S/V 'Faith'

[s/v Faith]

Ahoy from Ft Myers, FL                        10 February, 2008

  I thought I might add the couple of pictures since the last post and update things a bit.  We are swinging on a mooring at the Ft. Myers city mooring field.  We might have passed this by but sadly we received a call from Roses brother saying that her mom had passed away.  It was hard to hear, but Rose is comforted to know her mom is with the Lord and no longer suffering (she had Parkinson's and had just come home from being in the hospital with pneumonia).  We were also grateful to be back in the US, as not only are the logistics of getting to the funeral more simple, but with out limited communications from the Bahamas we might well not have even known until it was too late to get her home for the funeral.

  As it stands it will be a long couple of days.  We are renting a car on Monday and driving ~ 600 miles to Pensacola to drop Peter off with my mom, and then driving back here to Ft. Myers.  We fly out on Thursday to Marquette and return here on Sunday to get back underway.  We are very thankful to be here, the people are friendly and report no problems with boats in the mooring field.

  We stayed at the town dock at Labelle night before last.  They have room for 6 – 8 boats to 'med moor' at their dock, and with free WI-FI, power and water I can understand why they have to have a 3 day limit.



  From there we motored up the Caloosahatchee river, enjoying the views which consoled us to the fact that there was no wind to be had.  The river was surprisingly deep, with depths over 20' for most of the day.  We locked through the WP Franklin lock at the 1500 opening.  We had to wait for just over 3 hours for the 3' drop.  The locks are on a restricted schedule and only open twice a day (1000 & 1500).

[rant]

  There is a pretty little park, boat ramp, and RV park on the grounds of the lock.  We tied up to the dolphins just below the lock and I took Peter ashore.  The folks all along the waterway have been really nice so I guess our luck was due to run out.  I no sooner steped ashore when a woman came running out of the toll both at the entrance to the park.  She was screaming and waiving her arms.  I looked around expecting to see an alligator trying to eat me, or a small child in danger.  Once she got close enough for me to hear I realized she was instead yelling something about Peter.  I secured the dingy and walked over to her to prevent her to see if I could ease the great deal of stress she was experiencing.  Alas, it was not to be.  My approaching her only sent her into a greater frenzy.  I tried to lighten things up by making a joke, but she was clearly not in a laughing mood.  She first accused me of being on a green trawler that needed to register (they have some slips and a green trawler pulled in as I dingied ashore).  I explained I was onboard the sailboat tied to the dolphins.  She then blurted out something about how I was not to use any of the facilities then, that they were only for guests.  I saw things were not going well so I walked away.

  A few minutes later Peter and I were walking next to the road when an older man with the same demenor as the crazy woman ran up and said "We allow dog walking," but then went on "just don't try to walk him in the park, it is not allowed."  I nodded and kept walking.  We came ashore again later in the eveing and walked around the grounds where we met several friendly RV'ers and I found a board that had the park rules.  There was nothing about dogs except to say that they had to be on a leash and that you had to clean up after them.  We had complied with both since arrival.

  We had a good sleep and woke up the next morning to watch a pair of eagles in the tree less then 50yards from the boat.  I took Peter ashore and we walked around for a bit.  I saw a walkway that lead to the lock so we started to walk out to it.  The crazy woman emerged from a particularly gaudy RV.  She started to rant again, but I cut her off mid stream.  Confronting her with logic only made her more angry so I left before she hurt herself.

[/rant]

The rest of the trip to Ft. Myers was pleasant. 



We watched cows come down to the water to drink, Peter could only take so much of this and finally had to bark.



and it was so peaceful we did not even mind when the railroad bridge dropped just as we reached it.



I will post more once we return from Michigan and get back under way.

On edit; the pictures are not wanting to load for some reason, I will work to get rid of the 'red x of death' tomorrow.

[Lynx]

I have lived in Fl to long and have gottong so much hostility from the old folks that I just have to laugh at why that want an early death by promoting me to kill them.

It appears that some have only that want left in their life.

My response to them is to go find somebody else to kill them, I won't do it.

It is really funny to watch 75+ women swinging their purses at each other and yelling something that you cannot understand.

[s/v Faith]

Ahoy from Cape Coral FL.                          19 Feb 08

  Thanks to all who sent PM's & emails of support.  We rented a car and drove the 1200 mile round trip to get Peter home and then flew out of Ft. Myers to spend a couple days with Roses family and attend the service for her mom.  The service was very nice, but Marquette MI was a bit cooler then Ft Myers.  It was 8f when we arrived but warmed up to just over 20f while we were there.  Roses sister told us it started snowing 30 minutes after our plane took off on Sunday and has not let up since.  :o

  The folks at Ft Myers municipal marina did a great job keeping an eye on Faith for us and someone there even bailed out our dingy (man that was nice to come back to).  They invited us to a dinner on the docks when we got back, but we were too wiped out to dingy back over to attend.  They seem like they have a good group there, and were very helpful to us when we went in to check out and get fuel.  I was very thankful they were there.

  We motored down the river yesterday and found a great little anchorage here at Cape Coral.  The name on the chart is 'Bimini Basin', but it is little more then a wide spot in the river / canal that a developer dredged a network of canals to develop hundreds of waterfront lots on.  The basin has room for 8 - 10 boats and has a park at one end where you can land the dingy and walk to stores and restaurants.  (don't reacall the marker we turned off at, but we are anchored at N26 33'39"
W81 57'47")

  We were going to get underway this morning, but Rose and I both seem to have picked up some kind of a bug while flying... so we took a rest day instead.  Glad we did as we met a nice couple (Don & Elane) on a 25' motorsailer (currently sans mast)  who gave us some pointers on the area and we found a great thrift store where we stocked up on books and had a great Calzone at 'Sals'.

  Hope to make Captiva Is or so tomorrow.  Thanks again for the support.

[CharlieJ]

Glad you folks made the trip safely, sorry for the reason for the trip.

I googled that lat long. WOW- some of those homes on some of those canals could take you an hour to motor out from!!!! You say hundreds of homes on canals- From looking at the google earth scenes, I'd say THOUSANDS!!!

I'll bet you didn't have any wave action in there.

OH BOY am I glad we don't live there !!!!!

[Lynx]

Yep, very few have bridge height for sailboats much less bigger powerboats. Hull speed is no waked. You are right it will take a while to get out.

[s/v Faith]

Ahoy from St Petersburg, FL                     23, February 2008

  We are anchored in the North Yacht Basin here in St. Petersburg.  It is a pretty little anchorage, and I believe it says a lot about the city that there are 3 basins and they have preserved the north basin as a protected anchorage for visiting boats.... this in spite of the fact their own municipal marina is right next door (sounded small boat friendly, but we did not want to spend $1.85 a foot when we really rather prefer swinging on the hook anyway.

  We left the anchorage in Cape Coral the morning after I posted last... Rose felt better but I woke up feeling pretty bad.  It is good she really does not need me to run the boat as I think I steered for all of about an hour that day.  We anchored at some place called Cape Haze... but I honestly have no memory of it.  I recall a section named the 'miserable mile' and then passing Captiva Island... but mostly remember the fever and chills.  The next day we passed Venice which looked like a nice (if a bit crowded) place to stop but we pressed on to White Beach.  We woke up early and sailed on across Sarasota Bay and made it as far as the Cortez bridge, but waited for 2 ½ hours while they worked on the bridge saying it would open in 10 or 15 minutes over and over again.  We gave up and anchored near the boat ramp at Anna Maria Island next to Long Boat inlet.  We were going to go out the inlet on Saturday but the cold front brought winds out of the north and rain so we took another rest day instead.  We did walk across the road to Bradenton Beach, which was nice but looking at the breakers rolling through the inlet confirmed we had decided rightly not to go outside that day.

  Our trip across Tampa Bay this morning was nice, even if it was flat calm with no wind and overcast 'doom & gloom' sky. 

The Skipper Bob guide to the gulf coast says "Mile 98.8 Sunshine Skyway Bridge (175'). Take a photograph." We did as instructed so here it is;

It is a pretty bridge, but growing up looking at the Golden Gate they all kind of pale by comparison.

  We did have a little rain today, but were treated to a beautiful rainbow;

  We just learned that another (stronger) cold front is expected on Wednesday. We will be offshore after Tarpon Springs (~50 miles) so we will be waiting for the cold front to pass, and will probably do some laundry tomorrow and take a look at the town.   


  Sailing without Peter aboard has made it easier to make miles and find anchorages (since we don't need shore access).  It is not the same, and Rose and I miss him although mom tells us he is enjoying himself.... I came across this picture from the night before we drove him home.  No one can convince me, especially after seeing this picture, that he did not know he was not going to make the rest of the trip with us.

:'(

[Tim]

Beautiful Pics,  :) sad puppy  :(

[s/v Faith]

Ahoy from the middle of no where~!                     3 March, 2008


I just realized I had not posted an update for a while, a few hundred miles anyway.  We are doing well, as we continue up Florida's west coast.  The trip is winding down, and I don't think Rose or I are ready for it to end.  We are anchored in an ox bow off of Searcy Creek ~20 miles north of Apalachicola.  It is pretty here in a way that made both Rose & I  think of the Dismal swamp. 



We did not go far today, we were content to sail up the twists and turns of the river.  There was a fresh breeze, and our speed varied wildly with the terrain.  We spent half the day at or slightly over hull speed, but at times we were struggling to maintain a knot.  We have not started the motor in 3 days now, and were reluctant to do so.

Let me back up and get caught up.

  We left St. Petersburg under the thread of an approaching cold front.  It was a gray foggy morning but after a couple of hours of motoring the wind filled in and we sailed north. 

  We stopped at Clearwater, arriving an hour or so before the predicted 45knot winds came howling.  We slid up a channel just north of the inlet.  It was well protected, but strange as we were circled by high rise condos and hotels.  We felt very much like fish in a bowl as we anchored and put the sail cover on with spectators looking down at us from the balconies that surrounded us.  We waived at a few people, but were both generally creeped out after a few minutes and went below.  Even the wind that came between the buildings was enough to cause Faith to sail around on the anchor wildly.  The next morning it was ~40f outside, and still blowing so we just stayed below like a couple of hermits.  A knock on the hull that second afternoon brought feelings of dread as we had heard of the 'visits' by the DWF cops.  It was a man in a dingy.  Bob had anchored his 44' Morgan 'Caribbean Soul' a ways behind us and had come over to say hello.  We chatted for a while in the cold, we had pulled our stores out and had such a mess below we had no room for company.  We saw Bob again the next morning as we were raising the anchor.  He was getting underway as well, sailing back to Pensacola.  We followed him as he motored through a short cut and out the Clearwater inlet.  He was headed on a more direct route to Pensacola, so our paths soon diverged.

Bob, aboard Caribbean Soul;

  The two boats were in sight for less then an hour, but it was the only time we had sailed with a 'buddy boat' since we left our friend Mark back on the New River where he had sailed with us out of our old marina.

  The ~ 150nm passage took us 2 days and a night.  We had good wind the entire way, and the Sea was kind to Faith as she had her first real taste of the Gulf of Mexico.

  We sailed up East Pass, and anchored a few miles inside the sound.  We had intended to visit Carabelle, but the idea of sleep appealed to us much more then liberty ashore so we dropped the hook and slept the sleep of the dead.

  We woke up the next morning to a peaceful bay shrouded in fog.  We could just make out a small sailboat anchored a half mile or so back towards the inlet.  We raised the hook and tacked in light air until we could hale the Cape Dory 25s 'After You'.  A smiling face came out to greet us.  We met our second in a row Sailor named Bob.  He had just bought the pretty little boat in Panama City and was sailing to Cape Canaveral.  We hove too to trade complements, and shared some of our experiences on the route.  The last thing Bob said to us as we slid away was"I sure do love living on this boat".  Rose and I agreed, and turned West.

A fishing boat that passed us as we sailed up the  Apalachicola river;


(pay no attention to the bedding lashed to the deck to air out... hey! We are cruising!)  :D

  We sailed the ~ 20 nm to anchor right across the waterway from the town of Apalachicola in a patch of water just between markers 2 & 4 that Bob had recommended. We dingied in and had dinner at the Oyster shack, where we had read they had 27 different menu items made with oysters.  It was a nice dinner if a bit more then we are used to spending.  We woke up this morning and dingied in to walk around the town and do some shopping.

Apalachicola is a pretty little town;



  Like most fishing towns they are very small boat friendly.  The folks in town are so friendly, that when I joked with a lady about the cannon that were in the town square being there to keep strangers out she felt compelled to explain the Civil war history of the cannon. She assured me that the town was so friendly that it is simply switched from Grey to Blue and back without a shot being fired... at least not from the cannon anyway.  She told us where to get free wi-fi, and the where to find the best coffee in town.  We took her advice and were not disappointed. 

 
  We sailed off the anchor and again headed up the Apalachicola river, across lake Wimico, up the Jackson River and here we are in Searcy Creek;



  The Army Corps of Engineers has marked the GulfCoast Inland Water Way (GIWW) in statute miles and they give us ~ 150 sm between Apalachicola and Pensacola.  With the wedding on the 15th I think we are going to make it.


  Will post more as we get closer.


(edit to add photos)
 

[AdriftAtSea]

Thanks for the update... and looking forward to the photos... some of us are sailing vicariously through you while our boats are on the hard.

[dsnyder]

Craig and Rose,
     I've been saying for months that you're the luckiest people I know.  Except for your unfortunate flight north, that's still so.
     I'm happy to see that you're underway again.  Great update!
     You've been an inspiration!  Scallywag is up for sale this spring.  As soon as the Lancer is sold, I'm buying the boat I want to cruise in.
     The RPYC just had our monthly meeting.  We've got "Marina Patron Day" coming up on 4/26 where we're cleaning the river and allowing free boat rentals, hoping to attract new members.  Then, in June, the San Juan 21 fleet from Blackbeard's is coming down to run an extra class in the "Welcome to Summer" race.

Hope this finds you well.
Don

[s/v Faith]

Ahoy from Niceville / Valpriso FL.                                                           8 March, 2008

Yes, there really is a town named 'Niceville'.   :D  While I have not seen much of it, I have to say it is awfully nice to be anchored here.  It is cold outside (supposed to drop down in the 30's tonight).

  We left our secure anchorage off on the side of the ICW yesterday and sailed into  a gale.  We listened to NOAA in the morning before we left, and they were talking about the temperature dropping but made no mention of high winds.  We confirmed the forecast on a local radio station, and learned that the cold front that had passed us the night before had caused a tornado north of us... but the skys were blue and while a bit cool it seemed a good day to make some miles.

 ~ 20 miles later the wind that had been ~ 15k from the SW all day picked up and clocked west.  We again tuned in NOAA and learned that a gale watch had been posted, with sustained gale force winds and gusts to 60k possible.  :-\  We were approaching the 'Mid Bay Bridge' that crosses the Choctawhatchee bay to Destin. We hoped to make Fort Walton, or even Niceville just on the other side of the bridge but it was not to be.  We sailed, we tacked, we motorsailed and tacked, and we motored... we could make no better then a knot or so good.  

 The only 'safe haven' was 20 miles back where we had started the day so we decided to get in as close to the bridge and drop the hook.  We went to the north end and anchored in 12' in close to the bridge.  We had to anchor in close as there is a 'cable area' with to the east.    As we were getting settled a passing motorist slowed and shouted something about calling someone... we slept with the radio on in case someone reported us as being in some kind of distress.  

 It was a long night... the anchor held keeping it's perfect no-drag record intact... The swells tossed the boat around quite a but and made it a very uncomfortable night.  We did get a call on the radio around 10, a homeowner called us to make sure everything was ok.  The guy was really friendly, and even offered to go out the the bridge and try to "float us a 6 pack".   ;D  (while I can not give him grog here, may his offer of kindness find him).

Anyway, here is the post from the other night that I did not get to upload.



Ahoy from N 30 21'58" / W 86 5' 51"                                                 6 March, 2008

 We are once again anchored off of the ICW, but this time we are not in any kind of an anchorage... just off to one side of the channel.  It has been a nice day, we have seen very little development along the banks;



We are glad to have the protection of the high banks, as there is another cold front passing through tonight which is supposed to bring lots of wind and rain.  Skipper Bob referred to this area of the ICW the 'Grand Canyon';



Panama City

 Our visit to Panama City was nice.  We motored up the creek we had anchored in, and 'Joes Bayou' that was just north of the City Marina.  We have not stayed at a marina since we returned from the Bahamas, but if we were to the Panama City marina would have been one to consider.  The folks on the phone were friendly, and their transient rate is a reasonable $1.25 per foot.  We learned that there was a replica of the Nina berthed there, so we came in to get some pictures.  There was a big power boat tied on the end of the face dock so we were not able to get along side but got close enough to see that she was tiny... hard to imagine a crew of 26 and livestock crossing the Atlantic on her;





 On our way in we had explored 'Watson Bayou' which has 4 branches, 3 of which would be nice places to anchor.  There are homes built along the sides, but it did not appear overdeveloped like so much of the East coast.  At the north most end of Watson Bayou we found a really nice anchorage with a beach along a rode right-of-way that would be a good dingy landing.  The St. Andrew Yacht Club is in this basin, they are a GYA club and I understand they offer reciprocal dockage.



We saw a boat that was painted with dolphins, but unlike the artwork Rose did to our keel, this was on the topsides;



We saw an LCAC entering the pass;



To enter Joe's Bayou you have to pass through a small bridge that opens on request.. the tender was friendly and opened the bridge as soon as we called... making the motor traffic wait instead of the making us turn circles was a nice twist.




We ate dinner at 'Bayou Joe's restaurant' They offer dockage with the meal, but we have come to prefer the hook to a dock so we anchored and dingied in.  I had a 'trash burger' which is a burger loaded with 'what ever the cook feels like putting on it'.  It was great... so good we went back there for breakfast the next morning before we got underway.  That was the first time on the trip we went back somewhere to eat two meals in a row.  





 We walked off our meal in the downtown, and were impressed with the state of the town.  It was obviously a draw for tourists, but did not have a touristy feel.  It was more 'small town friendly'  (at least what we saw...) we spent a good while in the 'Books by the Sea' book store.. they had a great selection, but more importantly they had a friendly golden retriever that greeted the customers.  We can neither pass up a child's lemonade stand, or fail to purchase something from any store with a dog.  



Panama City is definitely on our list to visit again.


Don,

 Glad to hear that the club is alive and well.  Rose and I talk about you guys all the time.  Glad you are planning to go cruising.. to say we recommend it is an understatement.  Sounds like a bunch of good ideas... glad you got rid of that old slacker commodore..  ;)  Just watch out for those guys from Blackbeards... they are NUTS!

;D

[dsnyder]

Craig and Rose,
     Been a while since your last update!  Hope all is going well.
     News from New River: I have to change my Sailfar icon; Scallywag is SOLD.  Though it's not a Sailfar boat, I'm looking at an Irwin 37 to cruise in.  Hope I'm still allowed to post.   ;D  Will let you know how that turns out.
     The next RPYC event is a meeting and April Fools Race on 5 April.  But, I'll be crewing at the Bald Head Island Regatta.
     Stay safe and keep in touch.

Smooth Sailing,

[s/v Faith]

Ahoy from Pensacola.... One month later.

  It has been nearly a month since we arrived in Pensacola.  Sorry that I have been remiss in posting the final update from the trip......

We departed Panama city and sailed on to Santa Rose Sound.  It was a beautiful day on the water, and we anchored in the sound less then 20 miles from our destination. We awoke to a light chop and sailed into Pensacola Bay.



  Santa Rosa sound, like the rest of the Pensacola area we saw on our way in, promises to be a great place to sail.  Pensacola Beach was not too crowded, which was a relief as my son's wedding was to take place there in less then a week;



Rose and I saw several coves and nice places to anchor that we plan to explore later.  It is kind of tough to see here, but this is English Navy Cove, which has a park and a couple of boats anchored.



Pensacola has been 'home' for us since we bought a home here 8 years ago.  We have been coming here since my mom moved to Gulf Breeze something like 18 years ago.... But I had never sailed the waters here.  The closest I have come is the 'fort to fort' open water swim across the bay.. so the nav marks were new to us.  Rose did a great job of spotting them in spite of the fact that our West marine bino's had lost their seal and were showing condensation. 



We sailed past Pensacola, and up the Escambia River to 'Swamp house marina'.  You can read more about it on the link, but while the price was right ($5 a foot per month) the bridge you see in the photo was 45' at the center span, but you have to pass under it a couple of spans closer to the shore and we held our breath each time we went under it;



After 2 weeks we moved down to Bayou Grande Sailing Marina which is a bit more expensive at $6 a foot per month, but if you pay for 11 months up front, they give you the 12th month free. ($5.50 a month).

The docks are nice floating docks with good solid pilings and fixed steel pilings that are long enough to float the docks higher then the surrounding land (good as Ivan floated the old docks off and left nearly all the boats destroyed in a pile near and in the parking lot.)

  We went for a sail today and had a wonderful afternoon exploring the bay.  I think that this is going to be a great place to sail.  OBTW, if you plan to visit the area or are just interested, [url=http://sailingpensacola.com/forum/index.php]SailingPensacola.com is a good site for local information.

 

[s/v Faith]

Some thoughts.  . I am still processing the experience. Nine months after moving aboard, I am still processing the lessons of the trip.  I have spent months at sea in the past, and have come away transformed in some way by each of these experiences.  I believe the effect of this trip is the most profound, but human nature and perspective make it difficult to know if this is so.  The toughest part of the trip was coming home.  There have been many changes in our lives since we left.  Retirement, Rose's mom passing away, our son getting married....   It is hard to know which of these have had what effect.

  We had planned to cruise into the late spring, but our son and his fiancé moved the date up from June to March.  We saw cooler weather, and sailed through a series of cold fronts as we got closer to home.  This probably made the transition more profound.

  Please take a look at this post in the 'Neysayers' thread.  I doubt this would have happened, or gone as well without the folks mentioned here.

  Much more to say, will post more later.

Thanks,

[AdriftAtSea]

:D  Thanks for letting us tag along vicariously. :)

[s/v Faith]

Ahoy from Pensacola 2 months later.....

Couple things I had intended to post from the log;

  While we mostly lived aboard for the last year before we left, we completely moved onboard on about the 10th of July and we sat off on the 11th of August.  We arrived in Pensacola on the 10th of March.  So we lived aboard full time for 8 months and cruised full time for almost exactly 7 months.

  The total distance traveled was 2,527.11nm.  There has been some discussion about how folks keep track of the miles they travel on a trip.  Our system involves a DR plot that is checked against a GPS.  Our little Magellan hand held was on for all but one of our resupply runs when we sailed from Monument beach into Georgetown and back... so our mileage is probably a couple miles more then that... but pretty darn close.

  Of course we did not sail every day.. bit if we had we would have averaged ~ 12nm a day.  I frankly would not have cared to go any faster.  If not for my son's wedding, we would still be out there.

  The costs were much less then we expected, and the longer we were out there the less they were.  We started out stopping at marinas for water and showers... we avoided marinas more and more as we went along and our expenses dropped quite a bit as a result.

.... I was going to post a break down of the costs... but I have the log and the First mate has turned in for the night so I can not make heads nor tails of it so it will have to wait....

 

[AdriftAtSea]

Thanks for the post... I'd love to see a rough breakdown of your costs. :) Congratulate your son on his wedding. :)

[s/v Faith]

Thanks for the post... I'd love to see a rough breakdown of your costs. :) Congratulate your son on his wedding. :)

  Thanks Dan,

I wonder if anyone else would be interested in this?

I have the numbers and the receipts... I just have yet to take the time to put it all together.

Let me know....

[dnice]

I would like to see it... certainly doesn't have to be too specific... maybe just an in general monthly-weekly thing.

[Captain Smollett]

I would like to see it... certainly doesn't have to be too specific... maybe just an in general monthly-weekly thing.

Craig, I'd like to see it too.

There's a couple here at the marina that has gotten me thinking about this.  He is having wanderlust real bad, but she just went to work to build up the kitty.  She was complaining to me the other day about how they spent WAY more in the Bahamas than they planned (and they are experienced cruisers, not neophytes at all). 

They were heading North the hang out at the Chez for a while, but ran out of money.  That's why they are here.

So, I'd like to see the financial results of your cruise.

Thanks in advance.

JR