Panama City to Venice

We traveled from Panama City to Venice today a total of 237 miles. It was again a good day with seas 2/3 feet that made for a very pleasant off shore run. We cut in at Baptiste Callette Pass and arrived at Cypress Cove marina about 4:30pm.  The color and quality of the water deteriorated on an exponential basis as we traveled west from Panama City. The GOM coast changes west of Mobile bay from a tourist to an industrial/fishing basis.  We eat at the local restaurant and frankly it was not that great. We tried to acquire some local knowledge about access to the ICW west of Venice without going up the Mississippi; No luck!!

Capt Dan

May 9th travel from CLearwater to Panama City

We traveled from Clearwater to Panama City today a total of 242 miles. We cleared the outer marker and set a way point for San Blas Shoal it was a perfect crossing just over 10 hours. The seas were smooth almost flat. We did run through a couple of brief shower but nothing major. The boat performed as it had all trip flawlessly; the biggest challenge of the day was dodging crab pots off the Florida coast until we got into deeper water. Allow me to share an observation with you all; you realize how small you are relative to the earth when you travel for 8 plus hours and never see land. In addition you develop an appreciation for the reliability of the boat/mechanical systems. We st

stayed at the Bay Point Marina and ate at the onsite restaurant “30 degrees north”.

Post shower Rainbow

Capt Keith hard at work smooth water and 25mph

Capt Dan

Sunset number 48

I’ve been in Clearwater Florida for a little over a week. It’s amazing how the time flies “Tempus Fugit”. The days have started with a walk on the beach and a cup of coffee. I’ve traveled to Tarpon Springs to sample some Creek food and listen to a local “Nick” tell me all about the old days at the docks. The Creeks would dive for the sponges as they knew how to handle the sharks. Speaking of sponges; I picked up a sack full from a local named Johnny great value and quality. I also traveled up and down the west coast of Florida just to take in the scenery. I also took in a local Jazz concert on the beach.

Took care of a few boat maintenance items as well as made a couple trips to the local West Marine store which was one of their flagship stores. The evenings have been spent cooking on the BBQ and watching the sunset.  Keith arrives tomorrow and we plan to head to Apalachicola on Wednesday weather permitting. It will be good to be back traveling the water again.

Sunset number 48

Capt Dan

Tempus Fugit in Clearwater Florida

Saturday the 28^th:

We left Ft. Myers about 7:30am and traveled to Clearwater 138 miles arriving about 1:30pm at the Municipal Marina.  We ran off the coast of Florida all the way to Clearwater in seas less than a foot light winds and about 86 degrees with more crab pots than we could count even with a calculator. This is my third time at this marina once in the Meridian and twice in the Carver. Capt Keith performed one of his exceptional tie-up jobs as the boat will be here until May 9^th. Keith headed home on Sunday for another commitment but will return on Tuesday May 8^th.

I plan to spend the week plus in Clearwater staying on the boat (some light maintenance) and exploring the area. Frankly I plan to do more exploring than working. More area updates later.

Some facts to date:

We have traveled 2544 Miles to date since leaving Lakewood on the 21^st of March. We have consumed 4677 gallons of fuel to date with about 143 engine hours. I have seen 39 sunsets from the boat and all have been special in their own way.

Sorry no Pictures today

Capt Dan

On the west coast of Florida

Friday the 27^th

We left Islamorada and traveled to Ft. Myers about 165 miles. It was a cloudy day and looked like rain but it never did in fact the sun came out later in the day.  We cut through the keys at Channel Five and ran slow for about an hour as it was shallow. In addition there is a tricky zig zag route as we ran the markers strange as it seemed in the middle of nothing but water there is a wicket that needs to be run.

A number of Dolphins followed us in our stern wake for 30 minutes and seemed to welcome us back as well as wink at us as they played in the wake. They were on both our port and starboard side.

Naples from the water

We arrived at Salty Sam’s Marina about 4 pm tied-up the boat and headed to the airport via a cab to check-in with customs and legally be back in the states. The check-in process was uneventful and consisted of handing our passports to a lady that disappeared and re-appeared five minutes later and only asked us “where did leave the Bahamas from”.

Capt Dan

Back in the States

Thursday the 26^th:

We left chub key about 7:30 and decided to head to Islamorada Florida and arrived at 3:00pm. The original plan was to travel to CAT CAY on Thursday and cross on Friday however the weather forecast was 2-4 feet waves and wind out of the east on Thursday with a Friday’s forecast of 4-6 and winds changing to the northeast. So we made the crossing on Thursday it was uneventful as the auto pilot steered the boat with the exception of a traffic jam mid way across that forced us to maneuver around a cluster of sail boats headed west.

It was good to get back and have cell phone service but the water was nothing like what we saw over the last 4 weeks. Islamorada is a very nice small marina in the keys servicing the “sport fisher” and a small transient group of boaters. It was nice to have shore power without a meter as well as all the water we wanted again without a meter.

The above picture is our slip at Islamorada

Capt Dan