Captain's Log: 12-8 thru 12-10-10 (Day 82-84)

     Another sign that we are pretty far south (besides the palm trees, dolphins, manatees, 70 degree weather) is that the eagle sightings have been replaced by osprey sightings. A little less regal than an eagle but definitely more bold. They will perch right next to our boat and not move when we go out to take a picture. In fact They turn their head as if to say "no wait , this is my good side".

You can't tell the size from this picture but they're big but not quite as big as an eagle. He was right off the front of our boat and posed for a few pics before moving down the canal.

     Cool! Huh?
  
Pat and Tony, our gracious hosts borrowed their car to us today so we could visit Anna Marie Island. I guess I shouldn't be suprised that with a name Like that it was a "girl" place. Not much for a guy to look at except the beach. No, wait, it's winter so no bikinis so....not as bad as Fair hope though because at least there was a hardware store to hang out at.  Come to think about it. I could have something here. Dog island was a pile of sand. Great place, no stores. Stay away from "girlie" named islands!
     I was just interupted from blogging by Dorene with a boat emergency.  She came up from the front storage hatch and says , " We have a problem here. It's wet in the front of the hull."  Now for those not living on a boat , that's not like a wet basement (I've had that) your house is definitely not sinking, unless maybe you live in Stockton. Anyway she had my attention.
     It didn't take long to realize that what sounded like an emergency was really just a great opportunity. On close inspection the mystery fluid smelled somewhat like bread, no more like yeast. For those that know our provisioning priorities you may remember that we started out with over 100 bottles of wine aboard. Well with the heat I guess the bottles are now deciding which ones we drink first. I hope we can keep up! Was that another "pop" I just heard?
  
   Note from the dog:   Maybe It's that stuff they're drinking but, look what they're making me wear now.

Can you believe this? BELLS by my ears! Don't they know how sensitive a dogs ears are?
      
     While we have been mooching off our new friends we have gotten some things done. I got the generator running again. We also got a front enclosure made for the flybridge so we don't have to freeze up top anymore. What's that?... This boat is not going back to Minnesota. Oh well . It's a nice sunroom anyway.
    

Another note from the dog: (Santa parade at St. Petes)
      You won't believe what I had to do for these beads!

    
    
   

Captain's Log: 21-7-10 (day 81)

     Small craft advisories out for the bay today. Wind should be to our back so we are going anyway.  This was our sunrise today.

So we are off the dock successfully heading out into Tampa Bay and we get a call from the marina. "Hey you guys didn't pay for the laast two days." Dang, they cought us! Could try to out run em but at 8 mph better pay the bill. Seems when we told them we were staying an extra 2 days they didn't just add it to our credit card like we thought they would. Put Dorene on the phone and in a few minutes we're all good.
       Tonight we are staying at a dock behind a "loopers" friend's house on a canal in Terra Ceia Bay. Very nice!

Tony and Pat went way out of their way to help us out. They came over to St. Petes and Tony rode with us acting as navigator across the bays to their dock. The bay was a bit windy. Got to surf down some 3-4 footers. Fun!
     While we are here we have scheduled a canvas person to come and build us a windshield for the flybridge. We've made it this far without it but continued cold weather is predicted and it will be nice. We hope the part for the generator will show up by Thursday. Maybe do some wood varnishing till then.

Another shot of the canal that we are on tonight from our boat.  Goodnight.    
 
   
  

captain's log: 12-6-10 (day 80)

     The wind is finally settling down some so will probably cross Tampa Bay tomorrow to Mark and Sylvia's for a few days. We are supposed to have a generator part waiting for us there so hopefully get that up and running again. This week I guess they're having a cold snap down here. Everyone is bundled up in their parkas and boots. (I'm still wearing flip flops) .To all you midwesterners it's like a nice day in October,not bad.    It's kinda funny they are actually giving windchill factors on the news. 45 degrees/feels like 30. Nobody's getting frostbite but I guess it's a big deal to them. Heck I'm going out on the bay tomorrow but I'll be carefull not to hit any ice fishermen....

What's wrong with this picture?..... Look closely...looks like snow... blooming flowers? Snow is actually cotton or something.

Another Lotus sighting at the St. Petes Marina. No, it's not Bruce's. I think the count is up to 4 now. Never seen one in Minnesota. Wonder why.    

Day 78-79 continued

This probably falls in the catagory of WTMI (way too much information) but as I was showering today I realized I probably should have done a picture documentary of all the Marina showers I've used thru five states. . . You really didn't know where I was going with that one did you?
    What brought this to mind was as I was showering this AM I was facing someone else and not that far apart either. I thought , why did they do this? and the only thing I could come up with is they were trying to save on the length of pipes. Thus brought to mind the wide range of shower facilities I have been in the last 80 days. ( perhaps a book title? 80 days around the head/shower) .   From the high end where there is tile, mirrors, heated towels, and a ladie handing you towels. At least I think that was what she was there for.  To the other end of the spectrum where I think the shower was part of the owners house and so dirty that even I wore my shoes into the shower and kept one eye open while showering. (should have had no more tears shampoo).
     Actually there was one that I took a look in and decided I could go another day, or two, without a shower. Seriously there was a giant mouse hole cut into the door. I thought maybe for a cat or something. I asked the owner what it was for. He said , "I dunno it was there when we got the place" This was also a place where he had stepped on and killed a water moccasin snake  like it was nothing. I'll share the shower with some people but not snakes.
     Anyway back to today. St. Petersburg had a Santa parade and festival complete with farmers market and a snow hill for sliding.

  
       Miss Florida.

They interviewed a little girl and she said she had never seen snow before. I wanted to step in and say , " You still haven't. It's 65 tons of crushed ice cubes. It looked more like a giant margaritta.
     Tomorrow may cross the Bay to Palmetto , Fl.
  

captain's log 11-28 thru 12-4-10 ( day 72-79)

OK Sorry. I have been neglecting my posting duties. I just thought that a week in Clearwater describing us doing our laundry would not be that exciting for anyone.
  We left Clearwater Friday Morning. And after a week it feels good to get moving again but, at the same time roots start to grow and a place gets comfortable and it gets harder to leave. Sorry to all my english teachers . I think I just used too many "ands" there.
     Now that we are on the intercoastal again the tides are a little higher 3-4 feet. This results in a tidal current most of the time we are traveling. The "current" thing is hard to get used to because unlike the Mississippi river half the day the current is with you then it's against you.
    So we decided to go to St. Petersburg next. A 35 mile stretch but 4 1/2 hours.  Didn't think much about it before we left but Tampa Bay ended up being almost as rough as the crossing was at some points. The bay is shallow and it doesn't take much wind to whip up some pretty good waves. To make the nerves a little tighter we decided to get lost half way across the bay. I had looked at the chart earlier and decided we needed to turn at red marker "2" and green marker "4".  When we got there Dorene found the markers and we turned. Very shortly the depth went from 15ft. to 4ft. We had to stop and re-evaluate our position. I remind you we are way out in the bay at this time. After rechecking the chart we found they had put another  red "2" and green "4" about another mile further. Who picks these numbers anyway?    The reward?.... a sunrise in a new harbor.

A bonus at this marina was the St. Petersburg boat and sail show was also going on this week-end. Maybe not so good ,you know look at a few million dollar boats and all of a sudden your palace doesn't shine quite so much. Oh well we just added up the fuel bill so far...shouldn't have done that ...ouch!   The cheap old boat is looking a little more shiny again.

Another big bonus ... guess who was at the boat show.  .. Bob "Bitchin" and his wife Jody. What ? You don't know who that is? He's one of the reasons we are on this boat. He publishes the magazine "Lattitudes and Attitudes" which glorifies the boating lifestyle. In his words when we met him. " Ah another life ruined"
    A life ruined? I think we are even I got an autograghed hat. (mine blew overboard)
   
   

H ey, is that a halo over my head? or is that my miners hat?

Proof. It's the magazine guy!!!!    
      Bob hired the Eric Stone Band and gave everyone at the show free pizza and beer. Good time,but I'm tired so write more tomorrow. Goodnite.

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?