. wake. The dolphins love to surf and play in the wake. We had a family follow us for 15 minutes, as they would jump and plop back into the water with a loud slap. The big one loved to jump as high as he could get and do a half twist as he fell back into the wake. Shelley took photos with our camera and her iPhone, and immediately sent them to the kids and grandkids. They would have loved it in person.

We had guests on the boat the last two nights. My partner, Mike Priede, was coming into Tampa for a company meeting, so he and his parents came out for drinks and dinner. Nilo and Norma Priede live on the north side of Tampa in Lutz, so it was a great opportunity to see them again. We also had a great time with Rick and Beth Nolan the night before, so Clearwater provided us the good fortune to catch up with friends who live here in the Bay area. Fun

We are anchored out tonight off Longboat Key. The sky is clear, no wind, and there is a warm moist feeling in the air. Ahhh...Spring is here in Florida.

Tarpon Springs to Clearwater Beach

Steinhatchee. Just an old fishing village in the middle of nowhere Florida, but it was a nice refuge for one night. Our traveling buddies were docked in front of us in the other Endeavour 44 cat. I spent an hour washing the salt off the boat as we had been bumped our way across the Gulf. High Adventure really.

After a restful 4 days in Tarpon Springs, you can only eat so much Greek food. It was time to move on. Shelley had the boat ready to go at 9:00 am but I looked at the tide table, which showed we were at dead low tide. So we waited another hour and left the dock. Well, maybe not. We got about 100 yds from the Marina, and came to a stop right in the middle of the channel. After several tries to back off, and the marina trying to pull us off, all to no avail, we had no choice but to just wait.

What I love about boating is that everyone is so friendly and helpful. While we are sitting just feet from this fisherman's boat, we had an hour to talk and get to know each other. He was a hard working, honest fisherman making a living providing fish to one of the largest distributors in Florida. What I found interesting was his distaste for the over-control coming from Obama's new bureaucracy that manages the fisheries. He called them Gestapo. There is no shortage of fish in the fisheries, yet the environmentalist are limiting their catch. "I could get into more trouble and thrown in jail with a few extra red fish on my boat, than if I were peddling drugs on the corner in Tarpon Springs".

After an hour the boat started to move, so I started the engines, and off we went. It is still cold, cloudy, rainy, and windy in Central Florida. We are hoping for better weather soon. Marc

Crossing the Gulf

It's been rainy, cool and lots of wind. Not the best conditions to be on the ocean, let alone cross 175 miles of open water. But we were patient (can you believe it) and traveled with another Endeavour 44 Trawlercat, and arrived yesterday in fine fashion in Tarpon Springs, Fl. Our last blog had us sitting in Carrabelle in the panhandle of Florida for 3 long days. Nothing against Carrabelle, but there is not alot to do there. At this time of year, Mother Nature loves to smash her big cold and warm air masses right over the southern coast of the US. Even the forecasters admit that they have a much harder time getting close this time of year. I rely on Shelley's forecast however. She is very good at gathering information from several websites, and getting a pretty accurate picture of what we will expect with the weather.

Our cruising buddies, Bob and Marily Peterson from Louisville had another couple with them, Bob and Dana Neal from Biloxi Mississippi. With the weather so unpredictable none of us wanted to make an overnight crossing and take the chance of getting caught far from a safe harbor in 30 knot winds. So we broke it up into two days...two long days (85 and 120miles). In fact we covered more water in either of these two days, than we had any other day doing the Loop.

We waited for the latest possible start time from Carrabelle on Tuesday, as we feared the Gulf was going to be very confused and waves 3-4 ft. We wanted to let it settle down after a busy night. It had not, so we spent the first 3 hours beating into some crazy waves. Pretty much everything on the walls came down to the floor and we had to go slow as the boat pounded into the waves. That was not much fun. But thankfully things settled down, and we were able to get up on plane, and get across the 85 miles to Steinhatchee. Both boats hit the bed early that night as we were all worn out, but happy to be past the worst of it.

The next morning's forecast called for calm winds early, then getting bumpy after lunch. We had 110 miles from Steinhatchee to Anclote Key on the straight line once we got outside. We left in the dark, and it took 40 minutes to get from the dock out to the outer mark of Steinhatchee, as it is very shallow for miles out into the Gulf. But once there, we got to our cruise speed of 17 mph, and were tucking in behind Anclote Key around 1:30. It was a great run. Shelley's forecast was right on.

Tarpon Springs is a small village on the edge of the Gulf whose past is tied to the Gulf. Naturally there are many fishing and crab and shrimp boats tied to the docks. But what gives Tarpon its real character are the Greek sponge divers who immigrated here in the early 1900's. Walking around town the Greek language is spoken everywhere, especially in the bar's and exclusive men's game rooms. No women allowed where they are playing cards and backgammon.

We found lots of good Greek food for dinner last night and lunch today. And so do the tourists. Busloads of them. It reminded me of a small Caribbean town when a 4000 passenger cruise ship drops into port for the day. Lots of gifts shops, T-shirts, ice cream stores, nick-nakes and restaurants. After Carrabelle and Steinhatchee, this is quite the opposite place to visit. Maybe just a bit too far the other way for me.

Now we are back in the protected waters of the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway from here south to the Everglades. There are many places to gunkhole around as we go south, and we hope to drop our anchor into many of them. Hope you can join us.

Marc and Shelley

It's been so gloomy that I have no photos to post with this issue. Sorry.

Early Spring in Florida

It's cloudy, foggy, grey, humid, and cool in the Panhandle. Not the typical weather you expect if you are in Florida. One storm after another is marching across the Gulf bringing fog ahead of it, rain as it passes overhead, and high gale force winds after it departs. Not so good for boating on the Gulf of Mexico and making open ocean crossings from the panhandle to Tampa Bay.

So we have made several small jumps from Panama City Beach to Appalachicola and now Carrabelle. Our buddy boat, "Cruisin Cat" with Bob and Merrilee Peterson, are moving with us. They are perfect buddies, as they too are on an Endeavour 44 Trawlercat, so we go the same speed. Bob is a former Air Force pilot and flew for UPS for 25 years, so he is a good boater and an experienced navigator. They also have another couple on board who is there long time friends from the Air Force. So we have lots of folks helping us make good decisions on where we go and when.

However, I was in the lead yesterday as we moved the 25 miles from Appalachicola to Carrabelle. The forecast was to get windy and ugly late in the afternoon, so we left early to beat the weather. It was dead flat, until we hit the fog. It was thick, soupy, see maybe 100 ft. type fog. So with my new chartplotter and radar, I lead the way from marker to marker to find our way into the narrow entrance of the Carrabelle River.

We could barely see the shoreline, and again had to rely on the chartplotter to find the marina. The staff there were waiting on us, and worried. But we made it safely. Glad to be in, but we made it. Forecast has us staying in Carrabelle for maybe a week. Yikes! The key now is patience, patience, patience. Damn that is hard. Marc

Panama City Beach, Florida

Rock Chalk was lonely. We have been in Austin since early January, while the boat sat at Bay Pointe Marina in Panama City Beach, Florida, patiently waiting for our return.

While in Austin, we purchased a townhome in Lakeway. It is just across the 18th fairway from our old home that we sold in early 2011. But this is a much smaller home, where everything outside is maintained. So we can truly lock and leave to spend as much time as we want on the boat. Finally we have a place for all of our stuff, and it is a very comfortable place to come home to when we need it.

Now we are anxious to continue our Loop. All of the Class of 2011 Loopers are far ahead of us. We hear from them and most are in the Keys, or preparing to head to the Bahamas. But we intend on getting south over the next month, and we think we will catch up with many of them before they head off to new destinations.

Tomorrow our plan is to leave Panama City Beach and cruise 45 miles south to Appalachicola. Then from there we plan to move a short distance to Carrabelle where we will wait for a nice weather window to cross the Gulf of Mexico to Tampa. It is 170 miles from Carrabelle to Clearwater, so even going fast, that trip will take 12-14 hours. To assure a noon to 2:00 pm arrival in Clearwater, that means we need to leave around midnight and cruise through the night and the next day. It should be fun and exciting, as this will be our first overnight passage of the Loop.

It is raining here today, and more is on its way. We need to let these fronts pass through and the Gulf settle down before we attempt this crossing. Unlike my sailboat passages in the past, you like the good wind and 5 ft. waves are no big deal. That would not be a very comfortable crossing for a power boat, so we will wait for winds less than 10 mph and the seas at 1-2 ft. Lets hope. I will keep you up to date.

Marc