The Night Before Christmas on s/v Freedom

'Twas the night before Christmas, and out in the sea
Our vessel was sailing, as nice as could be

The stockings were hung from the teak trim with care
With hope that St. Nicholas soon would be there

The crew were nestled all snug in their beds
As visions of new gear danced in their heads

And the skipper and I relaxed and calm
A nice warm day under the palm

When up in the sky, there arose such a clatter
I leapt from my bed to see what was the matter

To the companionway, I flew to look at the ocean
To see what was causing all the commotion

And what to my skeptical eyes should appear
But a giant osprey expelling droppings next to my ear!


Merry Christmas to all!

Apalachacola to Clearwater and St. Petersburg....by Chris

 We got up bright and early to begin our next overnight trip to Clearwater.  Don't ask me what time it was, we have now switched back to Eastern Standard time and I am still trying to adjust.  We were delayed getting under way for an hour by fog, once again.   I was eager to get further south for the warmer weather but had some trepidations after our less than perfect previous night crossing experience This weather window sounded perfect, so no need to worry.  We had anchored in site of a bridge with a 65' reported vertical clearance.  As we approached, I got out of the cockpit to look for the vertical clearance board.  Our mast is approximately 63'.  As we neared, I read the gauge.......exactly 63'......Yikes!  We crawled towards the bridge, watching very closely.  The problem is, it never looks like we will make it under the bridge with enough spare room.  Needless to say, we made it under but it was too close for my comfort.  Sailing lore talks about never starting a trip on a Friday, it is supposed to be bad luck.  Hopefully our close bridge encounter was the worst of the luck.  There are two passes, or openings out to the Gulf of Mexico from Apalachcola.  The West pass will cut a few hours from our trip but requires "local knowledge" due to shoaling and shallow waters.  We recieved advice from the gentleman running the fuel dock, he tells use that as long as we hug the green markers we will be fine.  Leson learned;  if there is doubt about a pass take the sure thing.  We took the short cut and ran aground.  I had to go up to the bow of the boat and jump up and down as Ed maneuvered to get us off the sand bar.  Surely, now that will be the last of our bad luck?  We took the east pass and made it out to the gulf.  It was a beautiful day, light wind, so we motor sailed a close reach.  Our daylight hours keep getting shorter and shorter so sunset came sooner than we would like and the wind died as the sun set so it was an evening of motor sailing ahead of us.  Almost as soon as the sun set a haze engulfed us.  It was not as strong as a fog but it was difficult to distinguish the sky from the water.  Luckily our radar was working well.  There was not a cloud in the sky and the stars were spectacular, we saw 5 shooting stars!  The seas really calmed, just a light ripple of waves.  The moon finally rose around 11:00 and really made visibility much better.  It turned into a magical night.  We each got a little sleep, we were visited by dolphins, had spectacular starry
skies and a nice comfortable ride.  At first light we could hear, but not see some loons.    We arrived in Clearwater around noon and decided to take the inland passage to a nice anchorage we had planned.  As always, we have a few options in case we do not like the looks of certain anchorages.  The first two were just not right so we ended going another 20 miles and had to pass through about 7 Bascule bridges.  Most opened on request, a few opened at specified time, 20 - 30 minutes.  We had a nice relaxing evening at anchor and proceeded on to our Christmas home this year.  We are at a marina that is within walking distance of St Petersburg, Florida.  We are cleaning and provisioning for the holidays and the weather could not get any better!  Highs in the 80s for the next few weeks!  Merry Christmas!   

Apalachacola

We tried sailing from Panama City Beach to St. Joe's Bay but once again the wind was right on the nose. We tried tacking back & forth but that would have taken us forever. Plus it was pretty lumpy further offshore, so the heck with it. We sailed back in and then motored east, close to shore, in easy 2 foot seas. We entered a canal at St. Joes that connects to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. A short way down the GICW is the small town of White City. They have a small cut in the waterway with some space to tie up. No services, nothing around except a boat launch ramp and a bunch of Black Vultures. It was free, Perfect! This was all a flashback to our river cruising complete with fog at dawn. We waited an hour before getting underway with still a fair amount of fog hanging low. Sure enough, a half mile up the ICW we encounter the only barge within 50 miles looming out of the fog bearing right down at us. No problem, call him on the VHF and discuss passing. After 4 tries on 2 frequencies and him closing fast he finally responds. With thick Louisiana drawl he casually agrees on a starboard to starboard pass. No problem. The rest of the morning was quite scenic as the fog lifted, including the largest Bald Eagle we've ever seen. He looked every bit the part of a BALD EAGLE sitting atop a tree overlooking the waterway.
Freedom arrived in Apalachacola early afternoon. We topped off the diesel tank & the spare jugs too for the long run upcoming. We then anchored across the river from town to settle in, get a few preparations done for tomorrow and relax.
Tomorrow is the much anticipated crossing of the Big Bend corner of the gulf. There is no good place to stop for a deep draft boat between Apalachacola and Clearwater, a run of about 160 miles. At 6 knots, that's about 27 hours. We've had rotten luck every time we've headed out to the open waters of the gulf. Friday & Saturday sea conditions look good...we'll see!

Pensacola to Panama City Beach

We took a first stab at this run on Friday 12/2. We aborted after a few hours because of steep, sloppy seas and wind on the nose. After waiting several days we departed a second time on Tuesday 12/6 around 3pm. The seas were rolling from leftover southerly winds but not too bad and the forecast was for it to settle down. It did for a while. But around 3 AM it swung around to the north much earlier than predicted and started blowing in the high teens. That switch stirred up the southerly swell and made things very uncomfortable once again. The boat can handle it fine, can the crew? Well, nobody barfed! That's something. By dawn, the wind reached 30 knots. We had to run cross wise to the seas to get into the inlet which created quite a bit of rolling. This is one place where a sailboat does much better than power as the sails act as a huge roll damper. It was quite a wild roller coaster ride into the inlet in 10' waves. The inlet is plenty wide and deep so there was no real danger, just more 'entertainment'.

I'd made arrangements to shoot a video for a local marina in Panama City, so that was the destination. It was 6am and the wind was blowing like stink. So we dropped anchor in the lagoon inside the pass to wait for the marina staff, wait for the wind to die down a bit and take a well deserved nap.

That front blew in some chilly overnight temps. But that has passed and now we're looking forward to about a week of hi's in the 70's and lows in the 50's. I successfully completed the video and we're ready to continue on. We'll head for Apalachacola over the next few days and then another overnight to Clearwater and Tampa/St. Pete's.

Video: Cruising from Chicago to Mobile

Here is a longer compilation video of our river cruise from Chicago to Mobile. Some shots are reprieved from previous videos but there is plenty of new video as well.

Underway Again

We finally wrapped up everything (well almost everything) at Turner Marine and cast off early Tuesday morning. We had a great experience at Turner getting the mast back up, changing shaft zincs, participating in their Thanksgiving lunch on Wednesday, hosting Thanksgiving dinner aboard our boat on Thursday and producing a video for Turner Marine.
Temps were in the low 30's overnight so it was a tad chilly getting underway. But we have a full enclosure for the cockpit and it keeps us pretty warm, especially if the sun is shining, which it was. The wind started to pick up just as we we turned south on Mobile Bay, a nice low teens breeze from aft. We set just the jib and managed to sail at 6 to 7 knots most of the way down the bay. A great way to get back to sailing after 2 months as a power boat on the rivers.
We decided to stop at LuLu's on the GICW (Gulf Intra Coastal Waterway) for lunch on our route east. LuLu is Jimmie Buffet's sister so we both dove into the "Cheeseburger In Paradise". They were excellent. While sitting at our table overlooking our boat & the GICW we had our first dolphin spotting. It's shaping up to be a great day! A perfect sail, a great lunch and our first dolphin sighting. Don't count your chickens yet...
Speaking of chickens we met some fellow cruisers at the dock. A young couple on a floating shanty complete with a pair of chickens! Really, it was a wood shanty on pontoons. They came down from Pittsburgh!
We cruised on a short distance to Ingraham's Bayou for the night. A very nice anchorage. We have a Lectrasan which is a waste treatment system for our head (toilet). It only works with salt water so we haven't used it since we bought the boat. We're now in good salt water so time to fire it up. Well, coincidentally, the toilet decided to crap out! The plastic impeller cracked. I had to disassemble much of the mechanism that flushes and macerates our solid waste. A big happy birthday from Jabsco (the manufacturer)! I epoxied the plastic impeller and we await the curing of the epoxy before re-installation. Luckily we have 2 heads...yes it's true; two heads are better than one.

We're a sailboat!

Yeaah!
We got the mast stepped Friday and sat in the slings over the weekend getting stuff done. Today we were launched back into the water and we put the sails back on. We're a sailboat again! Now all we need is to get some time to actually go sailing. That won't be till next week.
Other than that, not much to report. Hacking away at projects and the marina video Tuesday and Turkey day parties Wednesday & Thursday. Suffering through 80 degree heat with high humidity. Life is so tough for us now, but we're surviving.

High & Dry

We finally got the mast re-stepped today. The winds have been blowing pretty hard the last few days, which is not good for slinging a large hunk of aluminum around. Ours is extra heavy due to the added furling mechanism on the back of the mast. Makes it wider & heavier. But the guys here are very experienced at rigging and it posed very little difficulty for them. We have all the rigging on & tuned, all we need are sails.
But that will have to wait till Monday. We're hanging in slings over the weekend so I can remove a leaking thru-hull fitting and replace it. The forward sink drain was oozing just a bit and that isn't good long term. So it's a good time now to get it replaced. Since it's under water, it's rather easier to do it while the boat is out of the water! So we're hanging in the slings of the hoist for the weekend while I get it done. This afternoon I cut out the thru-hull fitting and pulled the wood backing plate. Tomorrow I'll fit up a new thru-hull, backing plate & valve and seal it in tight. While we're out of the water, we'll also do some touch up on the bottom paint and replace the shaft zinc which prevents corrosion from salt water. Meantime we have to climb a 12 foot extension ladder to "go home".
We had a great evening socializing with a bunch of fellow sailors who all had their masts shipped down here from Lake Michigan. Hope I don't have a hangover tomorrow, I've got a lot of work in front of me! The party included several couples from Michigan plus NY, Ontario & Sweden.
We should get back in the water on Monday morning. We'll get sails on, get the mast wiring hooked up and tend to a few other chores. Hope to take er out for a spin Tuesday on the bay. Wednesday is a big Thanksgiving pot luck with the marina providing the bird. I added a TV antenna to the mast so we'll be able to watch the Lions on Thanksgiving day while Chris cooks a bird in our little oven. Shortly after that, we'll finally get underway further south.
All in all, we're doing very well. A bit of work to tackle is part of the cruising life unless you have very deep pockets to hire everything out. I like getting my hands dirty once in a while...

Update from Chris in Mobile

Yes, we have the most sparkling mast in the whole yard, but it is still horizontal. We are running tests of some of the wiring that runs through the mast and decided to add a TV antenna. This should allow us to pick up some limited stations and we hope to watch the Lions Game on Thanksgiving day. It is a huge undertaking to un-step and step the mast. We dont often have access to it like we do now, but I am really anxious to get the mast back up to go sailing. We will take Freedom out for a day sail in Mobile bay once we do get it stepped.

We have had some time for some fun too. We toured battleship park. They have a WW ll battleship and submarine that you can walk through. They also have various aircraft! Very interesting. We have been enjoying fresh shrimp...right off the shrimp boat. We can have it fried, boiled, grilled Cajun style, etc. etc. (imagine Bubba Gump). We have met a number of people along the way and have enjoyed getting to know them. Many people end up here in Mobile after cruising the river system. Lots of fun comparing experiences and re-telling tales of the cruise.

We have decided to stay here, in Mobile for Thanksgiving. The Marina is hosting a potluck, should be fun! This will give us a chance to begin catching up on that long list of projects that we have. I have more sewing projects, and Ed has a long list of varnishing projects. I need to point out something here. One of my major misconceptions about cruising has been that we could tackle projects while underway. I have been able to do some minor projects, like sewing "disposable" vendor covers to use in the locks. I purchased two pair of sweatpants at Salvation Army, cut the legs off and sewed bungee cord top and bottom. We used these in the locks. They got really dirty and torn up and now can be tossed. But, for the most part we have needed our full attention on navigating the rivers so the projects went un-done.

So, we are somewhat land based for a while. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Hangin In Mobile

We arrived in Mobile on Monday afternoon and tied up at Turner Marine on the Dog River. Since then we've been doing a variety of things. The mast was quite dirty from getting trucked from Chicago and then sitting here. We washed it, then spot cleaned with Fantastic, then rubbed with a cleaner compound and then polished with two coats of paste wax. On a 68 foot long mast. I use the term "we" very generously. Chris did about 80% of the work. I was busy getting lines rigged, checking the internal wiring and various other maintenance details. I've also been busy producing a video for the marina. Happy to continue using my 30 years of experience. Hopefully I'll pick up many more productions along the way to help fund our excursion.

We also borrowed the courtesy car for a half day to go shopping and to get a long overdue haircut! Everybody noticed that one, I hadn't had it cut since late August!

We're taking the car out to Mobile on Sunday to shoot some of the local attractions I'll feature in the video. I'm interested in seeing the USS Alabama battleship. There's also a lot of museums here for a relatively small city.

We're not sure exactly how long we'll stay here. I have a fair amount of work left on the video and we need to get the mast stepped onto the boat plus other projects. We may stay here through Thanksgiving! Hard to say. Currently the weather is very pleasant. Hi's are in the 70's and lows in the 40's to 50's. That will start to drop in December and we hope to be in St. Petersburg by mid-December.

Video: Appledore V Mast Raising

Video: River Locks

Goin' Mobile!!!

We couldn't resist the lure of salt! And our boat really missed its mast. So we got a good start this morning and pushed on down the last of the river, into Mobile harbor and out into Mobile Bay. The harbor is a narrow fairway lined with ocean going ships, tugs and barges. I love heavy metal! The bay was wide open water, the first we've seen since Lake Michigan. There were waves, real waves! Not just wake from passing boats.
Because we pushed on faster than we had planned, I got caught not updating our towing policy till this morning. Boat US is the AAA for boaters. The annual premium for inland waters is quite low but they charge extra for coastal coverage. Towing is NOT cheap. So this is a good deal even with the higher coastal premium. But the update can't take effect till midnight after signing on!!! Everyone we talked to about the approach to the marina said Do Not Leave The Channel! The channel has 8' of water and out of the channel it gets as low as 2'. We draw 5' 6". I just knew we'd run aground and get stuck with no towing coverage for this one day. But that was just one more nightmare that did not come to fruition. Me worried? Naah. (Chris, not a word!).
Even this morning it was quite chilly, low was around 40d on the river. But the gulf water is 77d and wow that makes a big difference. Shorts & T-shirt weather!!

I've contracted with the marina to produce a marketing video for them. We'll be hangin around here for 10 days to 2 weeks. We'll get used to it!
We've gone Mobile!

Our Ups And Downs Are Behind Us

We had a great visit with Mary & Tony in Demopolis. They drove over 2 hours just to come see us. And they came bearing gifts, a dozen eggs fresh from their own chickens! Chris made me a tasty omelet while underway the next morning. YUM! Thank you Tony & Mary. Speaking of Demopolis, the tow boats stop there to fuel up. I managed to get a tour of one. Twin 1800 hp diesel/electric motors! Nice to see the insides of what we've been passing often for 2 months. Very impressive piece of machinery.
We shoved off early Friday morning, headed for 'Bashi Creek', allegedly a decent anchorage. The first of our pack of 5 boats went into the creek, barely. There was less than 4' of water and several logs. He did manage to anchor inside but the rest of us had to anchor in the river. The river that gets tow traffic with massive barges, any time day or night. This was a fairly wide section of the river and the tows use the one side only so we were fine. One passed around midnight, commenting on the large pack of boats on his radio. The second came by in the pre-dawn fog. Thick fog! I can't believe they can run massive barges up this very narrow, winding river at night in fog.
This Saturday morning the fog took an extra long time to lift. We didn't get underway until 9AM. And we're off to find another sketchy anchorage. This one is even worse, there is no wide spot out of the sailing line. I crept in to a small inlet till I found 6' and dropped the anchor, then backed out and dropped a second anchor out in the main river. I ran the stern anchor down the side and tied it to the bow so we can pivot in the wind if necessary. The mouth of the inlet is wide enough to allow me to swing. Not very good, but there is no wind so we should be fine. I think! This is reported to be the last of the poor anchorages...we hope so!

This WAS the last day of locks! No more ups & downs for S/V Freedom. We did 12 on the Tenn-Tom & 24 in all from Chicago on down. For the most part, they were very easy, especially the locks on the Tenn-Tom that all have floating bollards. I drive the boat up abreast of the bollard, Chris tosses a line around the pin and we tie the line off. Piece of cake. A few times we had to wait for tows/barges to use the lock but most of the time when we radioed ahead to the lockmaster, he'd have it waiting for us on our arrival. All in all, a very interesting experience.

Moments Like This

We're anchored in an off channel below the Heflin Lock. I like to keep the VHF radio on to monitor activity around us. The night lockmaster comes on the radio. In a fantastic Alabama drawl, she gives colorful instructions to a downbound tow entering her lock. That alone was priceless. I went up on deck to watch the action. In a black night with clear sky I can see the first wisps of fog rolling in as the massive barges emerge from the lock. They are pushed by one hell of a piece of machinery with 2 piercing spotlights shooting laser beams of light down the river. I just happened to look up to the million stars above when the biggest shooting star I've ever seen goes streaming across the sky. It was brightly illuminated for at least 6 or 8 seconds. I'm sure my wish will come true!

Living On The Edge!

We had a nice day of river cruising after departing Midway Marina. But we don't travel at night so we needed to find a place to drop the hook. Several guide books recommended a few coves above the Aberdeen lock & dam. When we tried to get into these coves, we ran aground. Now what? Called the lockmaster and he suggested anchoring above the spillway. Really? Above the spillway that the river flows to and drops about 30'? That spillway? Well, there was 10' of water there and it was a calm night and we were out of options. So that's where we anchored last night, on the edge of the spillway! I had dreams of our little "barrel" going over Niagara Falls!

We're living on another edge today, sort of. We're on the edge of the Alabama / Mississippi border. And we found a very peaceful anchorage on the edge of a deep side channel. Fired up the BBQ for some good grillin' while enjoying a fine sunset under a clear blue sky.

There was no fog this morning so we were able to get underway 2 hours sooner than usual, plus we timed 2 locks perfectly, avoiding delays of waiting on tugs. These variables of weather, locks and anchorages make scheduling just about impossible. Which is why 'we have no schedule and we're sticking to it'.

Hot Tub Halloween

We left Grand Harbor on Friday morning. Nice place. We're now off the Tennessee River and in the Tombigbee Waterway. This canal was cut in the 70's, connecting the Tennessee & the Black Warrior Rivers, it was a bigger project than the Panama canal. We anchored out Friday night above the Whitten lock & dam. The temps dropped into the 30's but we stayed very warm by baking spaghetti squash in the oven. Toasty warm. We re-warmed up the boat by baking muffins in the morning. We did much better at staying warm than I expected.

Weather like this generates fog, a LOT of fog. Luckily it lifts fairly fast once the sun comes up. We got underway to the Whitten lock around 9am. This lock down is an 87' drop, the largest lock we'll travel. It's BIG! We shared the lock with 4 other boats, the largest pack to date. There are a string of locks along the Tombigbee and they like to coordinate lockings. So we 5 all traveled together to 2 more locks. Freedom was the slowest boat in the group but we didn't really hold up the pack by more than about 10 minutes.
We dropped out of the pack to stop at Midway Marina, they all pushed on further. We're glad we did. Stopping earlier in the day gives us some time off the boat, always nice to get out and stretch the legs. Midway was hosting a Saturday night Halloween party for their seasonals & us transients. So we got some free food, some time to hang out with the locals, a great costume display and some live music. Plus we met up with a new pack of boaters that came in after us. We'll all form up in the morning to lock down several more locks on Sunday. We topped off the evening with a dip in the marina hot tub, under a crisp starry night. WOW, that was the hottest hot tub I've ever soaked in!

Of course, it is another foggy morning. I'm getting some computer work done while we have good internet. Fog will lift soon enough.

It's A Small World After All

We spent 3 very peaceful days anchored in Dry Creek, well illustrated in our previous post. Today we upped anchor and moved about 6 miles to Grand Harbor marina. One of the reasons for stopping here is to take advantage of their courtesy car to get some shopping done. We hit the local super mart and found it lacking so we drove into Savannah, Tn; about 15 miles further. It was getting on lunch time so we started looking for a place to stop. Hmmm, A & W! Love A & W root beer, but we wanted something local. We were about to go back to the A & W when we saw this place called Fish Hut. Lots of cars in the lot, lets try it! Casual dining, very friendly locals, and catfish from the Catfish Capitol of America! All the small tables were occupied so we sat at the end of a large one. A few minutes later we were joined by four local businessmen. Nice guys, we talked fishing. I then asked about the local businesses and we hear they all work for a manufactured home company. Chris almost didn't say anything but decided to ask if they new her former co-worker from Detroit who moved to Mississippi and is working for a manufactured home company. SURE, we know Tony!!! What are the odds? They all had plenty of good things to say about Tony (imagine that!). We're trying to meet up with Tony & Mary next week further down the trail. And the catfish was EXCELLENT!
After a fine lunch we did stop at a Kroger. Good selection of what we needed so we dropped almost $200 stocking up.
Where we're tied up at the marina is a long walk to the laundry, so they lent us a golf cart. Chris volunteered to do laundry and took the golf cart. The run includes some steep inclines down to the docks and hard turns to avoid going into the drink. I think she spent more time on the links than she's let on..."Hellen Wheels" is her NASCAR name down here.

Too many cold nights here so we're pushing south. We should be in Mobile in about 2 weeks!

Land Ho!!

Yet another interesting situation. We decided to anchor in Dry Creek on Picwick Lake today. The Army Corps of Engineers chart shows plenty of depth. As we approach the area, I'm also checking my Garmin chart plotter. Dry Creek isn't there! We keep going in with around 20' of depth. Soon, according to the chart plotter, we're on dry land! We dropped anchor in 12' of water in a VERY nice cove, just as the Army charts show. I would have expected Garmin to make their charts based on the Army charts. Who knows. Here is a shot of the chart plotter. The red line is our track:

Garmin, what's up with that?

We'll be staying here a few days. Hi Tuesday is reported to be 80 degrees!

We're all in the same boat

Chris and I have discussed our cruising plans with a lot of friends and family. More than a few have expressed concerns with our being together 24/7 in a small space. Really, a legitimate concern! There's no place to go to get away. We're together all the time while underway, dealing with whatever the waterway throws at us. We're together all evening when at anchor. We do split up a bit when we're at a marina, but not for long.
The first few weeks were quite stressful. We had to change plans at the last minute, diverting away from the Erie canal and sailing north around all of Michigan late in the season. We had to figure out what to do with our mast while running down the rivers and through the locks. We had the rather inhospitable Mississippi River to deal with. And we cut all ties back on land, there was no turning back! Good reasons to stress out.

I'm happy to report that after 6 weeks, we're getting along better than ever! Does Captain Bligh bark on occasion? Never! Does the Admiral question the captains judgement? Perish the thought! Well, nobody's perfect. But we've both noticed that we are working well together and we're having a lot of fun together.

Just thought you'd like to know!

Today was animal day. Along with the many bald eagles, herons and pelicans we've been seeing on the Tennessee, today we saw a raccoon, a fox & a bull trying to mount a cow! Tomorrow we lock up at Pickwick dam into Pickwick lake. We hear there are some very pretty anchorages and the weather is projected to be excellent. Hi of 80 on Tuesday!! It just keeps getting better and better.

Thanks for tuning in.