We are comfortably anchored at Dog Island near Apalachicola Florida. We left Dunedin Thursday morning about 10 am. The winds were predicted to be out of the east and not too strong. The sea state was predicted to be not bad either near the shore. My plan was to stay as close to shore as I comfortably could to obtain lighter winds and less waves. Run the coast up to Steinhatchee and then turn and head straight for Dog Island with the wind and waves at our back. That route would be about 20 nautical miles longer than running straight across but much more comfortable. Since we are pleasure boaters we decided on the more pleasurable route. All went well until about 9 pm and then the waves picked up a bit. 3 footers on the beam, so we rocked pretty good for a few hours. Once we got up to Steinhatchee we decided instead of turning toward Dog Island to turn toward Steinhatchee and anchor there for a couple hours and get some rest and a new weather forecast. Since it was rougher than originally predicted I wanted to make sure the forecast had not changed dramatically before heading 30 miles offshore. It did not look too bad so we weighed anchor and set out. The forecast called for following seas becoming flatter as the day progressed. The forecast proved correct. The only problem we had was when the following seas were the strongest the auto pilot would not handle it so we had to hand steer for about three hours.
It was 170 nautical miles. 30.5 engine hours and we used 50 gallons of fuel. We ran at 1600 rpms for 20 hours and 1850 rpms for the last 10.5 hours. Average of 1.63 gallons per hour. We normally run at 1500 but we wanted to make some time and get to Dog Island before dark.
Taking it easy today. Transferred some fuel from port tank to the starboard tank and making water right now. Tomorrow we will go to Apalachicola and anchor there for a day or two before heading on to Panama City. I will post some more pics when we get somewhere with good internet.
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| Nice to be anchored and see still water after a passage. |
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| Anchored at Dog Island |
4 comments:
Still beautiful pictures, the one at sunset is stunning. I have been many times in this very nice part of Florida but I have never boating there. By the way, we are french, living in the south of France, we own a Grand Banks 42' Motor Yacht, moored in Antibes, France. Too bad I can't send you pictures through "comment" over here.
Average of 1.63 gallon / hour is not bad at all ! What engines do you have aboard ? What ever your engines are, 1600 RPM is the best way to run on a trawler. My GB has twin Caterpillar 3116, 6 cylinders, and I do run cruise speed 1600 RPM as well.
Thank you for your very interesting blog. I know where is Galveston TX, I have even there as well, and Houston. Good luck for your coming trip !
Olivier and Pilou
TrawlerForum nickname : omc
Oliver and Pilou,
Thanks, we have a single Ford Lehman 120 engine. We usually run at 1500 rpms at about 1.3 gallons per hour but wanted to make some time since this was an overnight voyage. Nice to have you following along. Maybe someday our paths will cross.
Mike and Sharon
I have been following your blog for a long time and love it. I am commenting for the first time because I am so surprised you are headed to Texas for the winter. You were so close to the Bahamas when you were in the keys, why didn't you go there ? Kind regards, Claudia
Hi Claudia, We have friends and family in Texas and just wanted a change for awhile. We will go back to the Keys again and will visit the Bahamas then. We considered the Bahamas, east coast, and Texas. Texas won out. We will only be here for the winter and then decide where to go next. That is the great thing about living on a boat, you take your home with you where ever you go.
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