Day 107

We left our transient slip at Clearwater Beach Municipal Marina at sunrise on Sunday morning, 12/27/20, which was about 7:20 am (we’re on EST over here).  The weather was calmer than the previous days and the sun was shining brightly.  As the Skipper helmed from the flybridge, Gilligan ran around like a headless chicken, untying and pulling in the bazillion lines that must be used when tying Legacy up to a fixed dock slip with pilings instead of fingers.  Once all those lines are in, they must then be flaked for storage, which is also a work-out and time-consuming.  After the lines, the fenders must be removed and stowed.  I was exhausted before we even got out of the marina!  For the first part of the morning, we cruised about 8 miles outside in the gulf (rather than in the ICW), where we had a 7-knot beam (hitting us on the side of the boat) wind and 1-2 foot waves.  Thankfully, the waves were coming mostly at our stern, which made for a smoother ride.  Right off the bat, we got to dodge crab-pots, as they seemed to be everywhere and all around us.  In between crab-pot watching, we enjoyed more sea turtles and dolphins along the way, which always does my heart good.  The temps were warmer, but still chilly enough to be bundled up with the flybridge zipped-up.

Along toward noon, the winds died down and the waters became smoother and their trademark emerald green color was brilliant.  Waves were down to 1-foot or less, which is heavenly for cruisers.  We listened on radio channel 16 to the Coast Guard trying to help a distressed vessel whose crew spoke only Spanish.  The Coast Guard dispatcher repeatedly requested any mariners in the area who could speak Spanish to please help communicate, if at all possible.  We’re assuming everything worked out because we soon heard Spanish being transmitted over channel 16.  Steve and I officially declared today THE DAY OF CRAB-POTS, as it was impossible to sit back, relax, and enjoy a leisurely cruise out in the ocean when surrounded by these evil contraptions just patiently waiting for us to run over them and damage Legacy’s stabilizers, rudder, propellers or hull! 

Mid-afternoon, we came in off of the gulf and re-entered the ICW via Roberts Bay in Venice, FL.  Once again, we were in smooth-as-glass waters and enjoying scenery on both sides of our boat.  When we started to approach Circus Bridge in Venice, where the Tamiami Trail (Highway 41) crosses over the ICW, I commented that bridge looked too low for our boat to safely pass underneath it.  Steve double-checked the charts and then decided to hail the bridge-master on the radio and request he raise the drawbridge for us, since there was only 20-feet of clearance beneath it.  The bridge-master was very polite and, after he waited for all vehicle, bicycle, and foot traffic up on the bridge to clear, he raised it right up for us.  It was our first time passing underneath an open drawbridge aboard Legacy!

As we cruised down the ICW, we got to see a lot of Venice, passing the Venetian Waterway Park, and just east of Historic Downtown Venice.  We passed Country Club Estates, and passed the Venice Isle and Sandalwood Park neighborhoods.  Knowing these parts were some of our friends’, the Wehrles, old stomping grounds from when they lived in the area and owned a sailboat, I continuously texted them pictures and videos asking if anything looked familiar, and they confirmed it did.  😊  Further down the ICW, after cruising just inside Caspersen Beach to Manasota Key Beach, we came to the Manasota Bridge, where we requested another drawbridge raise for us to safely pass under.

We arrived at our planned anchorage in Lemon Bay, in Englewood, FL, at about 4:30 pm.  Steve noted that Legacy would spend the night in really shallow waters, but estimated that even at low-tide, we should still remain above the bottom.  Low tide was the next morning, so we held our breaths as we checked the depth meter when we woke up, but we were good.  Still had ½ foot underneath the keel, and the tide was slowly rising.  We were golden!

Position: N 26° 56.918, W 82° 21.649

Distance traveled:  87 SM

Total distance traveled: 2156 SM

Total marina nights: 89

Total nights at anchor: 17

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  27

Day 106

A highly-touted stop on the Great Loop is Tarpon Springs, FL.  It is the sponge-fishing capital of the US on Florida’s “Forgotten Coast”, where Florida is still more like the Florida of the 1960s – more quaint and not so commercialized.  When we first started learning about the Loop, visiting Tarpon Springs was one of the many things I’d looked forward to doing.  Instead of ‘cutting the corner’ by crossing the gulf, many Loopers choose the “Big Bend” route, which is staying closer to Florida’s west coast by cruising from Carrabelle to Sea Hag Marina in Steinhatchee for the night, then on to Tarpon Springs, FL, the next day.  But as I mentioned earlier, that route is best for boats with shallower drafts than Legacy, as Florida’s skinny waters in that area has caused more than one unfortunate boat to run aground, which Steve is extremely leery of happening to us.  So, since our ‘across the gulf’ route would forego a stop at Tarpon Springs, I requested that we please take a day-trip to Tarpon Springs up from Clearwater Beach, if at all possible, because I didn’t want to miss it entirely.  We had unofficially planned for Legacy to leave her slip at Clearwater Beach Municipal Marina on Saturday morning, 12/26/20, for regions south, but the day dawned far too windy and cold, and was predicted to stay that way all day, which was unfavorable for cruising.  So, we decided to ride the free “Jolley Trolley” out of Clearwater Beach about 45 minutes up the coast to Tarpon Springs.  We got around early that morning so we could meet the trolley at its stop next to the marina.  We’d dressed warmly, carrying light jackets against the briskly cold winds (wait – aren’t we in FLORIDA?  Why is it SO COLD?), but I ended up running back to our boat from the trolley stop to trade in my light jacket for my big, blue puffy coat that I fondly refer to as my Eskimo coat.  I felt ridiculous walking around a Florida coastal town in such a huge coat, but it was a move I was glad I made because we endured biting winds for the entire day, even though the sun shone brightly and the air was wonderfully haze-free.

The trolley driver was friendly and entertaining and the car was only about half full, which was perfect.  We were dropped off right in the middle of old Tarpon Springs, right next to a marina where many various sponge-fishing boats were tied.  We could walk along right beside them checking them out, and we even got to one that had recently returned with its sponge haul, which was certainly impressive, but kind of hard on our olfactory systems!

We walked along the main streets of downtown, learning about the history of Tarpon Springs, and sponge-fishing specifically.  We did our best to always stay on the sunny side of the streets to stay a tiny bit warmer.  As always, I drug Steve in and out of several boutique shops until he led the way into a spices shop where I bought several tasty-sounding, Greek dried dip mixes.  All I would need to make them was cream cheese, sour cream, or mayonnaise.  My kind of recipes!

We chose Hella’s Restaurant for our Greek experience lunch, which is a must-do when visiting Tarpon Springs; heavily populated with the ancestors of early sponge-fishing settlers from Greece who migrated over to the US back in the 1890s looking for fresh supplies of sponges, as the sponge beds in Greece were waning at the time.  Today, Tarpon Springs, FL, has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US.  There are many Greek restaurants to choose from in this town, and I wished we could’ve spent several days there, so I could sample more than just one of them.  Regardless, our meal at Hella’s was wonderful, and we heard many happy cries of “OPA!” whenever the food arrived at other tables.  😊 

After lunch, we visited the Spongeorama Sponge Factory, where we watched the very old, but free, video that chronicled the history of sponge-fishing, with its origin and importance in Tarpon Springs.  The sign advertising the video promised to make its viewers into “sponge-diving experts” by the time they left the small theater, which we considered to be just one more feather in our caps!  😉  We learned the difference between sea sponges and loofahs, which – while often sold together – are two completely different things.  Loofah is actually a fibrous fruit from an Old World climbing plant that grows above ground, rather than under the sea, but still possesses many of the same positive attributes as sponges.  In fact, Steve wound up purchasing his very own loofah back-scrubber for the boat that afternoon!  This was a major deal, because Steve rarely purchases any type of “souvenirs”. 

After our sponge-diving lesson and subsequent purchase, we headed down the street to Yianni’s Greek Cuisine Restaurant for a late afternoon cocktail before catching the Jolley Trolley back to Clearwater Beach.  Steve ordered an IPA (of course – beer snob…) and much to my delight, I was served TWO Sangrias, because it was happy hour!  😊  Even though it was super-cold outside, they were still delicious.  (Of course, Steve ended up drinking half of my second Sangria, because I’m “too slow” and we were “going to miss our trolley” if he didn’t help me…)

Position: N 27° 58.582, W 82° 49.453

Marina Nights: 89

Days 104 – 105

On Thursday morning, 12/24/20, I woke up with a terrible headache, and wanted to roll over and go right back to sleep, but I remembered I still needed to purchase some shoe inserts for my latest pair of Sperry shoes, and feared I wouldn’t be able to do that for another several days, since tomorrow was Christmas Day. So I hauled myself into the shower and got dressed to walk over to the nearby Walgreen’s. I was groggy and tired (still being behind on sleep), and so wasn’t thinking too clearly. I walked all over Walgreen’s searching for shoe inserts, but soon discovered that – because of it’s location – this Walgreen’s was apparently more of a souvenir shop than an actual drug store. On top of that, it was so busy I couldn’t locate an employee to even question. So I decided to leave that store and walk more than a mile over to the Publix, I knew was nearby. The sun was out in full force and the temperature in the high 70s, which did not help my headache or alleviate my exhaustion! After trudging for what felt like days, across several busy intersections that had me picking up my pace, I arrived at the Publix store and managed to find some shoe inserts which were not my favorites, but would do in a pinch. I’d texted Steve to see if he needed anything from the grocery store, since I was there, and he requested a gallon of milk. I felt awful and had no intention of trying to hand-carry something that heavy more than a mile back to the marina, so I left Publix and began hoofing it and dodging fast-moving traffic back toward Walgreen’s, which was closer to our boat, and where I had seen gallons of milk in one of their refrigerators. By the time I got back to Walgreen’s, I felt like I was going to pass out. I fumbled to get my mask on without dropping my purse and earlier purchases as I headed for Walgreen’s refrigerators. While I was there this time, I DID happen to find a store employee to ask about more Dramamine, which I knew I needed on the boat. Lo and behold, she directed me to their 2ND FLOOR, where I found the actual drug store! D’OH! In addition to Dramamine, they – surprise, surprise – also carried the exact shoe inserts I’d gone in search of originally! UGH! I had walked all the way to Publix and back in the hot sunshine and howling winds for absolutely NO reason. By the time I got back to the boat, my head was splitting, so I handed Steve his gallon of milk, downed some aspirin, got back into my pajamas, and went back to sleep for another 3 hours!

I woke up that evening feeling much better just in time to join Walt and Ladonna for docktails out on the dock between our two boats. We all talked and laughed at each others’ boat stories for almost two hours as the winds increased, until the dropping temperatures forced us to break up our little party and run for cover inside our respective boats. A notably strong cold-front blew through our tropical paradise overnight on Christmas Eve, plunging our Christmas morning into temps in the low 40s!

We had previously made Christmas Day dinner reservations at Bob Heilman’s Beachcomber restaurant, at Brenda Wehrle’s spot-on recommendation, for 1:00 pm that afternoon. Even though the temps were predicted to rise into the mid-60s later in the day, we donned our coats to walk the half-mile to the restaurant in the cold, but gorgeously sunny air. On a whim, we’d asked Walt and Ladonna if they’d like to join us for dinner, but Ladonna was already planning to prepare a prime rib on board especially for that day. Bob Heilman’s did not disappoint and we enjoyed two delicious meals (Steve ordered lamb chops and I had filet mignon) with scrumptious desserts of key lime pie and a peppermint hot fudge sundae afterward. By the time we left, we almost had to roll ourselves back to the boat as we felt full as ticks. No more food was needed by either of us on Christmas night!

Position: N 27° 58.582, W 82° 49.453

Marina Nights: 88

Days 102 – 103

On Tuesday morning, 12/22/20, I did want to attend our pre-crossing meeting up at the marina, so Steve pulled the boat back in closer to the dock finger and the tide was also up, which made it possible for me to – very slowly and gingerly – climb off of the boat with Steve’s assistance, though I was quite nervous doing so.  Shelley, Scott, and Buddy were already waiting for us up at the marina, and we were followed closely by Walt and Ladonna.  We all pulled up chairs and Walt basically led the meeting, being the only gulf crossing veteran.  Since Mona Gee was equipped with neither radar nor AIS, and Legacy produced the largest wake, it was decided that Antares Star would lead, followed by Mona Gee, followed by Legacy.  Walt and Ladonna provided us with very good information and advice about the crossing itself, which helped to ease my fears.  By the time our “captain’s meeting” ended, Scott and Shelley were still on the fence as to whether they’d make the trip or not, seeing as slightly rougher seas were predicted for the wee hours of Wednesday morning, and on into daylight.  Being the smallest and lightest vessel (and sans stabilizers), Mona Gee would most certainly suffer the roughness the most of our trio.  I had the feeling that Shelley, fearing seasickness, wanted to delay their crossing, but Scott obviously prevailed when we saw them untying and pulling in lines to join us at noon.  Antares Star passed in front of us as I untied and pulled-in Legacy’s lines and Steve guided her out of the slip from the helm.  Antares Star continued on down the Carrabelle River as Legacy held back for Mona Gee to finish untying and slip in front of us. 

The morning’s weather was clear and sunny, with only slight breezes.  The water was not perfectly smooth as glass, but about as close to it as possible.  The group consensus had agreed to keep a crossing speed of 7 knots, since that was basically top-speed for Mona Gee.  We knew that would make for a slow crossing, but the whole idea of buddy boats is to stick together.  All for one and one for all.  (Besides, why not save a little money on fuel?)  As we progressed and the afternoon stretched to 3:00 pm, the winds dropped and waters smoothed to glass, which is optimum gulf-crossing conditions.  😊  We watched dolphins all around us and were even visited by several sea turtles, which were easily seen in the clear, still waters.  As we left Verizon cellular coverage, Pandora’s playlist waned on our blue-tooth-capable stereo, which meant Steve’s iPhone switched over to playing from his offline cache of stored favorites, one of which was Gordon Lightfoot’s Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, along with many, many others.  Ironically, the wreck song played THREE separate times during our gulf-crossing, which was unnerving, at best! 

As we cruised onward and completely lost sight of any land, I focused on all the water fowl that flew and bobbed along beside our boat.  Seagulls, pelicans, and cormorants would float right in front of us until what seemed like the last minute before they flew out of Legacy’s path.  At one point, instead of taking flight, a very large cormorant started paddling really fast to move out of Legacy’s way, then bobbed along beside of us, as we passed, squawking at the top of its voice – obviously berating us for forcing it to swim so hard and so fast!  😊  Why it didn’t just fly out of the way, like the other water fowl, was a mystery, unless it’s abnormally large girth might’ve deterred that…(?)  About 4:30 pm, Legacy was suddenly joined by what we counted to be a total of 26 dolphins all surfing along on both sides of us in our bow and stern wakes!  I hurried to the bow of the boat to watch these beauties up close, while Steve let the autopilot drive so he could join me up on the bow.  Our entourage accompanied us for almost 15 straight minutes!  I kept telling myself I should get a video of this glorious spectacle, but of course didn’t have my phone with me, and didn’t want to miss anything while I went to retrieve it, so no video was made.  As the afternoon transitioned over to evening and approached sunset, I took great comfort in seeing our two buddy boats cruising about a half-mile away from us.  Antares Star and Mona Gee cruised up ahead of us to our starboard.  We had previously agreed not to do an hourly check-in with each other on the radio, as that could become tedious, but we still communicated enough to provide moral support.

Steve and I had been helming from the flybridge this whole time, but as the sky darkened and the air got chillier, we moved downstairs to helm from inside the salon.  We watched the sun completely set over nothing but miles and miles of ocean through the salon windows, which was an awe-inspiring sight.  Even though the seas were calm and I’d been pretty much EATING Dramamine tablets, my stomach still felt queasy because of the ocean swells and my anxiety.  As it got dark outside, we watched our buddy boats transform from visible, floating vessels up ahead of us into small lights on the horizon.  As we traveled, we’d noticed Antares Star making some unusual navigational moves on the radar, until Walt finally got on the radio to tell us they were going to drop back because they were experiencing problems with their autopilot.  Since Mona Gee had no radar, that meant Legacy had to take the lead, putting Mona Gee between us and Antares Star.  We have a joke that – no matter the activity – somehow Steve always ends up becoming the leader by default, a position he’d just as soon not have.  And now again – on our very first gulf-crossing (at NIGHT, no less), here we were – LEADING.  Fortunately, all of our navigational tools were working well, so we stayed on course.  This all happened right at 9:00 pm and also when we were exactly halfway to our allotted 20-mile offshore way-point, which is where the crab-pots start popping up everywhere in our paths, for the rest of the way into shore.  (Our crossing was purposely timed so that we wouldn’t reach this way-point until on up into Wednesday morning, in order to see the crab-pots without being blinded by the early morning sun’s reflection on the water.)

We enjoyed a partially full moon accompanying us that night until 1:37 am, when it promptly set, leaving us in absolute, total darkness.  At this point, Mona Gee and Antares Star were running far off of our port side stern.  Antares Star was farther away from us than Mona Gee, but from the angle of our view, they appeared to be running right on top of each other.  Again, it was very comforting to see their lights against the darkness, as well their boats’ images on our radar screen!

Since we were far away from any man-made lighting (excluding the navigational lights of our three boats), I stepped outside the salon to observe the amazing stellar night skies spread above us from one horizon to the other.  The Milky Way, as well as several constellations, appeared so vividly, it took my breath away.  We humans rarely have an opportunity such as this one to observe the universe above us with absolutely no interference.  The awe-inspiring moments just kept on coming!

Even though neither one of us ever went to sleep, Steve showed me what to watch for at the helm on the gauges and radar while I was “on my watch”, so we could take turns at the helm.  At one point, I noticed a distinct image on our radar that appeared in addition to our two buddy boats(?!)  The image stayed steady and moved swiftly across the radar from southeast to northwest, even though we saw NO lights outside our windows anywhere!  Steve started to pick up the radio and signal Antares Star to see if they’d had the same sight on their radar, then changed his mind, in case the mystery image turned out to be a drug-smuggling boat or plane who might over-hear us talking about them on the radio!

At about 2:30 am, the wind decided to kick up.  It increased from 8 knots to 16 knots, which turned our ride rough.  I felt simultaneously grateful for my Dramamine and sorry for Shelley Johnson over on Mona Gee, who wouldn’t take Dramamine because she feared it would put her to sleep, which one does not want to be on an overnight crossing.  About this same time, Legacy began slowing down in order to delay our arrival at the 20-mile point.  (Again, we didn’t wish to arrive early enough to have the sun directly in our eyes and blinding us to the crab pots.) Soon, we noticed that Antares Star had begun slowing as well.  We both announced those plans earlier on the radio, but did not receive a response back from Mona Gee, so they must not have heard us.  So, for the rest of that dark and very early morning, Mona Gee continued on at a full 7 knots and so stayed in the lead, moving farther and farther ahead of us.  As the wind kept increasing, and the waves also grew to more than 2-feet in height at short intervals, Legacy’s hull began to occasionally rise up out of the water and fall back to the water’s surface with a loud, slapping sound, that convinced me our boat was running right over the shells of innocent sea turtles!  Steve assured me that we weren’t hitting sea turtles, we were most likely hitting dolphins!  I knew that was probably BS, but was relieved when he finally conceded our boat was just slapping down hard onto the water.  After several hours of rough riding, daybreak on Wednesday, 12/23/20, revealed we were cruising in “confused seas” under 14-knot winds.  Also, just as the sun rose, we could see a bright star above us, hovering low in the southern horizon.  Ladonna came onto the radio to tell us that star was the one for which their boat was named – Antares Star, which is the 15^th largest star in our solar system, the heart of the constellation Scorpius, and for thousands of years has been known as a chief navigational star.  Surely at some point in our educations, Steve and I had learned about Antares, but we appreciated the refresher lesson.

At 8:00 am, we had not quite reached our 20-mile way-point, when Steve suddenly spotted our first crab-pot, which meant it was time for “all-hands-on-deck” to watch for the dastardly things, as they began to increase exponentially all around us.  Steve got onto the radio to alert our buddy boats that the crab-pots had begun early, so they would be sure to keep their eyes peeled.  We had moved back up into the flybridge at daybreak, where we would spend the next several hours straining our eyes to spot our elusive nemeses.  As we cruised, we noticed the crab-pots seemed to have been placed in lines across the water, often right in the very path our autopilot had been programmed to cruise.   As I’ve stated before, some of the pots were painted day-glo orange or green, while the most visible ones were white.  But overall, the vast majority of crab-pots seem to be painted a dark color that blends right into the water’s surface color.  Steve prefers to let the autopilot helm, but with so many crab-pots, he was forced to set Legacy’s steering to manual and spent hours man-handling the wheel from port to starboard and back to port again to avoid hitting a pot.

Finally, around 9:00 am, Steve shouted “Land Ho!” as he spotted the shoreline far in the distance ahead of us.  We could finally see the Clearwater, St. Petersburg, and Tampa skylines on the horizon!  As we all neared land, Antares Star moved up to second place in our little convoy, and Legacy was last again.  As we entered into Clearwater Harbor around noon on this gorgeous day, I ran all around on Legacy’s deck snapping picture after picture of the lovely harbor and its beautiful buildings.  We followed Mona Gee and Antares Star inward, until Mona Gee turned off toward some anchorages in the harbor where they planned to drop anchor, draw the curtains and go to sleep after a LONG night.  

We followed Antares Star toward Clearwater Beach Municipal Marina, where we’d each booked transient slips for the next several days.  To our disappointment, the harbor master directed Antares Star in one direction but directed Legacy around to a T-dock in another part of the marina.  (We had hoped to be slipped closer to them.)  This tie-up was to a high, fixed dock that was far less precarious than our last slip in Carrabelle.  We hung fenders and tied lines securely so we could finally crawl into bed for some well-deserved sleep, although we doubted we’d get much of that before dark, as this marina was an active and very noisy one.

Steve went up to the marina office to get checked-in while I changed into my pajamas and fell into bed.  Despite all the noise, I’d slept about two hours, when Steve came down to wake me up, saying the marina had asked us to relocate our boat to make room for a larger, incoming vessel with elderly occupants aboard who needed our secure tie-up for easy on and off accessibility.  I changed back into my clothes and untied all the lines I’d just tied, while Steve started the engines.  When we arrived at our new slip, we were pleased to be placed right beside Antares Star, which is where we’d originally hoped to be.  This slip had a tinier, fixed pier for boarding and de-boarding than our earlier T-dock, which made me nervous, but Steve adjusted the lines so that we could temporarily pull the stern up close to the pier when necessary.  By the time we got all settled and secured in our new slip, we were both too wired to sleep, so we walked over to Crabby’s in the Clearwater Beach complex for an early dinner, before we came back to the boat and crashed. 

Position: N 27° 58.582, W 82° 49.453

Distance traveled:  172 SM

Total distance traveled: 2069 SM

Total marina nights: 86

Total nights at anchor: 16

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  27

Day 99 – 101

Saturday, 12/19/20, was an emotional roller coaster of a day, as we vacillated back and forth on whether or not we should cross the gulf that afternoon, or tomorrow morning, or continue waiting in Carrabelle for better weather.  It was also up in the air as to whether we’d make the full (overnight) crossing, or if we’d split it into two days – first day cross over to Steinhatchee, FL, to spend the night, and second day continue from Steinhatchee onto Tarpon Springs, FL.  There was another couple, Scott and Shelley Johnson, on Mona Gee, who we’d communicated with via The Great Loop Facebook page, who were strongly considering the two-day crossing from Carrabelle, starting Sunday morning, 12/20/20, but then the captain of yet another boat almost had Steve talked into making the entire overnight crossing, beginning at 3:00 pm, this very day!  Steve perused his various weather sites, discussed the situation with other captains at Carrabelle, and consulted with Kim, the Harbor Master at C-Quarters, who keeps a very close eye out for crossing weather windows.  I was nervous about making the overnight crossing, even along with “buddy boats”, so was hoping for the two-day crossing.  Unfortunately, the waters at Steinhatchee are very shallow in many places and iffy for a boat with Legacy’s draft of 5-feet or more.  Steve did not relish the idea of running aground in Steinhatchee and having to call Boat US to tow us again, or worse – damaging Legacy’s hull.  The weather forecasts changed almost minute-by-minute, which kept our plans from becoming concrete, which is most frustrating for an OCD control-freak like me. 

Saturday afternoon we walked over to the nearby Carrabelle IGA grocery store (handily, almost directly across the street from our marina) for provisions, then walked down to the World’s Smallest Police Station, which is a touted stop on the Loop and nothing but an old phone booth positioned on one of Carrabelle’s main streets.  We read the story of the “police station” from back in the day, and took our obligatory pictures of it.

Later we walked up to The Fisherman’s Wife Restaurant for an early dinner.  This restaurant was in a converted family ranch-style home.  We ate dinner in what appeared to be the house’s former living room, and the restaurant kitchen was located where the home’s kitchen originally was, complete with a pass-through from the kitchen into the living room.  The food and service were both fine, though the food was under-whelming.  When we returned to the boat, we untied and retied our lines so that Legacy’s bow was pushed farther out of our slip.  Steve had noticed this morning, that, when the tide was out all the way, Legacy’s stern-thruster and rudder were resting on the bottom, which was NOT good!  Therefore, that evening, when the tide was at its highest, we moved the boat out manually, rather than trying to start the engines, since we knew the propellers were so close to the ground.  As I described earlier, our slip at C-Quarters was far from the best setup we could’ve hoped for.  In fact, it was probably one of the worst we’d encountered so far.  And moving the boat out further into the river into deeper water only made our boarding and de-boarding process that much more precarious!

By that afternoon, Mona Gee had arrived at C-Quarters Marina, so we talked some more with her captain, Scott Johnson, about making the crossing.  (By this time, we’d opted out of trying to cross on Saturday afternoon, thankfully.)  Scott and Shelley (along with their geriatric Australian Shepherd dog, “Buddy”) were relative newbies as far as big water crossings go, the same as we were.  They’d been watching the weather sites and talking to our weather-knowledgeable harbor master as well.  The four of us finally decided to wait until the next good weather window, which was to be Tuesday, 12/22/20. 

We received a phone call from Carol and Russ Burchfield, on their trawler, Spirit, from down in the Keys where they were moored awaiting a good weather window to cross the gulf-stream over to the Bahamas.  (We also knew Carol and Russ from our sail-boating days down in Seabrook, TX, on Galveston Bay.)  They were checking up on us and also wanting to discuss water-maker woes with Steve.  I’ve been anxious to meet up with them on this adventure, but they are always several steps ahead of us.  They promised to keep us abreast of all the COVID-related hoops they have to jump through to gain access into the Bahamas.

Sunday, 12/20/20’s, weather forecast was right on point with cloudy, dreary and windy weather.  We stayed onboard taking care of boat chores.  The sun finally appeared that afternoon, so I ventured out to explore the Carrabelle area on foot, as there was no courtesy vehicle available.  As always, I found plenty of picture-worthy scenes to include in this blog.

On 12/21/20, Scott and Shelley introduced us to Walt and Ladonna Schweer, who were also in Carrabelle, aboard their beautiful 41’ Ranger Tug called Antares Star over at The Moorings, which was the marina adjacent to C-Quarters.  Walt and Ladonna were Gulf-crossing veterans, and also planned to make their overnight crossing on 12/22/20, so we discussed all three of us crossing together as “buddy boats”.  Shelley and I really wanted to do the two-day crossing (especially since Mona Gee has a shallower draft so is relatively safe in “skinny” waters), but that got ruled out, as both Legacy and Antares Star have deeper drafts.  Walt strongly advised against trying to spend the night at Steinhatchee, because of the shallower depths.  We all made a plan to meet up at the marina on Tuesday morning, 12/22/20, to decide whether or not we all wanted to depart that afternoon.

On the afternoon of 12/21/20, my strongest fears were realized when I was attempting to get off of our boat at low-tide, which meant Legacy’s stern floated far beneath the high, fixed docks of our slip.  We had setup a small step-stool in the cockpit, right in the port stern corner, to use when getting on and off the boat, where we literally had to balance on the outside rail of our boat and step out over the water onto the fixed dock finger.  While that step-stool helped a little, it was still too short for me.  Steve got off the boat and onto the tiny dock-finger so he could turn around and grab my hand to help me de-board after him.  Even though my 63-year-old legs have become surprisingly toned from all the marina-walking over the past seven months, they apparently haven’t gained any real strength, as I was not at all strong enough to step up from the step-ladder onto the railing by myself.  I got my left foot up onto the varnished, teak rail and then attempted to step the right side of my body up onto the rail while holding onto Steve’s hand, which was just NOT going to happen!  ☹  By this time, an audience had gathered (Venus Miller, whose lost cat I had so valiantly searched for back at Florence Harbor Marina, and her husband were also slipped aboard their boat at C-Quarters Marina).  Venus was standing on the dock as I pushed as hard as I could with my right leg to get up onto the rail, only to have my left foot slip completely out from under me, which sent me plummeting over the port side of the boat (at least a 5-ft drop) – fully clothed and with my purse safely strapped cross-body so I wouldn’t accidentally drop it into the water LOL – and right down into the marina water below!  I remember very little about the fall itself except for a strong feeling that Steve WOULD catch me before I went into the water, and then the cold saltwater slapping me right in the face as I realized my feeling was but only a fantasy.  Even though the water was barely over 4-feet deep (thankfully!), I somehow managed to be completely submerged, purse containing my iPhone XS Max and all, and lost one of my brand new Sperry Lounge-Away boat shoes, I managed to keep from losing my prescription glasses!  As I flailed about in the water, Steve calmly stepped back onto the boat and retrieved the swim ladder out of the aft storage underneath the cockpit.  Meanwhile, Venus was jumping around up on the dock, screaming “Help! Help!” at the top of her lungs to alert the marina of a ‘man-overboard’.  I jerked my purse out of the water and over my head just as fast as I could, shouting “my phone! my phone!” to Steve as I handed the purse up to him.  By this time, Steve had the swim ladder lowered from the swim-platform for me to use to climb back aboard the boat.  Again, my disappointingly weak leg muscles failed me and refused to lift my body-weight on their own.  Steve grabbed my hand and basically pulled me up onto the swim-platform like a beached whale, which was a good thing, since Venus’ frantic cries for help went completely unheeded!  While Steve immersed my iPhone into a baggy of uncooked rice (thank goodness we had some onboard!), I hurried onto the boat and into the shower to completely disrobe and start my whole morning routine all over again, where I noticed a large, ugly bruise forming on my left upper-arm.  UGH!  Another lucky break was that I had previously ordered and received a brand new, “back-up” pair of Sperry Lounge-Away boat shoes, which I immediately pulled out to replace the pair I’d just lost, so I did not end-up shoeless.  About an hour later, I was clean and dry, wearing fresh clothes and shoes (my phone having miraculously survived its impromptu “baptism”), but not without first hitting Steve with several loud “I TOLD YOU SOs!”  After that debacle, Steve proclaimed that I was NOT to attempt to get back off the boat until AFTER we’d departed our slip in Carrabelle, which was more than fine with me!  There was really no need for me to de-board again – Steve could do or get anything I needed for me.  My purse was fortunately machine-washable, so I pulled everything out of it to dry and threw it into the washer.  As nightmares go, this was a relatively tame one, but not one I wish to repeat! (Oh – and I should add that I immediately ordered another back-up pair of Sperry Lounge Away shoes to ship to us at Stock Island Marina in Key West, where we were headed!)

Position: N 29° 51.143, W 84° 40.183

Marina Nights: 85

Day 98

We pulled anchor early at 6:30 am to get a head start on today’s long travels. Thankfully, the weather was perfectly clear and sunny, though still chilly. Just as soon as we got out into the bay, seagulls and dolphins appeared everywhere around us! We soon put two and two together and realized that wherever we saw a flock of seagulls hovering above the water, there was sure to be a pod of dolphins feeding at the surface of the water directly beneath them. We figured this was because the dolphins had the fish in the area stirred-up at the surface, which made them ripe for seagull picking! As we progressed toward our heading, Legacy was sailing directly into the sun, which was blinding at best. We had so longed for the sun yesterday and the day before, but now we remembered why one should always be careful what one wishes for!

As we cruised further eastward along the ICW, we continued to see large swaths of past hurricane damage that seemed actually worse than that we’d seen earlier where Hurricane Sally had come ashore back in September. Then it dawned on us that we were now passing just north of Mexico Beach, Port St. Joe, and adjacent areas; ground-zero for Hurricane Michael, which had hit land at Category 5 strength back in October of 2018. Although, like everyone else, we’d seen the devastation from that hurricane covered over and over by the media, it was quite sobering to see it first-hand. And more than two years later!

As we entered into Lake Wimico (a wide body of water that was deceptively shallow, and had one of the narrowest channels on the Loop), we began to encounter what were destined to become Steve’s worst nemeses – dreaded CRAB POTS! We knew we’d be seeing many of them once we entered the gulf, but today we got a preview. A crab pot is actually a wooden or metal cage that sits on the water’s bottom with bait inside to lure and trap crabs. A rope is attached to the pot that extends up to the water’s surface, where it’s connected to a small floating buoy, usually about 10″ in diameter. Ideally, the buoy is brightly painted either white or day-glo orange or green for easy spotting by area boaters, but we’ve found that clearly-marked crab pot buoys are in the minority. Some of them are even painted black or dark-green, which blend perfectly (and maddeningly) with the exact color of the water. Non-boaters may wonder why crab-pots are so dreaded – in fact I read one FB post by a novice that stated, “It’s not like if you hit one with your boat, it will explode…” 🙂 That’s true, but something just as bad (if not worse) can happen if you happen to get a crab-pot’s line wrapped around a rudder, or worse – a propeller – while underway. This disaster can result in damaged equipment on the boat’s hull and even a completely disabled vessel that could require expensive towing and inevitable costly repairs! Needless to say, wise boaters always avoid crab-pots as though they were the plague.

The afternoon temps were still only in the 40s, but the bright sunshine heated up our flybridge perfectly. We continued along the Florida ICW toward Apalachicola, FL, where we’d hoped to tie-up to one of their marina transient docks for the night. We had called them in advance and the harbor master had promised to check availability and call us back. We’d hoped to be able to stop, as we’d heard good things about this tiny little oyster harvesting town, but were eventually informed they were full for the next several days, so we cruised on past them, across Apalachicola Bay to Carrabelle, FL, where Steve had already made reservations at C-Quarters Marina. Carrabelle is where a vast majority of Loopers stay to wait for good crossing days (weather-wise) to cross the Gulf of Mexico down to Tarpon Springs or Clearwater, FL, on Florida’s west coast, north of Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL. We were following suit.

We arrived at C-Quarters’ fuel-docks for a fill-up around 3:00 pm, where the harbor master, Kim, assisted us and then directed us to our transient slip. Our slip at C-Quarters was very different from those in our past. It is bordered by nothing but tall pilings on both sides of the slip, where boats usually back-in and tie-up to a high, fixed dock at the very back. This slip was also perpendicular to the Carrabelle River (upon which C-Quarters is located). The tide was coming in (something else that’s fairly new to us), which created a 2-3 knot current pushing our boat up-river, which – just like up in Knoxville at Volunteer Landing marina – Steve had to fight against while backing the boat across it. After three harrowing tries, Steve got the swim-platform between the two outside pilings of our slip, where the dock-crew and I could help pull the boat the rest of the way in, but not without first glancing the boat off of several pilings. Fortunately, the wood on these pilings was soft and forgiving, so Legacy wasn’t damaged. After making it all the way in, the dock-crew cross-tied our stern lines to secure the boat, so Steve and I could then begin placing fenders and wrapping bow and mid-ship lines around the pilings. Once again, I found myself leaning out over Legacy’s railing, literally HUGGING a piling in order to wrap a line around it! Fighting the current made for hurrying to get the boat in and tied-up. At one point during the chaos, I accidentally dropped one of our fenders down into the water! I froze, started pointing, and shouting “The fender! The fender!” I could just picture it being swiftly carried away in the river current and having to be replaced at approximately $250.00! Steve told me to hand him the boat hook, which he promptly lowered into the water, caught the wayward fender’s line, and pulled it back into the boat. Whew! Once we were secure, we realized the fixed stern dock rose almost 5 feet above Legacy’s swim-platform, which is how we normally exit and board the boat. There were no dock fingers between these particular slips, only small, fixed “piers” jutting maybe 8 or 9 feet out from the rear docks along the boat’s stern. That pier was also way up in the air – especially at low tide, which made for an extremely precarious way to get on and off of our boat. Tides up to this point have only been a foot or so, but starting here tides are increasing, and in this spot they would run 3 feet from low to high tide. I told Steve right then and there that this questionable setup was an accident waiting to happen, and that he needed to be ready for me to fall into the water at least once during our multi-day stay at C-Quarters. He reminded me the boat would rise with the tide, which should make things easier…. (?)

By this point, we had entered EST, which meant it was already happy hour, so a nice glass of wine helped to steady my ragged nerves. By the time we’d both showered and changed, the tide had finished rising, so it was indeed possible to get off the boat (though it remained precarious). Kim had recommended Fathoms Steam Room and Raw Bar for dinner, so we walked the short distance from our slip to partake. After a tasty meal and great service, we walked back to the boat in 40-degree temps and very breezy conditions, which made Steve reiterate that we were still located “way too far north” for his liking!

Position: N 29° 51.143, W 84° 40.183

Distance traveled:  83 SM

Total distance traveled: 1897 SM

Total marina nights: 82

Total nights at anchor: 16

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  27

Day 98

Disappointingly, Thursday, 12/17/20, dawned much like the day before – cloudy, dreary and cold. We started out that morning helming from below in the salon (for comfort), but soon found out our new humidifier was falling behind with clearing the salon windows, since it was so cold outside. So we donned multiple layers of clothing and even coats to head up into the flybridge for actual visibility. Steve has a small propane heater on board that we use with the flybridge completely closed up, which helps immensely in cold weather. On this day, the winds were 10-20 knots and the temperatures in the low 40s. BRRR! We only held out above until 9:30 am, when we gave up and moved back downstairs. Just too darned cold!

As we cruised along, we were escorted by more leaping dolphins that stayed with us for what seemed like miles, while up above the clouds we could hear the Blue Angels making practice jet-flights back and forth across the bay from where they’re based at NAS Pensacola, FL.

As we cruised through Chocktawhatchie Bay, we noticed a large, orange and white ferry that looked very familiar over on the shore. We looked through the binoculars and discovered the ferry was a Staten Island Ferry down from New York Harbor, we assumed for repairs. It was bizarre seeing a northeastern coastal icon all the way down at the Florida Emerald Coast.

The ICW joins Chocktawhatchie Bay with West Bay/Grand Lagoon through a narrow, man-made channel, known as the “Florida Grand Canyon”, that stretches about 20 miles in length. On both sides, the sand, rocks, sea grasses and coastal shrubbery meld together along with erosion to form little miniature canyons and crevices that really do favor the Grand Canyon in miniature.

Around 1:30 pm, a small miracle occurred when the glorious sunshine finally over-powered the clouds and really brightened our world! Instantly the “greenhouse” flybridge began to warm up as a result, so we shed some clothing layers and moved back upstairs to helm. Completely flipped the mood of the day by180-degrees!

Later in the afternoon, we began hearing a repeating message on radio channel 16 from the US Coast Guard, announcing “Pan-pan, pan-pan, pan-pan (pronounced pawn-pawn, pawn-pawn, etc…) alerting area marine craft that a vessel had issued a disabled vessel distress call to the Coast Guard earlier, but failed to provide a vessel name or location. (When a minor emergency occurs on a vessel, which does NOT involve immediate fear of loss of life or vessel, the common call to use is “Pan-Pan, Pan-Pan, Pan-Pan”. If a vessel does have an immediate fear of loss of life or vessel – whether a crew member has suffered a heart-attack, or is in danger of drowning because the vessel is sinking – the call to use is “May-day, May-day, May-day.” I was not aware of this until we started this new life of ours, but now I know.) The Coast Guard announcement also requested that any vessel who’d heard the original distress call (which meant they were most likely in the same vicinity as the distressed vessel), to please contact the Coast Guard immediately, while offering assistance to the vessel if possible. Cruising is all fun and games for me until I hear these sobering announcements on Channel 16! Until the situation is resolved, the announcements are made repeatedly about every hour, to keep the situation fresh in everyone’s minds. Alarmingly, we heard that same announcement for the remainder of the day and even into the next morning!

Despite some rough waters because of the winds, we reached our anchorage in Laird Bayou at 2:40 pm, where we were pleased to have really good protection from the north winds, which meant no spinning on the hook and very little rocking that night, which is always a plus.

Position: N 30° 07.382, W 85° 31.632

Distance traveled:  77 SM

Total distance traveled: 1814 SM

Total marina nights: 81

Total nights at anchor: 16

Locks today: 0 Locks Total:  27

Day 96

When I woke up on Wednesday morning, 12/16/20, Steve had already been awake and checking his weather sites.  Turns out one last band of rain from the cold front that blew through on Tuesday night was due to hit our area around 8:00 AM, so we put off leaving until that rain passed us.  Even after it passed, the weather did not clear up for us as hoped.  In fact, for most of that day, we traveled in gray, cloudy, dreary conditions with some chilly breezes thrown in for good measure.  (NOT our favorite cruising weather!)  Trying to get decent pictures on a day like this one was impossible, unfortunately.  Around late morning, FOG actually began to move in as we cruised the ICW north of Ono Island, AL, Perdido Key, FL, through Big Lagoon, and into Pensacola Bay.  I continued to be dismayed by all the lingering hurricane damage in the area.  We passed several sunken sailboats with only their masts visible above the surface of the water.

As we moved farther into Pensacola Bay, I finally got what I’d been hoping for!  Four dolphins joined us by surfing in our wake on the rear port side of the boat!  I was like a kid on Christmas morning watching them.  I have always loved dolphins, so this up close and personal with just us was a special treat.  The dolphins stayed right along side our boat, darting and spinning just beneath the surface of the very clear water, then suddenly leaping into the air to simultaneously take a breath and delight us humans.  One of the four was a baby dolphin that swam right next to its mother and mimicked her moves.  So precious!  I swear they rolled over onto their sides and looked up at me as often as I looked down at them.  I got a great video of this show that I posted on our Facebook pages, but unfortunately don’t have enough internet strength from the marina wifi to include it in this blog.

When we weren’t being followed by dolphins, we were often surrounded by pelicans bobbing in the water everywhere.  The big birds would sit in the path of our boat until the last minute before rising up off the water and taking flight to move out of our way. As we passed Fort Pickens, the ICW opened up to the gulf for about a mile.  Just that small opening caused the normally smooth waters in the ICW to become turbulent and choppy, with swirling eddies all around us, which made steering challenging for Steve, and just simply standing challenging for me! 

Through the day we cruised through Pensacola Bay, then north of Pensacola Beach, into Santa Rosa Sound, and finally into Chocktawhatchie Bay.  During this trip we passed north (on the sound side) of our beloved Navarre Beach, FL, a longtime favorite family vacation spot that we try to visit annually, and after which the hailing port on Legacy’s transom is named.  It was odd seeing all the buildings from the north side, rather than the south (beach) side, which is our normal view.  It was also interesting to sail UNDER the bridges we’d so often driven OVER in the past.

The wind was up, so instead of anchoring we called Two George’s Marina in Shalimar, FL (near Fort Walton) and confirmed they had transient space available for us that night.  We lucked-out and they had one slip available!  As we neared that marina, we passed a young man in a wet-suit riding a hydrofoil surfboard and kite setup gliding across the water really close to our boat.  We commented on the incredible muscles and core-body strength one would need to successfully hydrofoil and decided we might want to stick to just watching others do it, rather than trying it out for ourselves. 

Even though we had no rain throughout the day, the dark skies and chilly temps got kind of depressing.  As we pulled into our transient slip in Two Georges marina that afternoon, we hoped for better cruising weather in the days to come. It’s a whole lot more enjoyable when the sun’s shining!

Position: N 30° 26.164, W 86° 35.063

Distance traveled:  69.7 SM

Total distance traveled: 1737 SM

Total marina nights: 81

Total nights at anchor: 15

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  27

Days 94 – 95

On Monday, 12/14/20, we slept in a bit after our long weekend with family in Arkansas.  We took the rental car on one last provisioning run, then Steve returned it to Enterprise.    While he was out, Steve purchased a new humidifier from West Marine, as we have too much humidity on the boat, which results in fogged-up windows that are not ideal when helming from the salon, as we planned to do making the Gulf crossing.

We were originally to leave The Wharf on Tuesday, 12/15/20, but the forecast thunderstorms and wind prompted us to delay the trip for a day.  I cleaned the inside of the boat and caught up on laundry, while Steve fixed us a huge pot of chili to eat during the next several nights of planned anchorages.  Ironically, the forecast storms and winds never really materialized, but at least we were safe rather than sorry.

Position: N 30° 17.699, W 87° 37.816

Marina Nights: 80

Days 90 – 93

We locked up Legacy and spent Thursday, 12/10/20, driving in our rental car from Orange Beach, AL, to central Arkansas for an early Christmas celebration with the kids and grand-kids.  The most direct route included mostly highways through Mississippi and Arkansas and felt like it took us 3 days, when it was actually only 10 hours.  During the drive, I mentioned to Steve several times that our rental Chevy Malibu did NOT have the comfortable seats I’d grown used to in our Lexus RX350!  ☹  Somehow we powered through and arrived in Conway about 4:30 pm, driving directly to our 10 x 10 storage unit to check on the few personal belongings we saved from the big estate sale back in May.  While we were there, we picked up my beloved 1982 model portable sewing machine to return with us to Legacy, so I can enjoy sewing onboard.  (I even ordered blouse patterns and fabric online to ship to Stock Island Marina and be there for us when we arrive there on Legacy the end of December!)  We met my brother, Steve Elliott, at Mike’s Place in Conway at 6:00 pm and enjoyed a great meal and visit with him.  I was grateful to my brother for making the hour drive west from Cabot to Conway to meet us after he’d gotten off of work.  After dinner, we drove back to daughter, Tara’s, house where our own private upstairs suite is always available to us whenever we visit.  Very nice digs, indeed! A special treat this year was meeting our newest grand-dog, Kya, who is a true sweetheart, even if her older dog-brother, Liam, did not really request her presence! 🙂

On Friday morning, 12/11/20, we drove the Malibu down to Hot Springs National Park to visit with my dad for the day.  We told him stories about our travels in the boat, and he reminisced about his long and productive life.  We are all fortunate that, even at 91 years of age, my dad’s memory is just like an elephant’s. We returned to Tara’s that evening for our 13^th annual visit from the REAL Santa Claus!  A fun, yearly celebration that we started back when the grand-kids were tiny.  Santa is portrayed by Conway’s Santa, Craig Imboden, who does a wonderful job that convinces even the adults that he’s the real deal.  After Santa’s visit, we talked and laughed with both of our daughters, Tara and Kinsey, Tara’s husband, Paul, and all six grand-kids, while eating delicious Christmas treats that both of our girls prepare for us every year.  Skipper and Gilligan stayed up way past our normal bedtime, 9:00 pm, which is known as “Looper’s midnight”.

On Saturday, 12/12/20, all the females in the house (with the exception of Kya, the dog) worked on the Christmas gnome crafts for which I’d brought supplies and instructions.  It was a fun project that resulted in some very cute gnomes, if I do say so myself!  “Gram” has been crafting with the kids since they were old enough to squeeze glue out of a bottle.  I’m pretty sure they still enjoy it, but they always get to “craft with Gram” every year, whether they want to or not!  😊

On Sunday, 12/13/20, we spent another “3 days” driving back down to Orange Beach, AL, where Legacy anxiously awaiting our return.

Position: N 30° 17.699, W 87° 37.816

Marina Nights: 78