2013 Cruise from Panama City to Saint Pete (for Two Months)

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
We got up early and packed the boat to the gills with countless pounds of gear - mostly unnecessary - who needs a sewing machine? Really? The boat cat, Bebe, was happy to be back aboard and wasted no time perching herself at the highest point in the cabin, just under the windscreen and above the settee.

Man, does that read like crap or what? We left the dock within an hour of the planned time, and headed East in the ICW from the Panama City area toward Apalachicola, a trip we had made several times. The wind was in our hair and the sun was on our faces......SCREECH - just kidding. What I have learned from cruising with diesels is that's it's ok to slow down and save hundreds of dollars in fuel at the expense of a few hours on the engines. We took our time and pulled into port well before sunset.

We finished unpacking, popped a daddy soda, fueled back up for the morning cruise, then headed into the town for one last night out on the Panhandle prior to the crossing to the South. The town was hopping with locals as it was not tourist season, but it was Friday night. We ate fresh, raw oysters at Boss Oyster House then headed to the local brew pub to watch the bartender play pool in his idle time, when he wasn't pouring absolutely perfect local brews. We had fun, then headed back to the boat for an early wake up. We knew we had at least a 10 hour day ahead of us, and the seas were not going to be perfect.

The pics show us leaving our little cove at home, heading into East Bay, some pics in the ICW including the money shot (wake), our new home at Miller's Marine in Apalachicola (a first for us), the last pic ever of our boat kitty, Bebe, and some others. Please enjoy. More tomorrow.

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Good stuff....keep it coming (I'm in Ohio).
 
Thanks, guys.

Day 2 was the tough one. We needed to head out early because we had 180 miles to cover and we didn't want to pull into the next marina after dark. We got up at 6am and pushed away from the dock at 0630. Our first challenge came 1/2 mile from the marina as there was a huge dredging barge filling the entire channel on the South side of the big bridge. I thought we were just going around him in the channel when it turns out we were taking a channel to the West instead of the one to the South. I crossed to the correct channel while clearing all of his equipment by a safe margin. He had a spot light out illuminating all of the gear he had out in the water hundreds of feet from the barge.

We idled out to Government Cut in total darkness. As daybreak came, we began to negotiate the channel to get out of Apalachee Bay. The locals told us to consider the center of the channel to be the East side - stay West and go slow. The problem for me was that the winds were out of the East at 10 - 15 knots and the current was going out. If we got too far West, we would be blown further aground after shutting down. It didn't seem to matter because as we were idling along, I saw a ridge in the surface of the water that ran across the channel. It was obvious to me that it indicated a sand bar.

I pulled the engines out of gear and crept along with the outgoing current to see what was ahead. The bottom started coming up so I shut the engines down. Sure enough, we hit the sand bar but the current kept pushing us along and over the top. By the time I got the engine master switches back on and re-started the motors and the instruments timed in, the water was getting deeper again. I re-engaged the props and we continued out. At the South end of the cut, the outgoing current was meeting the incoming waves and the sea was a chocolate mess. We powered through tall, tight waves with the boat rocking aggressively and the bow coming inches from each subsequent wave. Anything in the cabin that wasn't bolted down moved. This was the worst rocking of the day.

Once clear, we set a course directly toward Tarpon Springs and engaged the autopilot track mode. I pushed it up and brought her onto plane. The winds were East at 14 knots and seas were about 3-5 feet. The forecast for the day was the best for the entire week before, and upcoming week, but it was still 3-5 feet from Apalach to the West and 2-3 feet further to the East. All of the winds were in our face (from the SE). The best initial cruise speed was 17 knots. This lasted for about 3 hours with an occasional pounding to the hull of the boat. It was quite exhausting. As the day progressed, we pushed it up to 19, then 21 knots. Well later in the day we made cruise speed of 24.5 knots. We slowed to idle occasionally to take a restroom break and check out the engine room, dinghy, cabin...

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I like to view the Azure Colored Water in the screen at the helm. It's a view from the camera under the back of the boat. After about 8 hours on the water, we spot land. I had intended to cruise for about 4 hours, then fish for 3, then cruise for the rest, but it was too rough. We weren't making great time, and fuel was doing very well. The engines must be getting broken in, or adding a few hundred pounds to the bow helped (which it did). Either way, we are doing relatively well with fuel these days. On plane at 17 kts, we were burning 32 or 33 gph (not very good). At 24 kts, we burn 38 gph or so. As someone posted here several years ago, take the fuel burned and divide by the hours - not on one cruising leg, but after several different times out - the way you really use the boat. If we do that, we average 20 mph and burn 30 gph (with a lot of cruising).

Anyway, after seeing land, we began seeing crab pots - lots of them. I had to dodge them for a solid hour. We came down off plane and entered the ICW just South of Anclote Key. The barrier islands are no where near where they are charted. We went slowly and stayed in the marked channels. After a couple of phone calls, we decided to pull into Marker 1 Marina. It was very, very, very nice there. The views are spectacular from the South layalong. After fueling up, tying up, and washing up, we sat back to watch the sun set and have a TALL cool one.

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Hey John - I think we all know those days (and how much better those tall cool ones taste after a run like that). So you may know this, but I only just realized it myself this past season... you can customize the video labels on your E series (so it doesn't just say 'Video 1' etc). It's easy to do within the video settings of the menu. You seem like the kind of guy who would enjoy that little bit of customization but it's an easy setting to miss.
 
Hey John - I think we all know those days (and how much better those tall cool ones taste after a run like that). So you may know this, but I only just realized it myself this past season... you can customize the video labels on your E series (so it doesn't just say 'Video 1' etc). It's easy to do within the video settings of the menu. You seem like the kind of guy who would enjoy that little bit of customization but it's an easy setting to miss.

Thanks. I will fool with that. I only have one camera right now, but I think I'd like to add a couple more - above the water line.
 

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