2 Two Month Long Cruise PCB to St Pete

Hampton

Hampton

Air Defense Dept
TECHNICAL Contributor
Nov 26, 2006
7,628
Panama City, Fl
Boat Info
2008 44 Sedan Bridge
Engines
Cummins QSC-500's
Straight Drives
Well, we're back on the water. Cruised from PCB to Apalachicola Fl this afternoon. We're at Scipio Creek Marina again. The story of the day is about wildlife. There was a fawn swimming down the middle of the ICW. We saw the traditional dolphins, two bald Eagles together, and an otter swam past our boat at the marina. Typing by phone right now. More later.
 
Freddie, the 1/2 tame alligator lives right across the creek from the marina..........keep the dogs/cats close by. He sometimes crawls up on the derelict barge to sun.
 
That's awesome John... keep us posted on your trip... wishing you the best of everything...
 
im seriously jealous, i just slid down my driveway holding on to two trash cans on ice and snow. Get some pictures going for the poor northern people. Have a great safe trip!
 
My offer to trade lives is still on the table.
 
When are you projected to get to St. Pete and what marina are you staying at?
 
John...Could you make a poster of yourself (like I had of Eric Estrada)....You are my new hero and idol......Look foreward to all the posts
 
These are some funny posts!

We crossed the Big Bend of the Gulf Today. Lots of trials and tribulations, but all good. My biggest problem right now is recovering the pics from my phone after one fumbled thumb deleted all of today's pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Story first: Pull out of Scipio Creek at sunrise (got that pic still). We heard some bad news about Government cut straight out from Apalach, so we turned ENE and headed for Dog Island Pass. 1/2 way there, there is a bridge to St George Island. Approaching the bridge, we saw a dredging barge and a bunch of oyster fishermen, so, we came off plane. As we passed under the bridge, I realized that we had passed North of the designated span. We were out of the channel (Idiot - was using the GPS and worried about the dredging). The water was still deep - 8' or so (deep for here). So, I proceeded very, very slowly. We let the wind blow us back into the channel. So, now that we're back IN THE CHANNEL, the depth sounder went very shallow. I shut the engines down and felt the bottom drag on some of the running gear. We were dead center in the channel, 1/2 way between the bridge and the dredger.

I went down to throw out an anchor as we were being blown out of the South side of the channel and I didn't want to get blown hard aground. So, I throw the anchor and it sinks way out of sight. Wife yells down - We're in 14' of water. WTH? So, I pulled the anchor in, went up, and started up. I wasn't sure where to go now, but proceeded with caution toward the East, just South of the dredger. The channel was back to normal. I figured that they must have dredged the center of the channel and thrown the spoils to the North, but still inside the channel markers. It must have been very loose. We grazed across the top and then were back in the deep water, though South of the channel. My heart was racing.

We continued ENE at a very cautious pace. All seemed well. No vibrations or any other negative indications, so, we proceed out Dog Island Pass into deeper, more relaxing water. More coming directly.
 
We zoomed the chart plotter out, found Hudson, Fl, hit "Go to Cursor," and then "Track." Just like that, a roadway came up showing our progress, deviations, time to go... We sat back and enjoyed the ride. Speaking of rides, the ICW was very choppy with winds directly in our faces at 12 kts. Out in the Gulf, we turned 90 degrees so the wind was off our Port side to Port bow. Seas were 2 - 3 feet. We set 2280 RPM and achieved about 25.5 mph with the bow trimmed full down (almost normal for this boat with the SP and the dinghy). Fuel burn was 37.5. The punch line is that later in the day the speed was back up to 26.5 mph and burn went down to 35.0!!!!!!!! That was nice.

Back to the ride. It wasn't perfect, but I never considered coming off plane until we were 1/2 way and decided to fish. There were spotted brown dolphins everywhere! I proceeded at 800 RPM which gave 7.9 mph at 2 gph (not bad). I caught 1 Bonita (trash tuna). Then, while I was on the bridge, I heard one of my reels burning off line. I selected idle, neutral, and ran down to the reel to find it completely spooled and broken off at the far end. Wonder what that was?????????????????????? One more fish on, but lost that one to boat drift which caused the lines to cross. I removed pressure while my wife got the lines un-crossed - off the hook. Rooky mistakes, but still fun.

More pics taken and then we notice the winds were no longer NE@12 but were now N and finally NW at next to nothing. A beautiful day!. We were cruising along when we came by a tree. Not a log, not a branch, not a board, but a tree. Thank God our routing had us 50' North of that thing. There were intermittent clouds/sunshine. On the way into Hudson Marina, between the sticks at +1.5' tide, we had as little as 3.5' showing under the boat. Once we got inside, we had 5+ feet. This place is skinny! We're in the slip and just got back from dinner with my parents. Now, I'm trying to download programs to link my phone to my computer so I can get wifi through my phone, and use my computer to recover the files from my phone. More later.
 
I recovered my files!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I linked my phone to my computer, coincidentally, by advice from the night security guy here at the Hudson Marina (Mike). He advised that the marina wi-fi was slow, and told me about PDANet - GET IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Follow the instruction for your computer and your phone. It makes your phone a wifi hot spot for FREE! And, it allows you connect your phone to computer via USB for charging and transferring files.

So, while all that was loading, I googled (un-delete files). I got another new program for free! Mini Tool Power Data Recovery 6.6 . It recommended I use a different hard drive to store my data for attempted recovery so you don't over-right the deleted stuff with the deleted stuff. Well, it just so happens that I connected my computer with my phone, so, I followed the procedures, and Whallah! My pics are back. Uploading to photobucket right now.
 
Bucit said:
When are you projected to get to St. Pete and what marina are you staying at?
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Marriot Vinoy - Couple of days - Not very nice weather in the gulf for a couple of days. We'll have to get together for a beer!
 
Last night at the marina in Aplachicola
Sunrise leaving the marina and heading out into the ICW
After the turn to the SE, Dog Island is to our Port

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Thanks for taking the time to post. Very interesting stuff. The pics are fantastic & I find reading the text fascinating. That may sound wierd to some, but I've never experienced such a trip.

Stay safe & enjoy. Thanks again for the posts.
 
Big Daddy II said:
You might have to use that heater in the boat with this coldfront. Back to normal in a few days.
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Looks like we're going to hang tight here for a couple of days. Irony - the daily rate here is 2.5 times the rate per day at the Vinoy (Monthly rate there). Monday is supposed to be E @ 5. Today and tomorrow are NW @ 25. Working on uploading pics. Got a lunch date. More later.

Thanks for the interest.
 
Cruise data
Brown Spotted Dolphin
John's Chillaxin'
Wake
Pretty View
Goofin' Around (Should be watching for trees
Tree in Gulf
Calm water, but full of mines

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Too bad you don't enjoy this boat as much as the 340...NOT! Have a great trip.
 
John, I'm just curious. Why have you gone to using MPH vs KTS?

PS...posting cruise adventures in February is cruel....
 
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