Lumpy, Bumpy and a 15-Hour Nap

Preparation for Thanksgiving including
picking wild cranberries for the sauce.

Three weeks back in Maine included a wonderful week-long visit by our daughter Elizabeth, Matt and granddaughter Charlotte, Thanksgiving, a beautiful wedding of our daughter Caroline and Noah, and a snow storm.  Our trip back to Salty Paws included travel by car to Canton, MA to visit Caroline and Noah, by train and bus to Logan, by air to Atlanta, subway to visit Elizabeth and family and rental car back to Orange Beach, AL. Phew!

The wedding couple.

In our absence Salty Paws seemed to misplace various items, and it took us a couple of days to reacclimatize to the boat.  Before us was 250 miles in mostly protected waters in the Florida Panhandle to reach Carrabelle, the launch point for the often challenging 170 mile open water passage across the Gulf of Mexico to Tarpon Springs, FL.  This passage requires an acceptable weather window, and we subscribe to Marv’s Weather Service that includes a long-range forecast and passage recommendations.  It did not look good, but there was a possible weather window for 12/15 or maybe not until 12/24 or maybe not at all in the foreseeable future.

The Fort Walton Beach dock
included the first evidence
of last year's Hurricane
Matthew as we shared our
slip with a sunken boat.

We strolled around Fort Walton
Beach in 45 degree weather.
We metlocal John McGee
who treated us
 to dinner.

Evidence of Matthew was even
more apparent as we
approached Panama City.

Our departure from Orange Beach on 12/10 began in 70 degree, sunny weather that was soon followed by rain, increasing winds and plummeting temperatures that within 24 hours were in the 40s.

The miserable weather didn’t help Molly’s spirits as she began having anxiety over the coming open water crossing.  After a night and cold walk around Fort Walton Beach we took off to test the waters of 25-mile long Choctawhatchee Bay only to find quite uncomfortable conditions in the 15-20 knot winds. 


After just a few miles we took a rough detour to go into the safe harbor of Destin and spent the rest of the rainy day and night at anchor.  This provided more time to fret about the passage across the Gulf.   I began communicating with other Loopers on their plans, and a meeting in Carrabelle was scheduled for Friday the 13^th (!) to discuss the possible passage.  We traveled 90 miles each of the next two days, including a lunch stopover in the interesting town of Apalachicola and finally arrived in Carrabelle in time for gathering with cruisers from 10 or so boats.

The restaurant had the only old sink
filled with ice urinal I have ever seen!

We much enjoyed our southern lunch
at the Hole in Wall in Apalachicola.  

In preparation for the passage
we moved things from the
cockpit and cabin to the v-berth.

We compared weather forecasts (NOAA, Marv, Chris Parker) and passage recommendations.  The forecast suggested a possible weather window from late Saturday afternoon into Sunday.  Waves would be decreasing from over 5 feet to 2 feet or so and the winds would go from 15 knots to 5 knots and shift from the west to the east.  The conditions were far from ideal, and there was also the concern that “group think” might result in an unwise decision as some of the boats had already been waiting for a week to make the passage.  We did work out a tentative plan and included radio check-ins each hour and other safety precautions such as wearing life jackets and having an EPIRB that automoatically alerts the U.S. Coast Guard.

Not know if we would be going
fast or slow, we brought extra
gas so that we would have a
30% reserve with most anything
that would happen.  As it turned
out, we didn't need any of it.

Most of the boats are trawlers, typically traveling at a maximum speed of 8-10 mph.  The passage usually takes 20-24 hours with a recommended late afternoon departure in order to arrive at Tarpon Springs in the afternoon.  A morning arrival is not recommended because the sun will make it much more difficult to dodge the many crab pots that dot the waters 20 miles out from the Florida west coast.  A few boats, including Salty Paws, can go fast, but we get significantly lower gas mileage and the sea conditions would likely have us go typical trawler speed anyway.

The TowBoat US boat in Carrabelle
was being decorated with their
Christmas Boat parade as we left
the dock.  Later, it would seem that
evenings celebration may have
slowed the response time to the
disabled boat, Dancing Bears.

With some trepidation, and knowing that we could always turn back, a flotilla of 9 boats (Salty Paws, Bella Donna, Archimedes, Alcyone, Here’s to Us, Wewinealot, God’s Grace, Reel Grace and Samantha) left Carrabelle late afternoon on Saturday, 12/14.  Once outside the protection of the islands we found 3-4 feet rolling seas with 10 knot winds from the west.  The conditions were very uncomfortable but we did not find them unsafe.

Soon it was dark, and we decided to head north of the desired rhumb line to Tarpon Springs so that the seas were coming more aft rather than broadside.  This separated us from our desired buddy boat, Short Vacation, but other boats were behind us doing the same thing.

The sun went down quickly as
we began to get off shore.

About 25 miles out, the boat Dancing Bears radioed that they had smoke in their cabin and that their engine had overheated.  They requested that boats stand by to offer possible assistance.  Dancing Bears was about 2 miles behind us, and soon they were bouncing around, dead in the water.  We and other boats turned around, only to face very rough sea conditions with the wind on our bow.  Fortunately, first Bella Donna and then Samantha, ended up close to Dancing Bears, and coordinated calls to the U.S. Coast Guard and TowBoat US.  

Dancing Bears, as it turned out had an inexperienced owner of his newly purchased boat, and one crew member, now seasick.  In addition, they should never have left the dock as a low voltage alarm had been sounding.  Their radio seemed to be malfunctioning (although it was likely that the squelch was set to max, eliminating their ability to hear much communication), and they needed guidance as to what to do.  They were told to anchor in the 60 feet of water and await a tow, which was still 4 hours away.

Our actual route across.

The Coast Guard asked if a boat could stay with them, but the sea conditions could have put another boat at significant risk.  This was a tough situation, and raised the question of where the line is between group responsibility and individual boat responsibility at sea.  After ensuring that their anchor was holding and the boat occupants safe, all the other Looper boats left to continue the Gulf crossing.

At one point a large orange
spec appeared on the horizon.
It proved to be the moon,
which lit the seas all night.

We now found ourselves alone and soon out of radio contact but we did do hourly GPS text messages with Samantha as we both had the Garmin inReach service.  The crossing was uncomfortable, but Molly’s anxiety had dissipated.  She did her share of being at the helm, and we were both appreciative of the autopilot.  Hand steering in the dark requires constant attention to the compass, and the boat can easily go way of course in just a few seconds.

Dawn!

We took turns resting, enjoyed seeing the moon rise over the horizon, and shared snacks, popcorn and granola bars, our only intake for 24 hours.  The rough seas did not allow for preparing anything more complicated. In hindsight, we should have prepared sandwiches ahead of time. We did have the foresight to stow everything that could be a flying projectile in the boat. Good plan! As we got within 30 miles of the Florida west coast we turned more south and followed the coast line toward Tarpon Springs.  Soon, we say a beautiful sunrise (mostly beautiful because we could now see clearly) and then the wind began to come around from the east and hit us on our port forward beam.  Our “lumpy” ride soon became very “bumpy,” using terms used by Marv’s Weather Service. 

Suddenly, two large rogue waves in succession hit our boat, knocking out all power.  We were able to continue, but now hand steering by compass.  Molly took the helm while I checked the fuse panel, boat battery connections. 

Buoy R4 marks a
successful crossing.

Fortunately, within 10 minutes everything was back functioning.

Finally, at 12:30 pm we reached red buoy R4, the common navigation target north of Tarpon Springs.  In an hour we were anchored off the southern end of Anclote Keys.  We celebrated with a mid-day cocktail, lunch and then a nap.  Mine lasted 3 hours. 

Molly slept for 15 hours!

Molly slept until 5:30 am the next day, 15 hours!  We awoke to a beautiful, warm day.

All anxiety is behind us. We know that our little boat can take a lot. We had dinner last night with some of the other intrepid boaters who made the same crossing for a debriefing. We shared stories and had many laughs with new friends. We are now ready to enjoy the Florida Coast. 

The next day we went into Tarpon Springs and joined many
of our larger Looper buddies at the dock. 

  

Here with Diana and Duane from Bella Donna next to a Tarpon Springs
sponge boat.  It was a wonderful 90 degrees.
More to come on the next blog post.