Trip Diary for December, 2008

Dec. 1-7; Panama City, FL:  Monday was a day to recuperate and repack, but having wheels allowed us to return for dinner at one of our favorite eateries in Panama City, Bayou Joe's.  We departed early Tuesday on a 380 mi. drive to Disney World to stay with Keith and Sharon Hawks in their Old Key West Vacation Club condo.   We arrived at dusk, just in time to belatedly celebrate Keith's birthday with dinner and a Volcano dessert at the Rainforest in Downtown Disney.  With a two hopper pass in hand, we enjoyed Wednesday and Thursday with them at Epcot and the Magic Kingdom.  Friday was another road day, returning to Panama City about 5 PM.  Bob and Ann Levine had returned to Sandpiper, so we joined them and Bruce and Bonnie Davies, Phantom of the Aqua, for a fine dinner at Uncle Ernie's.  Daughter Sandy and her husband Klaus arrived from Noblesville, IN Saturday afternoon to assist with our passage around the Big Bend.  They had spotted a nice Mexican restaurant coming into town, Guadajalara's; it had wonderful food for our dinner.  Winds were strong and forecast to continue so at least one more day in port.  As forecast, Sunday was still windy, so we stayed in port and attended 11 AM services at First United Methodist Church followed by lunch at Bayou Joe's.  Given our experience with the defective GXM30 antenna, Bob Levine insisted on loaning his so we would have that service for the Gulf waters.

Dec. 8-12; Apalachicola, FL: Winds subsided to easterly at 10 mph as we cast-off Monday at 7:50 AM with Carrabelle as our destination.  There was only a 1 ft. chop on West Bay and waves soon decreased to 1/2 ft. or less for our cruise to Carrabelle.  At 3:30 we called The Moorings to discuss Gulf boating prospects; waves were forecast to build to 4-6 for the next 4-5 days!  We decided to abort the float plan and stop at Scipio Creek Marina in nearby Apalachicola, docking at 3:50 PM.  66 mi.  Tuesday morning began with a careful look at the extended weather forecast.  We concluded it would not be satisfactory to venture into the more open Gulf waters any day during the week Sandy and Klaus could be with us.  We next called Levine's who agreed to drive 65 mi. from Panama City to take Sandy & Klaus back so they could return both cars.  We enjoyed an excellent lunch with them at the marina's Papa Joe's before they departed. We started a particularly difficult puzzle Wednesday and lounged on the boat.  Thursday we drove both cars 120 mi. to Steinhatchee, returning via Tallahassee for the ladies to shop.  South winds really picked up as night fell, blowing water in from the Gulf to a degree that water in the marina rose to the top of the docks.  By evening it appeared the parking lot might flood, so Klaus moved his car to higher ground before we turned in. It never reached his car, but the boat floated so high that our power cords, having been tied to the outlet box, tore the box from its piling.  Friday was spent exploring Apalachicola and nearby East Port on St. George Island.

Dec. 13-15 Carrabelle, FL:  Sandy and Klaus departed Saturday at 7:45 AM and by 8 we were following Houlegan (Ray & Caryl Houle) and Lady Lee (Joe and Jamie Schwartzott) into the huge Apalachicola Bay and then east through the smaller St. George Sound on our heading for The Moorings in Carrabelle.  Needing to cover only 31 mi., we arrived at 11:55 AM.  Fuel was $2.35 so we took on 100 gal. before docking.  The Gulf forecast was not friendly, so we settled in to enjoy a special celebratory weekend in this traditional fishing village on Florida's panhandle.  After a light lunch, we walked 3/4 mi. to the modest 16th annual Holiday on the Harbor celebration.  The Moorings hosted a hot hors d'oeuvres reception during the evening's lighted boat parade.  Sunday walked a mi. to church at the exceptionally friendly Carrabelle UMC.  Monday The Moorings provided transportation to Pirates for a fine lunch.  As hoped, the combination of XM Mariner Weather and e-mail advice from fellow looper Tom Conrad provided sound guidance for departure planning.

Tuesday, Dec. 16:  We cast off at 6:15 AM in the dark with very light fog, following Houlegan out the 5 mi. channel, across St. George Sound, around the western tip of Dog Island into the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico.  Lady Lee had chosen to anchor the previous night near Dog Island and was about 4 mi. ahead of us, but traveling only 8 mph.  Four hours later we caught up with her.  As forecast, the gulf had 1.5 ft. swells with a 1 ft. chop.  That gradually decreased to .5 ft. as we moved east to reach the 4 mi. long Steinhatchee channel at 3:30 PM.   We docked at Sea Hag Marina.  Having our car waiting allowed us to take the six of us to dinner at Fiddler's after drinks and munchies aboard Houlegan and Lady Lee.

Wednesday, Dec. 17:  Hoping to cover 130 mi. to Clearwater, but not anxious to dodge crab pots in the dark, we awoke at 5:30 AM for a 6:30 departure.  Fog!  The group consensus was to wait until dawn to depart.  Thus, by 7:15 8 boats exited the Steinhatchee channel in fog with 1/8 mi. visibility (occasional patches were thicker).  We chose to tag along with four loopers who had been traveling together: Sunshine, Blue Max, Going There, and Salvage Crew.  Houlegan and Lady Lee traveled a bit slower and gradually fell behind.  Spotting crab pots was the primary challenge.  Eventually, we bounced one off the hull and cut the line on another with the prop while passing through a dense stretch of fog.  Fortunately, its line was cut and only the float caught around the shaft; that was easily cut loose!  With the late start and slow going in the fog, we gave up trying to make Clearwater and requested permission to anchor with the four other boats in the Cross Florida Barge Canal, a project started many years earlier to build a canal between the Atlantic and Pacific across mid-FL.  While started on both shores, the effort is now officially abandoned.  Gulf-side work resulted in a 15 mi. entrance channel and about 5 mi. of dug canal ending with one never used lock.  After moving 1.5 mi. into the canal, we rafted to Salvage Crew at 4:30 PM, each boat anchoring in opposite directions to handle the night's tidal flow reversal.  This procedure revealed the anchor chain had become tangled into a knot at 150 ft. that could not clear the locker opening, limiting the scope available and adding one more item to Larry's boat projects list.  After settling in, we invited Brad and Patti Salvage aboard for drinks and munchies as we enjoyed a beautiful sunset before turning in early.

Thursday, Dec. 18:  Awaking, Larry quickly started the genny to make coffee and recharge a somewhat depleted house battery before hauling anchor.  We left the canal at 7:30 AM in light fog.  After following the other boats that were headed for Tarpon Springs for a couple of hours Larry chose to move into slightly deeper water, i.e. 7-9' instead of 5-7', that Sunshine was charting for the others.  Amazingly for this time of year, the Gulf was still totally flat!  By 4 PM we had only a 1 ft. chop.  We made the 82 mi. to the easy Clearwater entrance and the Clearwater Municipal Marina at 4:20 PM. After pumping the holding tank and fueling (only $1.90 with the $.10 Boat US discount!), we managed to safely dock despite a stiff tidal cross-current.  We celebrated completion of the open Gulf waters by walking two blocks to the famous Frenchy's Salt Water Cafe for seafood dinners. We had enjoyed this restaurant 3 years earlier when our grandson Chris was aboard for a week during the first loop trip; its food is still excellent and reasonably priced.

Dec. 19-23; Clearwater, FL:  After discussing alternatives Friday morning, we decided to take advantage of the good marina facilities and proximity to many interesting sites by extending our reservation to a month.  With that decision, we needed a rental to get our car from Steinhatchee.  Enterprise picked us up at 2 PM.  While driving back to the marina from Cold Stone Creamery and groceries, the rental's engine gradually began making undesirable noises.  We called Enterprise and they agreed to exchange the car Saturday morning.  The exchange delay caused us to defer the Steinhatchee trip and spend the day getting Lola's nails reworked and shopping.  Sunday started with the Heritage UMC 8:30 traditional service. About 7 mi. NE of the marina, this made a good departure point for the 165 mi. drive to Steinhatchee where we picked up the Lincoln from Sea Hag Marina.  Daughter Judy called after our return to once again urge us to come to her home for Christmas.  After sleeping on the matter and discussing it Monday morning, we decided to hastily make plans for that trip.  With the help of Looper Lee Johnson we re-listed the Delta "buddy passes" she had provided earlier.  Tuesday was primarily devoted to packing and getting ready for the flight to Memphis.

Dec. 24-29; Cordova, TN: Christmas Eve began at 3 AM in order to catch a 4 AM cab to Tampa International for the 6 AM Delta flight to Memphis via Atlanta.  This early departure enabled us to successfully fly in the standby status required with the "buddy passes".  We arrived in Memphis at 9:10 AM CDT and were picked up by granddaughter Samantha.  We had a delightful 5 days with Judy, Glen and Samantha.

Dec. 30-31; Clearwater, FL: Our standby luck finally ran-out Monday.  While we successfully boarded our 7:05 flight to Atlanta, that plane had a problem with the back-up emergency fuel transfer system that delayed its departure for 1.5 hr.  This caused us to miss the less-than-full connection in Atlanta.  After waiting 4 hrs. on the next two departures and watching our position of the growing wait list fall, we decided to rent a one-way and drive the remaining 475 mi.  We got back to the boat about 10:30 PM.  Tuesday was primarily devoted to unpacking and recuperating from the previous day's travel.  We began our New Year's Eve celebration at 4 PM in St. Petersburg at the movie Marley and Me.  Following that we enjoyed their First Night celebration, a national tradition began in Boston.  It consisted of many displays and lights in the park, bands and people just enjoying themselves.  This was capped with a visit the nearby StarrLight Christmas light display featured on national TV and judged to be one of the 3 best in the nation; it was indeed spectacular!

Water miles traveled to date: 2,169; this month: 344

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