Anchored Near Pensacola Bay

Since the last post we ran on the outside from Panama City over to Destin.We spent one night in Destin harbor and went to Whataburger which is across the street. My favorite fast food place. I had not been to one since 2014 when I was in Baton Rouge. We left Destin at 7 am this morning before all the crazies woke up. Today we took the ICW from Destin to just past Pensacola Bay and found a nice little anchorage just off the ICW. The wind is blowing pretty good but we are anchored in the lee of Perdido island so we are not getting any waves to speak of, just some wind.

We ran 53 miles today and stopped at 2:45 pm. It started to rain and we did not see any reason to continue on when we had a good anchorage at hand. Once we stopped and got anchored the rain quit and although it looks like it could start at any time has not rained since (I am not complaining). The forecast for tomorrow is 90% chance of storms and rain so we will check the forecast again in the morning but probably just stay put. It is beautiful here, so not a hard decision to stay.

We are very close to the Alabama/Florida border. We have 175 miles to the Mississippi River. We will time our crossing of the river for a Sunday so as to have the least amount of traffic.

Destin harbor at sunrise this morning.

Captain Sharon driving from the flybridge.

Perdido Island.

Perdido Island.

Sharon driving from the lower helm. The auto pilot is on a long cord so she holds it and maneuvers through the channel markers using her two thumbs like she is playing a video game (her favorite past time only this is a 23,000 lb video game).

ICW from Apalachicola to Panama City

We had planned on stopping at Apalachicola for a couple of days after leaving Dog Island but then when I looked at the weather forecast we changed our mind. They were predicting the remnants of Patrica to hit Panama City starting tonight so we opted to only stop in Apalachicola long enough to go to the Piggly Wiggly and get some grub. We then continued on with the plan to anchor in Lake Wimica in an area charted at 6' deep so we could get an early start to PC. When we got to that area we eased out of the channel it quickly dropped to 5' and we were at high tide. Scratch that idea. Well what to do now. I usually have a backup plan, but this time I did not as the area marked 6' was a large area and I did not anticipate there being any problems. We did not want to run at night because of floating debris, we saw a wide spot just off the channel north of the lake and decided to anchor there for the night. I set the bow anchor and then set a stern anchor to keep us from swinging into the channel. All went well till 1:30 in the morning. The wind picked up and the bow anchor drug. We tried to reset it but could not get it to set. I pulled up the stern anchor (a Fortress FX37) and moved it to the bow. It set right away. It was very muddy in this area and the Fortress is an excellent mud anchor. We kept an anchor watch the rest of the night but did not move at all.

We were underway at first light to make it to PC as quickly as we could. Originally the strong winds were not supposed to be here until tonight thus our plan for bypassing Apalachicola and pressing on to be here by noon, unfortunately they arrived much earlier than predicted. When we left this morning I set the rpms at 1700 to make some time. We were able to run at about 7 3/4 knots the whole way. We got to our anchorage about 11:15. This time I had picked out 3 possible anchorages just in case. We got to the first one and decided it would do. 7.5' of water and land nearby to keep the sea state reasonable. There are not many trees ashore here so we are still getting some wind but not waves. The other two anchorages were further away and may have been better but a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Plus it was starting to rain. They are predicting up to 2" of rain today so we opted for this anchorage. We set the anchor and let out 85' of chain. So far we have not moved at all.
It has been really windy. Predictions for today are 25 to 30 with gusts to 40. We are just happy to be in a large enough anchorage to be able to let out as much chain as we want. Tomorrow is supposed to be about like today and maybe a little worse. No plans to pull the anchor until Wednesday or Thursday.

Nice to see trees other than palm tees again, but I Know it won't be long till I miss them.

This part of the ICW is wide and beautiful.

This is why we did not want to travel at night.

I like it.

These are some floating houses in a little offshoot near where we anchored. I assume fishing camps.

Walkabout at anchor Dog Island.

Life's a Beach

We decided to take the dingy out and explore a little. Sharon loves to Geocache and of course saw that there was one here on Dog Island so we took the dingy for a 2 1/2 mile (one way) ride to the other end of the island to find it. It was an easy find. She was happy so in turn that made me happy. We then took the dink to the east end of the island and went for a walk on the beach. This is a beautiful place and has some beautiful beaches. We love the Keys but there are not many beaches there.

Sharon geocaching

She found it.

I love a fast dingy.

It is a beautiful island.

Sharon's day at the beach.

It's a rough life, but someone has to do it.

Dog Island

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.

Nice to be anchored and see still water after a passage.

Anchored at Dog Island

Good Advice

On one of the boating forums that I am a member of a guy made a post looking for a woman to sail around the world with him. Below is the advice one member gave him.

Get a dog instead.

-Dogs don't cry.
-Dogs love it when your friends come over.
-Dogs don't care if you use their shampoo.
-Dogs think you sing great.
-A dog's time in the bathroom is confined to a quick drink.
-Dogs don't expect you to call when you are running late.
-The later you are, the more excited dogs are to see you
-Dogs will forgive you for playing with other dogs.
-Dogs don't notice if you call them by another dog's name.
-Dogs are excited by rough play.
-Dogs don't mind if you give their offspring away.
-Dogs understand that farts are funny.
-Dogs love red meat.
-Dogs can appreciate excessive body hair.
-Anyone can get a good-looking dog.
-If a dog is gorgeous, other dogs don't hate it.
-Dogs don't shop.
-Dogs like it when you leave lots of things on the floor.
-A dog's disposition stays the same all month long.
-Dogs never need to examine the relationship.
-A dog's parents never visit.
-Dogs love long car trips.
-Dogs understand that instincts are better than asking for directions.
-Dogs understand that all animals smaller than dogs were made to be hunted. 
-When a dog gets old and starts to snap at you incessantly, you can shoot -it. 
-Dogs like beer. 
-Dogs don't hate their bodies. 
-No dog ever bought a Kenny G or Hootie & the Blowfish album. 
-No dog ever put on 100 pounds after reaching adulthood. 
-Dogs never criticize.
-Dogs agree that you have to raise your voice to get your point across
-Dogs never expect gifts. 
-It's legal to keep a dog chained up at your house. 
-Dogs don't worry about germs. 
-Dogs don't want to know about every other dog you ever had. 
-Dogs like to do their snooping outside as opposed to in your wallet, desk, and the back of your sock drawer.
-Dogs don't let magazine articles guide their lives. 
-Dogs would rather have you buy them a hamburger dinner than a lobster -one. 
-You never have to wait for a dog. They're ready to go 24 hours a day..
-Dogs have no use for flowers, cards, or jewelry. 
-Dogs don't borrow your shirts. 
-Dogs never want foot-rubs. 
-Dogs enjoy heavy petting in public. 
-Dogs find you amusing when you're drunk. 
-Dogs can't talk.
-Dogs aren't catty. 
-Dogs seldom outlive you.

HOW DOGS AND WOMEN ARE ALIKE - 

-Both look stupid in hats. 
-Both can eat 5 pounds of chocolate in one sitting. 
-Both tend to have "hip" problems. 
-Neither understand football. 
-Both look good in a fur coat. 
-Both are good at pretending that they're listening to every word you say. 
-Neither believe that silence is golden. 
-Both constantly want back rubs.
-Neither can balance a checkbook. 
-You can never tell what either of them is thinking. 
-Both put too much value on kissing. -

HOW WOMEN ARE BETTER THAN DOGS - 

-It is socially acceptable to have sexual relations with a woman. 
-Women look good in sweaters. 
-Women leave the room to fart. (I have found this one not to be true)

Enjoying Dunedin

After four days on the move we just relaxed today. As we were setting on the flybridge we saw a sailing club that was teaching kids to sail. Some were really young and some a little older.

We then took the dingy and went out to a little island in the same bay that we are anchored in. It was a beautiful little island. It was fun to walk around and look at the bay and all of the activity going on. This is a very busy area with lots of boats.

Made it to Dunedin

We arrived in Dunedin at about 3:45 pm today. Dunedin was our second favorite stop on the way to the keys. We had a beautiful 4 day trip here. It was 252 nautical miles from Islamorada Florida. We have used about 55 gallons of fuel. That is better than I had hoped for. We had great weather all the way. We stayed on the outside rather than taking the ICW to avoid the bridges and the traffic. Walkabout performed flawlessly. It is going to be so much fun cruising on this boat.

We did have an interesting time coming into Clearwater Pass. The tide was going out and the wind was blowing in. It made for a few exciting moments as the boat was turned this way and that way, but we made it in without running over anybody. I do not like excitement and I am not interested in gaining any fascinating sea stories. I just want pleasant calm cruising. We are anchored now and it looks like we will be here for awhile before the next weather window opens to move on.

Sunset at anchor I love it.

Sunrise at Sarasota.

Ship leaving Tampa Bay headed west. I guess to New Orleans or Houston.

On our Way

We left Islamorada Florida yesterday morning. We traveled 64 nautical miles yesterday and anchored just offshore near Wood Key. We left a 5am this morning and traveled 76 nm to where we are anchored tonight, which is just below Pine Island near Fort Meyers. We will keep pressing on for two more days until we get to Dunedin and then take a break and enjoy ourselves for awhile. It was one of our favorite stops on the way to the Keys. The boat has been doing fantastic. It looks like so far we are using about 1.28 gallons of fuel per hour. That is better than I had hoped for. We will get a more accurate number the further we go.

$400 worth of groceries, "Priceless". No wait a moment it was $400. Better last awhile.

Our first sunset of the trip.

Anchored just offshore near Wood Key.

Time to Go!

After almost 4 years in the Keys, It is time to go. We will be leaving tomorrow headed for Galveston Bay in Texas. We plan to spend the winter there and then resume the loop or the Bahamas or the USVI. Who knows, that is 5 months away. I can not hardly predict tomorrow much less March. We plan to stay in the Galveston area till March 1st. At the top of the blog there is a link that says "Click here to see where we are". If you click on that it will take you to a map to show you where Walkabout is. Hopefully we will be where she is. Lol.

We really enjoyed our trip down the west coast of Florida on Morgan, hopefully it will be just as enjoyable the other direction on Walkabout. I think back about living on Morgan (25' sailboat) and just laugh. Wow what a difference between a 25' sailboat that was so small that I could not even stand up in (thanks to the Thompson genes Sharon could) and Walkabout a 36' trawler.

As close as I can figure it will be about 1,050 nautical miles which means about 262 gallons of diesel. It will be interesting to see what we actually use. I know rag baggers (sailboaters) who would die of a heart attack at the thought of buying 262 gallons of fuel ($720.00). but that is less than a months slip fee in the Keys. Everything is retaliative I guess.

It will probably take between 5 and 7 weeks to make the trip (we are not in a hurry). The trawler life has been compared to that of a turtle. You carry your home on your back and crawl at 6 knots (7 mph). That is just fine with me. 6 knots is plenty fast for me. It is like life "It's about the journey, not the destination".

The day we left back in 2011.