After Thanksgiving, we traveled to Dog River for Christmas with just us and the happy dog, Maggi. Leaving the windy bay just after Christmas, we set course East across the panhandle of Florida, anchoring along the way. Just to make sure we were on course, dolphins swam along beside us guiding our way.
We finally made it to Apalachicola Florida and across to Dog Island to anchor awaiting crossing the big Gulf of Mexico to Tarpon Springs. Seems like there are a lot of dog places in our lives. Dog River, Dog Island.
We had a very small window of opportunity to cross the dark waters on a moonless night on December 30 so we set course of 138 degrees for 160 miles. The first of these miles was very pleasant and comfortable with us sharing the steering duties in four hour shifts. My shirt which started at 11PM was fun playing Barefoot Man songs and dancing about on the flybridge. However, when Robert took command and I went below to sleep with Maggi, she snuggled up to keep on the bed as the ship rolled and rocked in a most annoying manner. Sleep...forget it.
The night crossing can be as beautiful as anything in this world. It can also be something to endure. On this night as I took the first watch, the sea and sky was as black as a bowl of chocolate putting as the bow sliced through the darkness illuminated by the running lights of red on the left and green on the right and a position light on the stern. Just as in aviation.
As I played by island music and stared at the radar and GPS, a silver dolphin caught my attention as he darted from right to left under the boat, his spray caught the light for an instant and then he was gone. I could hear the distinctive splash by other dolphins but did not see them in the darkness.
By 3AM the seas became rough and the boat rolled in the inky darkness far offshore guided by GPS, compass heading, and watching radar for other boats. No boats were seen until later that morning when an array of bright lights and a big radar return caught my eye. It was a drilling rig but was hard to see if it was moving or not. My shift was over and Captain Robert took command.
Dawn broke on the last day of 2013 and the weary mariners and dog were happy to see a little of the sun peek through the clouds and the Tarpon Springs destination filled our windscreen.
We stayed a week at Turtle Cove Marina and waited on mail and Amazon packages. This was a very upscale marina with pool and hot tub and a bar. Unfortunately, the hot tub was only used one day as you had to turn on the heat and wait for warming. The heat was turned on one night but after that it was always off when I went back. The bar was only open on weekends and opened at 4, closed at 6.
I think they are not ready for winter boaters. Construction of the high rise boat stacks continued at our dock and was noisy. The good thing was that it was close to the action of downtown, Greek restaurants, stores and ice cream!
The worst problem with this marina is the very shallow channel. We left on Tuesday January 7 at a medium tide and hit something on both sides and damaged our props. As we continued out to the Gulf, we felt vibration and turned around and had the boat pulled. Both props were badly damaged and now we are on the hard waiting for the prop shop to bring them back tomorrow.
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| This is indeed an ancient mariner! He is working at the boat yard and has been a shrimp boat hand. |
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