Month Long Cruise PCB - Key West - 340

John,

Thank you for putting all of the effort into sharing your adventure. I really enjoyed reading it and seeing the pictures and video.

Thank you,
Mark
 
John....This might have been asked, but I did not feel like going over every page....Are you going to post all your pictures somewhere.......I would love to show people your adventure.........I can also print some out and put on my christmas tree as decorations
 
John,

If you are headed to Cedar Key, you are close to a crossing. Watch the marine forcast on this end.........Hurricane Alex is causing some decent seas here....20 kt SE winds; 8-10 ft seas in the pass yesterday, gradually falling to 3-5's out to 60 nm by Sunday. That might be bumpy!
 
So, yesterday evening, we got back from the beach and got cleaned up and then walked to a couple of local establishments in the Clearwater area for some nice company and great appetizers. After that, back home to cook fresh grouper for Outstanding grouper sandwiches, then a relaxed evening in our friends' home.

This AM, Shelli made breakfast for 4 as a small thanks for the hospitality, then we headed outside and North to Cedar Key. The seas started fairly moderate from the South, so our gas mileage was great! As the sea calmed and the winds quit pushing us, our economy dropped off a little. It was a very nice day out on the water.

We considered continuing on to Steinhatchee, but after reading about Cedar Key a little, we decided to come on in and take a look. We anchored just North of Atsena Otle Key in 9 feet of water. We rigged the dinghy up, and cruised all the way around said key in about 10 minutes. We tied up to the dock, then headed inland. There is a nature trail and some history posted on signs. This was a cedar mill used to collect wood for pencils in the 1880's. Shelli lasted 30 seconds. I lasted a whole minute. The mosquitos were HORRIBLE. We ran back to the dinghy and headed back to the boat to get cleaned up for dinner.

We dinghied over to Cedar Key less than a mile away and followed the channel under the low bridge to the small boat parking area. But, we decided to head back out and see where we could tie up and eat on the water. We went to The Coconut Pub or something like that and continued upstairs to dine overlooking the water and our boat. The sky turned dark (before sunset). We had 2 kinds of cooked oyster apps, a salad, Shelli had crab cakes, and I had a grouper basket (love that stuff). It was all very good and very reasonalby priced.

The town is a very cute, colorful fishing/tourist village. We'll have to see most of it tomorrow. The sky got angry and I asked Shelli whether she'd rather watch the boat get hammered or get back to it to possibly secure it if something went wrong. She wanted to be on the boat, so, we raced to get our check and started across the water as the white caps hit and the rain started coming down - sideways (Couldn't we get the check just a little faster? I don't think so). We got to the boat and started putting up most of the remaining camper, but left the back panels off.

We've been rocking, rolling, lightning, and thundering for an hour and a 1/2 now. I had used two bow anchors earlier. I put out a third. The tides here are 3 feet and the current is huge. The wind wants to push us one way and the current another, so, we're sitting sideways rocking aggressively. The lightning is coming again - better check on Shelli.
 
Hampton said:
We've been rocking, rolling, lightning, and thundering for an hour and a 1/2 now. I had used two bow anchors earlier. I put out a third. The tides here are 3 feet and the current is huge. The wind wants to push us one way and the current another, so, we're sitting sideways rocking aggressively. The lightning is coming again - better check on Shelli.
Click to expand...


I told you to avoid storms , did you listen :smt009

Got to keep your gorgeous wife safe at ALL Times , so get docked on dry land soon as possible :thumbsup:
 
John.....Inspirational...I am dreaming now at the office...

Are you going to write a summary of your trip.....route you took.....3 best anchorages, 3 best marinas, 3 best ports of call, 3 things you wish you brought, 3 things that surprised you, 3 things you wish you knew before going, 3 things you would do different next time, laundry, fuel used, maintennce issues, etc.......That would be really interesting.......
 
Did someone mention "book?" Seems I have heard something similar before? Now where or whom did I hear that from? [scratch chin] LOL [/scratch chin]:smt043:smt043:smt043
 
wetpaint said:
John.....Inspirational...I am dreaming now at the office...

Are you going to write a summary of your trip.....route you took.....3 best anchorages, 3 best marinas, 3 best ports of call, 3 things you wish you brought, 3 things that surprised you, 3 things you wish you knew before going, 3 things you would do different next time, laundry, fuel used, maintennce issues, etc.......That would be really interesting.......
Click to expand...

Yes I am, and I just captured my outline - Thanx!

The part I have already been pondering: Lessons Learned
 
OK, on the pics, we left off two days ago on an evening out in Clearwater Beach.

So, the next AM we went to Caladesi Island on Shell's Island. It was great for Nelson because it was the first time he's been on a local cruise where he wasn't the host. He actually got to relax! I relaxed because I was out seeing new stuff.

Then, another night out as described above. Really neat local flying bar with aviation history back to the 1920's!

Anchoring and Swimming
Cruising Home
Checking Clearance, just to be sure
Another night out with the locals
Heading out and North - Got buzzed by a go-fast boat, but he was afraid of waves - Pu55y
There's a cruise ship North of Tampa - just sitting - Thanks, BP

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Shelli didn't sleep very well last night, but mostly due to the intense current in this area. It rained hard and blew hard too, but the current lapping at the boat all night was the worst for her. She slept this AM as I looked at every aspect of the weather. On account of having left dinner quickly last night, we didn't get a chance to see Cedar Key very much, so our plan was to go back and see the area before cruising out early PM.

After checking things out, I decided that it was now or never. I packed up one of three anchors, started taking the dinghy apart, and made breakfast for two. Shelli began to wake and help me prepare. It was raining, but the heavy stuff was dissipating, so we pressed out the West Channel out of the Cedar Keys. It is a tough route, so no sleeping there.

We headed NW in 15 feet of water and targeted the outer marker at Steinhatchee. The rain slowly increased, but seas, though agitated, were not heavy. We ran at 19 kts until we could turn more N than W, then 20.5 knots, then 21, then 22 knots. The further N we were able to turn, then more we could put the seas on our beam and then our stern quarter.

There was a little bit of a front that passed with moderate rain, but that was good for me. Better to see a little wind and rain out there than at the dock. That turned out to be true, because after our initial docking at the Sea Hag Marina in Steinhatchee, it literally took us 2 hours to get settled at our final slip.

First slip - to small, so they moved a rental boat out of 1/2 of the slip.
Then, once docked, had to move to get gas from a truck, but, didn't matter because the slip didn't have power as they thought.
So, I prepare to move to the fueling area when they decide to replace the hose on the fuel truck with a pair of new ones that would reach my current, un-powered slip. As they were doing that, I watched the end of one of the new hoses go into the water, get pulled out, and drained for a few seconds by a dock hand.

I then took everything out of my stern locker to pull out an empty gas container for them to purge their new system into in case they wouldn't purge it into one of their boats. An hour passed. They drained 20 gallons. We fueled my boat. I put the stern locker back together. 3.789/gallon times 190 - 92 port and 98 starboard (genny) for 87 Octane which may have ethanol - probably another story tomorrow or the next day.

We clean up, add water, fire up, and move to the new dock - a boat has taken the opportunity to take my slip after the dock hand moved FIVE rental boats away. I hold, they move, I park. I've got over 800 buckaroonees invested in this place and haven't even had a beer! Shelli and I eat on board, have a beer, then head out for a walk - nice, small, quiet place with large, $100,000 waterfront lots in nice, little areas.

We returned to the marina for a beer with the locals - $2.50 bottles dockside - not bad. Then, we head to the boat, watch "Open Water," and update you guys. More of everything to follow.
 
Cedar Keys:

Dinghy Drag
Shelli ID'ing Markers
Photo Op
Our little Key to the South
A dinghy ride around our key
We dock, walk inland, see a vulture, get attacked by mosquitos, read 30 seconds of history, then run back to the dinghy where the pelicans are lined up to watch the show
Back to the boat to get ready for dinner

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Sorry, lots of gray, but that's all we've seen on an increasing scale for several days now:

Cont'd:

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Brilliant Pictures, and pleased you are out of the storms :thumbsup:
 
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