Hangin with the swells

We finally pulled out of Ft. Myers Beach Thursday to continue our sloooow treck south. It was an easy day of cruising down past Naples to Marco Island. We were able to sail for a few hours but the wind drifted around onto our nose and we had to motor yet again. We ran a very long twisting channel in Marco to anchor in Smokehouse Bay next to The Esplanade, which is in the background of the picture posted here.

Around the corner, under a low bridge is a Winn-Dixie grocery with a dingy dock. We've been building a 4 page list of provisions to stock up for the Bahamas and we knocked off about 3 pages here. Very convenient. Thank you Winn Dixie. Got in a few other stocking trips as well during the 4 days here.

We chose to stay extra long because a front with strong winds was predicted for Sunday. Give it up for the weather-guessers; they got it right this time. Sunday night was brisk with a 180 degree wind shift. We were anchored in a fairly small bay and as we swung around we were relatively close to the various seawalls. But our Manson Supreme held perfectly yet again. We still got up every hour to check!

We're departing Tuesday morning for Indian Key and then Little Shark River before making Marathon late in the week. We may not have cell/data reception along the way, especially at Little Shark River. It's a pretty desolate corner of the Everglades. We will be running the spot tracker. Pray that we make it back to civilization, surviving a few days without facebook.

Posted by Ed aboard S/V Freedom

More high life

I mentioned earlier we had more friends to meet in Ft. Myers. We first met Gary & Lori in a VERY cold Mackinaw City back in September. Ft. Myers is where they winter. Gary tells me they all get together for $1 taco Tuesday at Yo Taco. Sure I say, sounds great. Its sneak your own booze in and cheap but good eats. We'll see ya there.

Ooooops, Tuesday is the 14th! Valentines day. Our anniversary. Our SILVER anniversary. Holy Crap! I offered to Chris, at least a half dozen times, to change the venue. I swear! She insisted $1 taco night would be just fine! Should I send her to the shrink?



We also talked Ray & Cynde into meeting us there. They were the owners of the sailing charter we took to evaluate going with sail instead of power. They are very proud to have played an important role in our decision to sail. It was great to see them again since our epic sail in 2006.

So our silver wedding anniversary was truly unique. We've done the uber deluxe dining experience, stayed at 5 star resorts all that stuff. This one will be much more memorable!

We're livin large!

Posted by Ed aboard S/V Freedom

More celebrating

Early that evening we had to crack open the nice gift from Tim & Stephanie. Extra smooth Patron. Yummmm!

Posted by Ed aboard S/V Freedom

Time to celebrate

Here we are on the beach enjoying lunch and a pina colada on a spectacular sunny day!

Posted by Ed aboard S/V Freedom

Valentines Day

Valentines Day 2011, our 25th wedding anniversary! Happy silver anniversary Chris. The blocks for the dingy davit have stainless steel parts. They're silver, that counts right? Well, just in case, I bought her some sterling dolfin earings. She likes them both.

The bud vase was a wedding present 25 years ago.

Posted by Ed aboard S/V Freedom

Crowded parking lot

This is how you get from your boat on a mooring to shore. Parking at the dingy dock can get worse than the mall at Christmas!

Posted by Ed aboard S/V Freedom

Hitchcock is here

BIRDS! Thousands of them. This is at the Ft. Myers Beach mooring field.

Posted by Ed aboard S/V Freedom

Ft. Myers Beach

We made it to Ft. Myers Beach Saturday the 11th and took a mooring ball for the low price of $13/day! We have several folks to catch up with, it's a popular place. First up is Chris' nephew Tim & his squeeze Stephanie. We all wanted to go sailing but it was honkin out on the Gulf and COLD so we wandered around town instead. We had a very nice time seeing Tim again and meeting Stephanie. Nice catch, Tim!

We also managed to get in some shopping. Steph drove us to several stores searching out storage containers of a certain size to match up with some we have. Struck out. Oh well. I also took the trolley to West Marine to pick up some new blocks for the dingy davits. They make a huge difference. Hoisting the dink is now much easier. That has been a thorn for a while.

Fueled up at the cheapest place in SW Florida, Ballard Oil, 3.77/gallon. They used to sell a million a month to the shrimp fleet. Business is WAY down. Wish I had a larger tank!

Posted by Ed aboard S/V Freedom

Sarasota tiki bar

Wifi is extremely limited so I'm posting via my Droid. It only allows one pic per post so I've posted 2 extra posts to add these pictures. I'll get the hang of this eventually.

Posted by Ed aboard S/V Freedom

Cayo costa state park

Posted by Ed aboard S/V Freedom

Continuing the slow crawl south

We left Palmetto and took the ICW south. Winds were not cooperating, blowing out of the south, so motoring inside worked fine. It allowed us to stop as we pleased at any number of places along the way. That included Sarasota on Superbowl Sunday where there is plenty of room to anchor near the city. We dingyed in to O'Leary's Tiki bar, beached the dink & found a table with a good view of the TV. Evidently tiki bars don't make an ideal atmosphere for superbowl. That's fine, we actually got to watch the game. We jumped back in the dink at halftime and watched the second half aboard Freedom. Great game! Congrats to the Gints. We didn't really care for either team, we're looking forward to seeing the Lions there soon!

Next day we had to pass through 10 draw bridges. We refined our timing as best we could. Some bridges open on a schedule & some on demand.

Tuesday was bright and calm as we crossed Charlotte Harbor headed to Cayo Costa state park. We'd sailed here once before on a charter with Ray & Cynde and wanted to get back in our own boat. The entrance is very shallow. I timed our arrival for mid-tide rising and we had no problems at all. We spent 3 days here hangin out, doing the chores and going ashore to the state park beach. A very relaxing time. This is the first time I really felt like we're 'cruisin'. It's been more of a delivery run south to warm weather mixed in with some work.

Next stop, party central...Ft. Myers Beach. Bars, bars, bars.

Chris' nephew Tim had perfect timing, coming down from Mass to visit his girlfriend and look for work. We spent a very nice day Sunday, despite the chill & high winds, visiting with them. Got in some shopping too!

Monday we took a 2 mile dingy ride to a marina located right next to a Publix grocery store. We're starting to load up with provisions for the trip to the Bahamas. Most stuff is double the price there, so we'll stock up before crossing.

Tuesday is Valentines Day...and our 25th Anniversary. Stay tuned for a report on our exotic anniversary day!

Posted by Ed aboard S/V Freedom

Improvising

One of the million and one projects I haven't addressed yet is a light for the dingy, required for night travel. We planned on going ashore to watch the superbowl and that means heading back to the boat in the dark. What to do?? Improvise, McGiver style. Or as Chris observed, Classic Rube Goldberg.

Yes, that is a dixie cup and, of course, duct tape.

Posted by Ed aboard S/V Freedom

On again

We're back "on" again, underway. I finished up a video for Regatta Pointe marina in Palmetto. These videos are taking almost a week from start to finish. My clients have been very happy with my work and offer us extra time to hang out. We always have some project to do so we hang around and take advantage of the hospitality. These marinas get to be fiberglass magnets! Hard to pull away from the dock. But pull away we did. Under a stiff cross breeze, we clawed out of the slip and headed south to Sarasota. We decided to run inside the ICW; going outside to the next good anchorage would take longer than current daylight would allow. We're still uncomfortable sailing at night. We did get in some nice, relaxing sailing on Sarasota Bay on the way down. Another great day on the water.

I'll guess there's 30 or more boats at anchor here, a good stop with plenty of room.

We only had 2 draw bridges today, tomorrow has about 8! Each one can slow us down from a few minutes to a half hour. It gets tedious circling around in a tight channel with a stiff cross wind. Oh the trials & tribulations of cruising (tribulations? What is a tribulation anyway?)

Superbowl is tomorrow. We'll be able to pick it up with the new antenna I installed at the top of the mast. Or we'll stay in Sarasota and dingy in to a waterfront watering hole. We can't even predict what we're doing 12 hours from now!

On again, off again; who knows? If the sun comes up tomorrow, we'll make a decision!



Posted by Ed aboard S/V Freedom

Takin Care of Business

We've been in St. Petes now for about a month. The weather has been spectacular; sunny & 70's most of the time. We parked here to get a variety of tasks accomplished.

We got in 3 visits with friends & family over the holiday week; had a great time with everyone. Even got Chicago Tim & Julie out for a daysail. New Years eve was spent lounging on the foredeck watching the St. Petes fireworks show and enjoying a cocktail or two. Chris & I have had a wide variety of New Years celebrations; this one was a bit quieter than doing a Red Wings game (Go Wings) but we definitely enjoyed the evening. Got in a beautiful morning of fishing in the dingy. Didn't catch anything but who's counting?

But this month was mostly about getting some work done. I sold a marketing video production to the marina which will more than cover our month long stay. I'd estimate it took about 24 to 30 hours of work over 3 weeks to plan, write, shoot, record, edit & encode the 2 minute video.

Then there are the boat projects. The never ending list of projects. I get a special thrill from crossing a project off the to-do list. This has been a thrilling month!



The bimini needed cleaning top & bottom plus a 303 waterproofing treatment.

I discovered the cheap, thin-wall PVC plumbing under the galley sink was below the waterline. Not good! I ripped it all out but went round and round looking for matching threads for a sink trap & bronze hose barbs. Lucked into a plumbing shop 15 blocks away that had something that worked. Pulled the sink out and re-sealed it while I was at it.

Changed engine oil & filter as well as engine coolant. Swapped out a few coolant hoses too. One had mis-matched sizes that required more changes similar to the plumbing.

Gave the exterior a good wash to get the salt spray off, including a scrub of the headsail and extra rinsing of the bow & anchor locker. Tough getting used to salt water.

Ordered & installed a new electrode plate in the Lectrasan waste treatment system. Lotsa fun working with sewage treatment devices.

Watered all 5 house bank batteries plus the start battery.

Moved the stop switch for the wind generator to a more convenient spot.

Hopefully, I've finally stopped the leak in the shower stall floor. Lots of tedious digging out old caulk before applying new.

Oiled all the interior teak, bow to stern.

Many of these projects required trips to stores 5 to 15 blocks away, multiple trips. I am very happy we bought a folding bike. It's come in very handy, I get some excercise and riding can be fun. I only bought one due to severe space limits but since we like using the bike, I've figured out a way to carry a second one.

Well, we've worked enough overtime for now. The rest of the to-do items will have to wait, we're getting underway later this week. We'll make a few stops on the way to our next major stop, Key West. Should be there around the first of February.

Posted by Ed aboard S/V Freedom

Christmas Dinner

We're docked in St. Petersburg for a few weeks, including Christmas thru New Years. We walked downtown on Saturday to the farmers market for some fresh veggies, interesting lunch and some good live Irish music. The weather has been fantastic, every day in the low 80's & sunny. We did buy a few strings of Christmas lights to string up in the main cabin along with some ornaments, stockings and Chris' moms bells.

We went to one of the finest waterfront restaurants in all of St. Petersburg for Christmas dinner. We ordered Ribeye Roast for two; with mushroom sauce, potatoes & fresh seasoned asparagus and a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. It was fantastic! The meat melted in our mouths like butter. The mushroom sauce was soooo tasty & the fresh asparagus was perfect! The wine added to the perfection of the meal. And to top it off, we shared a bit of a special Christmas desert of Peppermint stick ice cream! WOW, what a great meal. Worth every bit of $200!
But we didn't pay $200...Chris prepared it in the galley aboard s/v Freedom! We eat like royalty thanks to chef Christine's excellent skills!!

We have visitors coming Monday & Tuesday. So we'll do some socializing early in the week and then get back to the long list of projects that we need to knock off. New Years has several options. There is a party at the marina restaurant or we can go down to the public pier for a big bash. We'll play it by ear. At least we won't need to worry about freezing rain that seems to materialize every New Years up north.

Hope you had a very Merry Christmas like we did!

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.