Dunedin to Clearwater Beach Marina

The current location link to the left has our current location, zoom out to see the land around us.

Marker 1 Marina a good place for a long stay

On the water again – and moving slowly down the Gulf Coast of Florida.  We moved from Dunedin, Marker 1 Marina to Clearwater Beach.  Marker 1 was a great stop and we highly recommend it.  The people were very helpful, the facilities are clean and well kept and its only a half mile walk to Publix and even less to a couple of fun restaurants/beach bars.  They also give good discounts to all Loopers.

Carol trying and succeeding to relax

At Clearwater Beach we spent the afternoon on the white sand beach wandering past the Tiki Bars.   Made a stop for ice cream near Pier 60.  Pier 60 is where the sunset party is held every evening.  Even though we were barefoot and watching the pelicans and palm trees, “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” was playing on the restaurant PA system. Seemed a little odd but fun.  

One could easily become intoxicated with the pink sunsets and the mild evening among all the fishing boats and fishing birds.  What a gorgeous spot.

He/She barely moved when we docked the boat

Sunset in Clearwater Beach

Marker 1 Marina Dunedin, FL

Trout Almondine at Rushing Waters with Ruth and Norm

We went home for 12 days to visit friends and family over Thanksgiving, good flights both ways with superior service from Southwest Airlines. Several weeks before our trip home Carol booked tickets from Panama City, FL to Milwaukee our best Marker 1 Marina Dunedin, FL thinking and planning at the time of the booking. We actually moved much further along our route all the way to Tampa. Carol changed the tickets for a departure from Tampa to Milwaukee, same days but different times and departure city. No change fees, No hassle, and a $200 credit toward our next flights. That is truly great customer service!!!

Carol, Autumn and a new puppet

It was cold in Racine upon our arrival, 18^oF, it did not get over freezing for the first 6 days of our time home. Much different than the 80^o temps here in Florida. Had a great time visiting friends from our Friday night bible study group and we were fortunate to be able to attend three services at MPLC, with sermons from each of our pastors.

We also visited family and bunked in at Eliot and Jenny’s house the first couple of days. Visited with Kim, Scott and Autumn for a couple of good meals before they departed for Philadelphia for their Thanksgiving holiday with Debi and family. We also spent several days at Ruth and Norm’s cabin, I was especially pleased that each of our hosts had projects that kept me entertained during our visit.

Kim and Autumn with new winter hats

Now back in Florida we are getting back to normal, planning the next several days of travel and researching Naples and the Keys for later in the winter. The new “rust buster” chain for my bike arrived in our absence and the bike shop installed it and a package rack. We have only been in the Gulf for a few weeks and the chain would not move around the sprockets but the new chain works really well and should survive the salt water better than a standard chain.

Mallory's friend Jess joined us for Thanksgiving

Mallory enjoyed the drumstick

Everyone decorated cookies or ate a few

Fred's in Burlington, Best Hamburgers in the World

Clearwater to Dunedin, FL

Clearwater Harbor Marina under the bridge

Tuesday after arriving we washed the salt off the boat and tried to relax the balance of the day. Being awake for 36 or so hours is more difficult as we get older, it tends to mess up our schedules for a couple of days, I think we are finally back to normal today. 

Wednesday we rented a car and drove to Sarasota to see Mom, always a highlight in our adventures. We talked all afternoon and had supper later with Fred and Mary, Carol’s sister. A very pleasant relaxing day, we are also working out our float plan for the next several weeks.

Today, Thursday, we returned the rental car after a short walk on Clearwater beach and a shopping trip at Publix. Then moved the boat from Clearwater Harbor to Marker 1 Marina in Dunedin. The people here are fantastic, very accommodating and helpful offering services that are not usually found at a marina.

Nice Homes on the Intracoastal

We will keep the boat here for the next couple of weeks while we visit Florida family and return to Racine for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Wind continues to be a big issue here, the front passed and a high pressure is located off the east coast pushing gale force winds from the east into the Gulf. We are on the western shore and are somewhat protected from the eastern wind but we are putting out extra fenders and mooring lines to be sure we stay safe. The wind will subside tomorrow and we expect some rain the next couple of days.

We may blog over the next couple of weeks if we have something to share and will resume in earnest on December 4^th when we return from our Thanksgiving break.  We have a lot to be thankful for, hope you do too.

Some might be affordable??

“The Crossing”, Carrabelle to Clearwater, FL

Skippers weather meeting with "Buddy"

It’s about the WEATHER! For those of you who regularly read this blog, it know that statement is getting tiresome and I will not use it again, unless necessary. Tom Conrad provides weather musings every day to Loopers preparing to make the crossing. He consults several weather services and uses the one that has most recently been getting it correct. We also consulted “Buddy” in the striped shirt and mud boots, the weather guru for the Moorings Marina in Carrabelle. Buddy did not like the weather and told us not to leave, as much as schedules should never influence decisions on the water, the next window would be in a week or so. All 8 Looper ready to cross left at their appointed times.

A beautiful Gulf Sunset for our Crossing

Tom gave us the weather window from Monday noon to Tuesday noon, with a strong storm expected on Tuesday evening into Wednesday. Tom was spot on we had strong 2 foot waves when we departed Monday noon for three hours then the seas settled, the wind shifted from the southeast to the northeast later in the evening. We took turns standing watch while the auto pilot did the work, even with this following sea, usually a severe problem for our auto pilot, he/she did exceedingly well and we did not need to steer during the entire trip.

Our Hitchhiker

In the afternoon we had a hitchhiker perch on our sundeck roof for quite a while, flew off, landed on the radar arch, then back to the roof, we decided it was a good omen since Mike Batzner carved us a wooden bird very similar to our hitchhiker. Mike’s bird stands on our deck just ahead of the inside helm.

Keeping a sharp lookout

The trip is long, 22 hours being pushed about by wind and waves, especially with a following sea. About 1:30 the moon set, and the night got DARK!!! All our instruments can be dimmed so we can retain our night vision, but DARK means no light all that can be observed are the lights of another boat. We do have radar but do not use it much and it provided no targets on our crossing. To be exact we saw only the lights of our buddy boats and three other Loopers that started after us.

As the sun rose over Clearwater, we began to relax a little, but needed to keep a sharp eye for crab pot floats that, if run over, can wrap around the propeller shaft of the boat ruining the day. We used our SPOT device all night to plot our location, it can be seen by clicking the link ‘Current Location” in the column to the left, several people get a text message when we click the SPOT. It is a little like dropping bread crumbs for others to follow if necessary. When we regained cell coverage we each received 30 text messages from our spot device and well wishes from our very supportive family. The good thing about the crossing was it was quite boring, no major events or problems. 

Clearwater at sunrise 6:51 AM

White City to Carrabelle, FL

The Intracoastal early in the morning

This morning we were awakened at sun-up by a strong bass voice singing the Star Spangled Banner.  He was an excellent singer – turns out he was starting the fishing tournament that had formed at the little dock area where we had tied up for the night.  So we got off to an early start, waiting only until the fishermen had all gone out before we untied our lines.  It has been a nice sunny day and we came all the way to Carrabelle.

Carrabelle is the jumping off point for crossing the Gulf of Mexico tomorrow.  We will depart from Carrabelle around 11 am, drive all through Monday night and we plan to arrive at Dunedin, Florida, at the Marker One marina before 11 am on Tuesday. 

There is one person – Tom – who makes an art of plotting the perfect weather windows to cross the Gulf.  He compares all sorts of weather sources and tracks which one is proving most accurate for the time frame and then sends out a message.  In this case Tom’s message was,  “your best chance for a good crossing window is between Monday morning and Tuesday mid-afternoon”.  So we are making the best of that advice.  Looks like about 8 boats will be leaving this marina at the same time.  We will meet tonight to see which ones go fast, or slower and buddy up with like-speed boaters.   We will probably be crossing with “Allison Leigh” a boat from Mississippi that seems to go the same speed we do.  Since the weather should be favorable, the only concern is falling asleep at the wheel.  Will try not to do that.  Even with auto-pilot, one ought to at least keep watch.

No blog tomorrow, we will be crossing the Gulf all night.

Oops!!

Anybody know this  bug?

St. Andrews Marina to White City

Gulf Fishing  Boat

St. Andrews Marina was a bit different than most marinas in that about 1/3 of the marina is for commercial fishing boats. Some shrimp boats, some for oysters and others for sport fishing. I so enjoy looking at these very capable and functional boats with their nets and lockers to keep the catch fresh.

We are currently positioning for our Gulf crossing, the weather must be manageable for at least 24 hours. We expect it will require 22 hours to make the 170 mile crossing at 8 mph. The latest thinking is that a window will be present from about Monday noon to Tuesday noon, so to be in position we departed St. Andrews Marina this morning about 10:30 rather than leaving tomorrow. We are currently tied to a wall in a cove once used by the Army Corps of Engineers. A building, covered picnic area, boat launch and a wooden dock that feels quite secure, but a little shallow.

Bulk Carriers for deep in the Gulf, supplying oil rigs

The trip up was very interesting across a series of bays to a marsh with a channel and finally into the canal constructed for the Intracoastal Waterway. A large plant processing trees, I think to create chip board with three vessels that look like barges with a pointed end marked HOSMAX. Google shows them as an oil rig supply vessels that carry mud for sealing off the wells. I am sure they carry other supplies as well. I read that they have recently commissioned two additional vessels to the fleet and further up the bay we saw them being fabricated. One was still on shore and the second had been launched and is being completed in the slip. Several large cranes and some small ones as well were working, on a Saturday, on the boats.

A new dimension in waterways, grass marsh

The bay then narrows in a grassy area that is a strong contrast to the shore line that is covered with pine trees.  We saw several dolphins today and two jumped in the air right in front of the boat. Graying skies this afternoon, and dark settles quickly once the sunsets, we move to eastern time as we crossed the bridge about 500 feet from our current location.

Barbara and Curtis from White City stopped by the boat after we tied to the dock. We were pleased to show them our boat and tell them about our plans to do the Loop. We meet many pleasant and interesting people on this trip. 

The two new ships under construction

Marsh grass and pine trees

Panama City Rest Day

A very windy day tied to a pier is better than a very, very windy day trying to drive a boat in a straight line.   At least you don’t want too many of those days, too close together.  Dennis spent the day doing things like replacing light bulbs with LED’s in our running lights – the better to be seen in the dark when we cross the Gulf overnight.  I enjoyed the cabin of the boat, with the heat turned on.  I got to do some needlework and make a homemade soup – things that don’t happen when we are underway.

Oyster place, colorful signage

Found a grocery store about 8 blocks away so we took a walk and picked up a few things we needed.  We amused ourselves by reading all the restaurant menus on the way up and back.  Now we are prepared for any time we come back to Panama City and need to pick a dinner spot.  Everyone advertises fresh oysters, but apparently they are very hard to come by this year; it has not been a good year for oysters in the Apalachicola area, which is usually “oyster central”.

John and Olivia visit Reunion

For a nice treat, we heard from Racine friends that they were staying in a condo here at Panama City for the week and they came by and picked us up for supper.  It was fun to see Olivia and John walking down the pier so far away from our homes in Wisconsin.  We almost convinced John to ride across the Gulf with us next week – maybe.  

Ready for a sail

Dock visitors