Captain's log:11-26-27-10 (day 70-71)

     Making the crossing is alot like "prom" in high school...without the dance....without the great meal... without the limo ride.... for that matter without the , oh never mind. It takes a couple days to recoupe that sleep deprivation.  Because of that and the fact that boaters don't really live by the traditional clock anyway, we are having Thanksgiving today at Paige's and Lu's. (her first turkey)

I had a better pic but it was censored. I guess there are some things that you can't show , even with a turkey.
        
       Welcome aboard Denise and Paul from Minn. Let us know how your crossing goes. If you have any questions shoot them our way. After all we are soooo experienced now.  I guess we have quite a few people along with us. Dorene keeps getting comments on her facebook which she will occassionally share with me. She has 100's , no l,000's of  "friends" .   If I did facebook, I'd probably have about , I don't know.....3.....it seems to be a girl thing. I've noticed about a 95-5 ratio of girls to boys.....love the feedback though.   Least I know I'm not just sending this off into cyberspace for nothing..
     Well, ...the rest of the day will be devoted to eating, not writing.........


Note from the dog----I really didn't like this Great Dane of theirs (Jerzi)....but once I bit her in the chest and hung on like a "leech from hell"  I think she got the message.....I maybe small, but  I need big space.  This is a picture of me giving her my "I'm mean and dangerous" look.   

To me it really does look scary but, Paige (and everyone else) just crack up laughing whenever I make my scary face. I hope the picture is big enough so everyone can see it is really, really, really scary.      
  
Won't be back to boat until Sun. So see ya'lls then there then. (That's a Norwegian gone south)

Captain's log:11-19-10 thru 11-23--25-10 (day 66-69) "The Crossing"

      Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

         Did someone send out the Coastguard?   We made it! The reason I ask is, guess who boarded our boat welcoming us to southern Florida. We were fatigued to beyond "cranky" and sure enough they spot our Minnesota registration and on come the blue lights . Their first question: "Do you have weapons on board?". Good question because I , of course, wouldn't use one but Dorene might have. (She has spent some time with "Pistol Pattie" you know).   I actually didn't mind because except for the drugs (just kidding)I knew I was almost compliant. Actually I was inland compliant but needed flares for off shore. No fines just get em before we leave port again.
     OK, now for the actual crossing.... for those in a hurry here it is...We started the engines and 23 1/2 hours later we shut them off.



        For those interested in a bit more description and a few pictures read on:

Ready and waiting in Carrabelle.
      After much discussion with the other boaters (no lack of opinions) I decided two captains had nearly the same plan as me so I would follow the slower boat to keep up. (boaters and Chiropractors both very independant and hard to get a consensus) When It was finally time to go, the boat I was going to follow ran aground and had to wait for high tide to get started. Omen? Oh well, followed the second boat whose route I liked better anyway.

Here is 30 Below giving the lead to Rambler heading out of the channel.

Rambler and Seamoore heading out to the gulf. Our view for the next 24 hours.

Hey !  Wait a minute didn't you guys say you were going to slow down to our speed?  They eventually did and we kept up all night.    Now you might want to notice how smooth the water is.... That is just the gulf having a little laugh. We were still behind the barrier island, Dog Island.
     Now you'll notice on the next pictures....oh ya there aren't any. That's bcause of two reasons. The spray would have ruined the camera and we were just too darned distracted by the "Big" water. At least big  by our standards. Ya right ! 2-4 foot seas . Who is measuring these things anyway? The Jolly Green Giant.
     To make things worse we had to run for 2 hours with the swells to our starboard beam. Now to prove that this was not just my imagination I'll have Moka the sea dog make a comment here... Oh that's right she was too busy tossing her cookies to say anything.  Now here is where you are going to be glad I didn't have pictures. Ever try to clean up puke that won't sit still?  Even Dorene who is usually pretty good at this kinda stuff just handed me the rag and looked the other way. Is that a new shade of make-up you are wearing?
       Meanwhile, I'm loving the fact that the boat is actually handling the waves as it was built to do. Nice high bow. Could be a little higher. Had some coffee and a pasta salad.  Not bragging here, just don't get sick, I am the "Chemo Warrior" (that one's for you Drew). My turn is coming. Did I mention I am afraid of the dark?   For some reason I thought maybe I could do an overnight passage all in the daylight.

This is the view from the back of our boat as we sailed away from the sunset.

This is the view at the exact same time from the front of our boat. Did I mention it was getting dark? In a short while that flag you see on the front of our boat was no longer to be seen. It's either the definition of stupidity or faith. Flying into the darkness expecting that nothing will get in your way. And  yes 9.1 mph seems like flying when all you hear is the splashing and all you feel is the up and down.       
      The swells did finally settle down after a couple hours but there were definitely some serious second thoughts about our sanity when dogs are puking and we only have 21 and a half hours of this to go.
      The highlights of the night: -Large sea turtle, I at first thought was a military mine, but it didn't explode
                                             - Dolphins jumping near our bow. It was dark,...I think they were dolphins...
                                                ya had to be dolphins...settle down imagination.
                                             -The nearly full bright red moon rising...imagination settle down it has to be
                                               the moon . Yeah ! some light.
                                             -Venus!! incredible. almost as bright as the moon. Sorry pictures in the dark
                                               don't work well on our camera. You will just have to do a crossing of your
                                               own to see this one.

         
     Waves and long shutter speeds don't mix. That's the moon but the black is a good representation of how dark it was. With that said here comes the best part!!

   
    SUNRISE and DAYLIGHT again! Isn't that beautiful? No wait that isn't the sunrise that's the light at the end of the tunnel. And if you look real close you can see the boats we were following all night and Venus but she was much dimmer by this time. Also by morning the sea was as flat as a pond, just as predicted. Tomorrow it is supposed to be rough again. Very thankful for the weather window and everything else that went right.
    

We split off from our other boats and continued on to Clearwater and Paige and Lu. The other boats went to Tarpon Springs.  So there is the skyline of Clearwater. Just drive in and go to sleep. WRONG!  It should be called Crapinwater, Propsnagwater, anything but Clearwater. Can you say crab pots. 1000's of them between us and sleep! Two hours later we make it to canal entrance. Finally almost sleep time....No wait is that the Coastguard?   

Captain's log:11-19-10 thru 11-22-10 (day 63-65)

Hi, cousin Steven, I'm glad you are along with us. You may want to grab your coffee mug cause the next leg is going to be 30 hours and we will cruise thru the night from Carrabelle to Clearwater,  Fl. I Hope we can stay awake. We had about 25 other boaters with 25 opinions on what course to take. Sometimes there is just confusion in numbers.
    Weather looks good. 2-4 foot seas, light winds, and clear skies predicted. Leaving tues. about 9;00 AM and plan to arrive approx. 12:00 noon Wednesday. ..So that's our sail plan in case someone misses us on Thurs.
     Meanwhile, while waiting for the good weather window, We visited the world's smallest police station in Carrabelle.

Cute idea but, I could tell it's just an old phone booth. They can't fool me!

Paige guessed right away when she saw this..... Bruce is back! Shared coffees, stories, and he helped get my generator working again. Thanks Bruce. Then he was on the road again. See ya later Bruce.

You can't live on coffee and croissants. Sometimes you need raw oysters.. I guess. Is that such a good idea before spending 30 hours crossing the Gulf?

Can anyone see the problem here? Hint, It also smells like melted wires. I think we narrowed it down to a stop selenoid which we will pick up in Clearwater.
      Safe crossings to everyone!  If things go as planned....we will blog Wednesday or Thursday!!! oh yea,  HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!  We are thankful for many new boat friends and  excellent weather for most every day of our trip.  But I guess we have weaved in and out of the weather "window" successfully because there have been storms both rainy and ice (our Minnesota friends are getting this very moment)....we have been able to avoid most of the inclimate weather!!!

Captain's log:11-18-10 thru 11-19-10 (day 63-64)

     Today was a BIG day for "30 below" !  Again for those unfamiliar with the origin of the name 30 Below, it means we have lived in 30 below zero degrees long enough and we were heading for 30 degrees below lattitude. You know, Jimmy Buffett, changes in lattitude changes in attitude.
     Anyway the big event happened at approx. 1:30 PM on the Wetappo River/canal near Port St. Joe Florida. What kind of non-glorious name is Wetappo Creek anyway? (and no we did not do either..wet or poo... but we did have a celebratory drink to honor the event.

Just in case anybody is thinking all we do is boat and drink. This is the only drink I have had while under way. We never drink while on the water. But we do get "off" the water daily.

This is a picture of our GPS position as it changed from 30 to 29 lattitude. I know ...Whoopee!!!
I could tell all you followers are just ecstatic, cheers to all!!
     It was only fitting that our destination tonight was on the gulf coast. Another beautiful sunset as we approached the coast. It also seemed the dolphins must be reading our blog also because they were certainly excited about the lattitude 30 crossing. They seemed to be circling our boat all day just waiting for the big event.

That's the wake of our boat. The dolphins were "surfing" within a few feet of the back of our boat. Couldn't pet them but close.

As usual the picture doesn't do it justice but, hey again you won't see that on Lake Pepin.
    
     Yesterday I mentioned Mr. Woodies moon and today we found his boat!

Sorry, I can't help myself when I see these things.
   
So today we will stay at port joe and try to get the generator working before the "crossing" Boats are starting to stack up at Carrabelle waiting for a good weather window to cross. At least there will be comfort in numbers. (I think) So far I think we are the smallest boat in our group.
     I just thought of something. We won't be going "over the river and through the woods to gramma's house" for Thanksgiving this year. But instead we will be going "over the gulf and through the dark" on Thanksgiving this year. (sorry Gramma)


   
   
    
  
   

Captain's log:11-15-10 thru 11-17-10 (day 60-62)

Today was kinda sad. Left port for the first time in 3 weeks short one crew member. It was kinda tuff but we managed to get away from those darn commercial pilings without Paige's muscle. Sorry Paige you missed the ocean dolphins today. They are very big and seemed to like our boat. Probably because it moves slower than the rest. They loved going under the front and then coming up in the back about 3 feet from the boat and following us. Hard to stay on course when the entire crew is watching the dolphins.
   I can't remember if I mentioned but the last day Paige was with us she noticed an "electrical smell" coming from the bilge. Short moment of panic ...then down in the bilge to find it. No luck. But then I remembered I had tried to start the generator earlier but it didn't start and must have shorted out. With the help of our "lifeline Joe" I will try to figure it out tomorrow. Too tired tonight.
     Tonight in Panama City, Tomorrow Port St. Joe . The last stop before Carrabelle and then  the "crossing" of the gulf. For those that don't know. It is 181 miles of open gulf that at 7mph can't be crossed in one day so we will leave one morning drive thru day, all night, and arrive the next morning. Did I mention (I didn,t realize until just now) that I am still afraid of the dark. I think the gulf is very dark. No street lights out there!
      On a lighter note there has been another mooning! Happened at McGuires Irish pub.

The guy is made out of wood so technically it's probably a woody not a moonie.

Notice the dollar bills on the wall? It is estimated there is over 750,000 , but I think they underestimated by quite a bit. They were everywhere. Safe travels.  

Captain's log:11-12-10 thru 11-14-10 (day 56-58)

Sorry, I have not posted for a few days, but I have been very busy. Sunsets, dolphins, sunsets, dolphins......you get the picture.
   I think Paige has had enough of us but it was bound to happen.  We have had a GREAT time with her and  we will always remember these last 3 weeks with my deck slave; anchor hauler; bilge sniffer; organizer/cleaner and all-around muscle when I need it!  So, today we were making arrangements to surprise her with her boyfriend (Lucian) in Destin, Florida. We had been watching the movie "Brother, Where Art thou"  so I started the day with a prophecy....  I said, "Today, you will see great and wonderful things. You will find great treasures, tho they may not be the treasures that you seek." And sure enough when we arrived in Destin , Lucian was waiting on the pier/dock. (She WAS surprised because she thought she would be spending another week with us.)    It took us a little longer to get docked than usual because we had trouble getting lines to the pilings.  I was concerned that we were going to have an episode like in the movie "Forrest Gump" where Forrest jumped off the boat before it was stopped.  I think Paige did finally jump and she made it!
     I turned my back on them for an instant and I guess the surprise was on us.......

I think you get the picture. And the next picture I think was her answer....

And the treasure you seek?

Nope. That's not it....  This next one is....

We are HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY,but enough of that and back to my day.  I changed the oil, fixed a hinge on a hatch, and  watched the Vikings lose. Yea I am a Packers/Bears fan anyway.
       You are right my day isn't interesting at all So... back to Paige and Lucian.    Since we were staying at a beautiful marina we took them out to eat on the dock and watched the sunset.

Great food, then smores at the table.

And then I ordered a special ending for such a special day!

Note from the dog:   

Wedding? Did Somone say wedding?

    
   
         
    
             

Captain's log:11-11-10 (day 55)

Finally, I think I have the new crew trained. Crossing Mobile Bay. A little bigger than Lake Pepin. About 35 miles end to end. Even though we spent most of the day in 6 to 9 ft of water.

Nothing to do but pedicures. Foolish me I thought they were driving the boat.

Meanwhile.... This is me loosening the new shaft seals while underway. Trying to get them to cool better.     

Our boat rafted to another at LULU's . Jimmy Buffet's sister's restaurant on the ICW just off the bay. (Gulf Shores, AL.)  

Inside LuLu's

And this is what it's all about. A group of dolphins played in our wake and guided us in to our marina today. It's a good thing they knew where to go too because my crew was absolutely worthless once the dolphins were spotted. Hey! Where did everybody go? OK, so you don't see that on
lake Pepin.
     
   
    

Captain's Log: 11/11 /10 (Day 55)

Happy Veterans' Day!
    
     With all the excitement of reaching the bay, saltwater and all,  I forgot one very important thing! A lot of you know that the name of our boat is "30 Below" . But 30 below what?  Well the idea was we had had enough of 30 below zero and we were heading to 30 below lattitude. Somewhere today we will cross 30 degrees lattitude!!!! Almost like crossing the equator for us.
      So in honor of that accomplishment nature offered up the following for the end of the day:

Note from dog:
              A big secret us dogs have kept for a long time.........we CAN see color, ha ha!

more beautiful than a cat choking on a furball..........maybe these people weren't nuts after all.
    

OK, so I didn't know dogs could work cameras. I also didn't know that the phrase "y'all" was actually singular. The waitress last PM said, " y'all want wine? " meaning one and "y'alls want water" meaning everyone. Who knew?
     Another first. I actually paid a mechanic to change a stuffing box packing gland. Water was leaking in around the shaft at the rate of about 5 gallons per day. Dorene asked, "Are we sinking?" and the answer of course to be technically correct is, " why yes dear we are sinking." but if we bail we will not sink today.
                                                          And FINALLY!

How's that song go?... toes in the sand.........

That's 30 Below in the slip just above my head. Eastern shores marina, Fairhope, Al.     
    

     
    

Captain's Log: 11/05 thru 10 /10 (Day 49-54)

Wow! Where do I begin? Lots of firsts since we last talked. But let's just say as I write this I am looking off the back of my boat at palm trees. Short ,stubby, and not very healthy looking but, PALM trees none the less. Seagulls squaking and tide rising.
     I'll try to put this in some kind of order: 11\05\10:
                  We left Demopolis, the last marina for approx. 243 miles, in a light fog with 15 other boats all hoping to find a safe anchorage by dark. At 40 to 60 miles per day that meant 4 or 5 nights at anchor (in the boonies) or should I just say the banjos are well into the second verse by now.
     Only one small anchorage (that was safe anyway)to be found at 71 mile mark. Getting dark and of course guess what.... 10 other boats had same idea. The guide books say that the small Bashi Creek will hold 2-3 boats. With a little cooperation and alot of fear to spend the night on the river, we got all ten boats in (just like 42 ft. sardines.

Hard to see but, the shore is about ten feet from either side and there is ten boats in here. Lucky there was no wind.
      11\7\10
     Left Bashi Creek and made it to a place in the sticks called Bobby's fish camp. They charge top dollar for a tie up to a dock with no power. They probably know that we would pay double not to have to find another anchorage in this area. 7 boats made it to Bobbys

Our boat is on the far side. Bobby's fish camp is actually a "must stop" place. They have a lot of history on walls, in scrap books, family picture albums etc.  Oh Drew, you wanted me to send you a picture of a river fish. Here is one that was caught near Bobby's!!!

It's an alligator gar. It's over 6 ft long and 137 pounds. We are not at the top of the food chain anymore. It was caught in 1961.   Wait, here is another picture of a fish at Bobby's

11/08/10 Dorene's Birthday!!!!!    and 11-09-10
        Oops, poor timing, at anchor tonight and tomorrow. You know what this means.... it's her birthday week...it's her birthday month....it's her birthday year.

Paige made a b-day cake at anchor and no, that's not biscuits and gravey it's cookies and cream ice cream. We forgot to turn the freezer back on this AM.  We rafted the last two nights with a great couple from Alabama on a Mainship named Seamoore. They invited us over for a pork chop birthday supper while at anchor. Paige also made homeade garlic mashed potatoes for Mom!!!

As you can see, anchoring is real rough!
     There was actually a fish shack at this anchorage (only reached by boat)

(sorry, somehow these photos got posted twice!!)

OK. Finally 11-10-10

      I forgot to mention that just after Bobby's we went through our last lock on the river system (40 or 50) I forget the exact number. The big difference on this one is that our boat just depreciated by about 20% since we are now in salt water and tides, Oh boy!   About 3 miles into our day today we got a call over the radio that the boat ahead of us came across a fishing boat doing the "circle of death" . For you non boaters that is when some one falls out of their boat and is NOT connected to a shut off lanyard the boat will go into a spin going in circles until it eventually runs over the person in the water.
        So the coastguard was called and all boats started searching the water and shore for a survivor. Very tense time, hoping to find a survivor and not a victim.     The good news is that the bigger boat you see above had just picked up the young man from the water shortly before we got there. WEAR YOUR CUT-OFF LANYARDS PEOPLE!!!!!

Made it through the Mobile shipping channel ! These ships make the river tows look tiny.
    Wait! What's that I smell? Salt water and the Mobile Bay! Beautful day calm winds . The nasty bay that people have talked about is as smooth as glass today as we make our way 1/2 way down (about 15 miles) to our first marina in 5 days. Showers for everyone! Shopping! Eating!
     I'll try to keep up here now that we are back to civilization. By the way, Welcome aboard Karma!