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
No comments:
Post a Comment