Left St. Pete - traveled - Arrived at C-Quarters Marina in Carrabelle

Well, the evening before we left, a friend came over, we had goodbye hugs and kisses, drinks on the flybridge while watching the airplanes and sailboat races. We said we will miss all this but it is time for the next step.

At 0700, 6/17/2011 we drove Sandpiper out of slip F19 at St. Petersburg Marina with Admiral Carol at the helm. The deckhand Seaman Steve tied up the deck, stowed lines, secured fenders, etc and we were underway. In Tampa Bay we encountered fishermen using balloons as floats, large schools of bait fish, some bigger fish jumping (could have been tarpon I guess) and the escorting porpoises which we never get tired of. We just enjoyed the trip and all the sights until the first of 7 bridges. To say this all but one of the bridge masters were very polite and helpful. all the bridges did was slow the progress for us down as they had opening schedules and of course we missed them all. We took this route to see all the homes, hotels etc and it did not disappoint. We enjoyed the slow leisurely pace and the sites. For the most part, the other boaters were courteous. At Clearwarter that changed a bit as everyone seemed to be in a big hurry. There was a lot of traffic going out and coming in at the Clearwater Pass but all was well. We got to the outer buoy, made a starboard turn and set the Autopilot to take us to Anclote Key. Delightful trip with water clear and a sea state of 2-3 (NOAA would have said the significant wave height was 2 feet - which means the average of the 1/3 highest is 2 feet and you might encounter 4  footers at some point). They were on our beam and we were and are grateful for stabilizers. Arrived at Ancolte with lots of daylight left and not being tired we continued on for a couple more hours and anchored in 22ft off the west coast from Hernando Fla. Had a problem to try and fix. About an hour after leaving St. Pete, the airconditioning stopped working. No salt water cooling. We decided to check it out after we anchored and if it was the pump, fix it when we got to C-Quarters as with the port holes open and with fans the boat was livable. After letting the engine room cool a bit, Seaman Steve found the problem with the Admirals help at the AC control switches. The pump ok, the tailpiece from the seacock had a leak that caused the pump to loose its prime. new tailpiece from ships stores and the AC was up and cooling again. Real issue is that the previous owner had used brass and the salt water running through had corroded it. spares are brass. Job in Carrabelle is to replace all brass tailpieces with bronzee. Spent a great night with the boat rocking us to sleep.

Left anchorage and proceeded to try for an anchorage off Steinhatchee. Long day (11 hours) but a good trip in clean water with again an acceptable sea state. It got a bit higher as we approached Steinhatchee but still acceptable. Anchored the boat, She pitched a bit especially in a freshening West wind but again acceptable and "normally" the wind lays during the evening so all would be ok. After arrivals, a meal, and showers we off to sleep and a scheduled 0700 start in am. Well winds did not lay. they freshened even more. The sea state got a bit wild but not dangerous. But we pitched in sets of 5 then rolled in sets of 3. It was a wild night. Note: we found out later from locals this was NOT the place to anchor with a west wind and the full Moon and it tides. "It's always like that" and now i know it also. It is NOT the place to anchor with a west wind and a full Moon". Would have stopped short or continued going if we had known better (my fault as i really did not tell any of the locals that we had ideas to stop and anchor there. if i had, they would have told me). Around 0730 the seas and wind started calming down and by 0830 we left heading to Dog Island off of Carrabelle.

The next leg was the most interesting and can best be described as a three parter.

• The first part being from the Steinhatchee anchorage to about 1/3 the way to Dog Island. Wild, roller coaster are good descriptors. The wind was still out of the west with the moon still effecting so the swells were big with some wind swept waves on top. Nothing breaking or dangerous and luckily could keep them on our quarter for a comfortable as possible ride. Again thanks to the people who invented stabilizers and autopilots.
• The second part was awesome. 1-2 ft seas 5 knts wind and a beautiful ride. We saw fish of all kinds, lots and lots of porpoises. One pod of 10 to 12 stayed with us for 30 minutes. One mom and dad had a baby (around 2-3 ft) and were teaching it to surf the bow wake. and then the big sea turtles. It was great and i wish all could enjoy it as we did.
• The third part was the worst. Not bad, just the worst. It reminded me of the Texas gulf. Sets of ever increasing size swells with very confused wind waves in between and on top. Water started changing color and became sandy and dirty (locals are saying the Mississippi floods are causing a lot of runoff of all the rivers. Sandpiper was well up to the task and we were very comfortable. When we made the pass from the gulf into George Sound by Dog island, the swells were on our stern and i learned how this boat handled that (Better than me but the Admiral was pleased so we were both happy). Pulled into a well protected cove at Dog Island and spent a calm restful remainder of day and night. Saw one of our Carrabelle friends in their boat and had a brief chat about being back and meeting on the porch the following day. Life is good.

The next morning left anchorage at 0700 to catch slack tide in the river when we docked. It worked good and we slipped into our slip with no issues at all.

So we are back to the small town that has character and a lot of characters. Was welcomed back by all on the porch last evening. Will be here for awhile and will keep you all up to date.

We are having a blast. If you can, come join us. If you can't try and live it through our blog. Life is great and this is Life now for us.

more later

Steve & Carol aboard

m/s Sandpiper

Preperations to leave St. Pete continued and we finally left

Wow, when last we wrote we were Preparing to Leave St. Pete. Well we prepared and prepared and prepared and prepared, .... and finally left.

First we said we were leaving in the morning, and God laughed at our plans, and we sent the message "Just checked all the weather stations and it looks like we probably won't be leaving St. Pete until Friday 17th instead of tomorrow.  Tomorrow looks ok BUT there is the possibilities of 2-4 etc in places and the Admiral don't like 4 footers and Friday looks like it will be more like she (me too) likes so we leave then. We will probably Not anchor at Anclote Key and just go straight to Dog Island or Carrabelle out of Clearwater". And as we were all prepared with waiting on the final news to be shown and going to bed to get a good nights sleep, God was really laughing and reminded us about Storms.

We are still getting used to Florida versus Texas Gulf and weather. We were reminded that and it was a good thing we were at the slip in St. Pete and not out there where we initially planned. We had a rain storm/thunder storm/lighting storm or whatever else you want to call it. Totally unexpected but the Florida people call it good and want more like it today and tomorrow. It had all the things a Thunder Storm/Squall Line has, HIGH wind (We clocked 50 at the boat-news reported 63), lots of wave action (we were in 18-20' of water with about 300 yards to the breakwater and had 3 to 4'whitecaps at the boat - low tide and white blowing water over the finger piers is how we measured it), and of course the rain, lighting and thunder etc. The news and the people who live here say, that is good we got needed rain, cooled us off, and it is getting that time of year, hope tomorrow we get the same. Well we said, our issue is they sent out no warnings (e.g breaking into or scrolls on tv for the line that hit us - had sent some earlier for a line south of us and predictions were none for us. They did a great job of describing and explaining why it occurred during the weather at 2300 which happened to be in the middle of the storm), and if this is "normal" and they predict more and want more, we asked ourselves; what would it be like if we were out in the Gulf 80+ miles from shore and run into one of them. We did not like the answer. Would we survive? YEP but we don't need the hassle. And we know it is going to happen sometime even with the best of planning but let us not jump into it if we feel there is going to be something to make us uncomfortable. So we looked at alternative ways of dealing with the issue of DAILY storms and some of them not predicted. We looked at it before but not as close as we should have we think especially if we are going to be out of reach of a divert port/anchorage.

And so we thought about it the next day, we scoured all the weather outlets, we talked to people and then decided to leave the next morning. The plans were to pull out of the slip around 0700. ICW to Clearwater then offshore to Anclote Key. Anchor at Anclote key and then follow the bend at the 3 fathom line anchoring each evening before any storms, ride them out if required, get some sleep and continue the trip around the bend till we anchored at Dog Island to go into C-Quarters the next morning.

And at 0700 the following mooring we were off and running (or better classified as a crawl as our trawler is a slow but steady beast).

Steve & Carol aboard
m/v Sandpiper

Preparing to leave St. Pete

Well we have been here 3+ weeks and it is time to return to our West Florida home base of Carrabelle. And we are looking forward to it. Still have a lot to do in that area along with 3 fishing tournaments out of the marina we will be at plus a good hidy hole from canes. And the bonus of a lot of friendly folks in a great little place. Plan is to leave here Thursday, travel the ICW to Clearwater, go off shore and anchor at Anclote Key, leave there at midnight and go straight across to Dog Island where we will anchor and go in to C-Quarters marina in Carrabelle Sat morning. Then we will watch the boats come in that afternoon/evening for the Kingfish tournament.

The trip to St. Pete was well worth it. Of course we got to see our friends. For those who did not know Pam and Bill, they had their boat at CC Marina right down from us. They moved back to Flordia and we got to see them at their new marina. They were very very helpful while we were here by showing us around, helping us get stuff we needed and just enjoying each others company. Thanks Pam and Bill. Unfortunately, Bill has a new job with the same company that keeps him away from St. Pete so we did not get to spend as much time as we wanted with him. But there is always the next time.

The marina here is very good. It is large (I guess at least 2 to 3 times the size of CC Marina) and on Tampa Bay. The Facilities are excellent. Our only like would have been for floating docks but that seem to be something there is little of in Florida at least right now. Our slip allowed us an unobstructed view of Tampa Bay and that made it quite nice. There is a Sailing club at the marina and every day there is at least one group of sailboat races going on. On Friday evening is biggest race with last Friday having 28 boats. We also have seen Tarpon in the marina with two of them cruising around our boat. Along with lots of other fishy objects in the water but no Manatees were sighted.

We had a little trouble for the first week or so. I again tried to do something i shouldn't have without help and hurt my back. It did not cause me the problems as before but i had to move slow, rest, etc and it is still a bit tender but we are doing fine. And right after we got here, Carol indicated she appeared to have a problem with one of her teeth. And she did. A large chunk was missing of the side of one of her wisdom teeth. Of course this occurred on a Saturday evening so we had to really wait till Monday to get it fixed. Found a dentist office within walking distance of the marina. They were GREAT and they fixed the tooth (did not pull it) and no problem since.

Speaking of within walking distance, the downtown area of St. Pete is awesome. There is a lot to do or a little to do which ever you want. There are lots of parks. It is VERY walker friendly. Plenty of restaurant if that is your desire. A major grocery, museums,  etc. etc. and it is very clean. There is a Looper (loops around the downtown area) trolley that you can ride for a quarter (a dime if you are 65+). And a great little downtown airport right next to the marina. Carol and I spent a lot of time on the flybridge watching the planes. Lots of small plane traffic and apparently people learning to fly.

Altogether we had a good time here. We would highly recommend staying here but not for just one night. A week at a minimum, The downtown area is great. the rest of the town is a big city with anything you need. Public transportation is  excellent.

A few pics;


Sailboat race seen from our flybridge

Airport seen from our flybridge

Airport seen from the Pier in St Pete

Part of the Marina as seen from the Pier. We are the next to last boat on left side

Downtown as seen from the Pier

Hope all is well where you are.

Steve and Carol aboard the m/v Sandpiper