5/1 – 5/13…..Ft. Pierce, FL to The Bahamas

It took us a while waiting on weather, winds & seas, but we made it!!! We left Harbortown Marina on 5/1, spent 1 night at Peck Lake then headed for Lake Worth (Palm Beach) to wait.

5/7 - Crossed the beautiful, cobalt seas of the Atlantic Ocean into Old Bahama Bay Marina at West End, Bahama. It's great to be here! Headed out onto the Little Bahama Bank, stayed 1 night at Great Sale Cay, then headed for Allans-Pensacola Cay. Enjoyed some beach time (Sassy had her 1^st beach day) and left our sign at the "signing trees"

5/11 - Tried a new spot we didn't try on our 2005 trip – Powell Cay. Loved it and stayed for a couple of nights.

5/13 – Another 1^st for us, somehow we missed Green Turtle Cay going both ways last time, but have always heard it's a "must go to" spot. We are currently located at Black Sound Marina and will start exploring the island this afternoon.

Starting Our Cruise Adventure for 2009

We're at it again!!! Barney & Annette Beebe (my sister and brother-in-law) will be cruising with us this year on their trawler "Journey". They cruised with us to the Abacos in 2005 and the 4 of us have been looking forward to the time that we could do it again.

I debated about continuing to blog, but I did find out that some of our family and several friends actually read, enjoy, and use it to keep up with us. Since I did have requests for it - here I go again.

Our destination for now is Harbortown Marina in Ft. Pierce, FL. This is the location where we found "Conched Out Too", worked our butts off getting her ready last year, and met some of the greatest people we have ever known.

2/26 - We slipped the lines from home (Biloxi Small Craft Harbor) at 6:20am heading east. We had a long wonderful day of running and made it to Big Lagoon (Pensacola, FL area) around 6:00pm. We had a nice quiet night on the hook. Annette & Barney had a long, late night, frantically getting "Journey" cleaned-up, sorted out and stocked up.

2/27 - We got an early start, after Barney called to let us know they were headed our way. I do want to make note that there was a "day 1 incident" that Barney likes to discuss - ask him about it. We were in the Destin area and keeping a close look at the weather (a strong cold front was coming in). We were hoping for Panama City today, but the captains decided we needed to get tied to the pilings since winds of 30+ knots were predicted. We got settled in at Bluewater Marina in Niceville, FL. Great marina, restaurant, ships store and staff! The wind blew, it was cold and miserable--for days. There was even a forecast of snow for the area - that would have been just too much to handle. We were here until 3/1.

3/2 - Although it was COLD and windy (NW 15+ knots) we slipped the lines at 7:00am and headed out. Annette & I stayed inside our warm heated boats while the guys toughed it out on the bridges. Traveled through the Panama City area into East Bay and dropped the anchors in Lairds Bayou about 3:30pm. Nice, protected, but cold anchorage.

3/3-3/4 - Picked up the hooks at 8:30am headed for Apalatchicola. It was a clear, sunny and of course - COLD day! Had a great ride and tied up @ Scipio Creek Marina around 4:00pm. Since we were now waiting for a weather window for crossing the northern Gulf of Mexico, we killed some time hanging around the marina and walking around town for a couple of days.

3/5 - Untied @ 10:45am Dog Island bound (this is our jumping-off point for crossing the northeast gulf). Dropped the hooks at the west end of the island @ 2:15pm. The Beebe's picked us up, for a dinghy ride along the shore (our 1st afternoon of "dinkin & drinkin" -- finally moderate enough temps to hang around outside!!) Hoping for calm seas for our next passage.

3/6 - Bill & Barney were up early to evaluate weather and sea conditions. Decided it was a go, so we picked up the hooks at first light and headed out. What a great start - we had a beautiful sunrise over the gulf! The seas were 1 - 2 ft swells, with occasional 3's. We let "Journey" make the call on whether we would continue or go back and wait. It was a bit on the tough side for them, but a piece of cake compared to our 2005 horrible crossing - Annette didn't feel too good, but she sure didn't have the mess from her dumped refrigerator to clean up like last time. We sure do love our stabilizers!!! This is our 1st time cruising on the west coast of FL, at this time of year, and had no idea that it was like a mine field. The stone crab traps are everywhere and it makes for a very stressful passage. We arrived @ SeaHag Marina in Steinhatchie around 4:00pm. Barney arrived with a float and line wrapped on his wheel, but was fortunate enough that it didn't shut down his engine. He also found a diver to come out first thing in the morning to cut it loose. Although we have all of the equipment for Bill to do any diving needed for both boats, he deemed that it was not an emergency and that the water was waaaay toooo coldddd.

3/7 - Clear, beautiful, sunny day! Pulled out around 10:45am - our 2 trawlers and hundreds of little fishing boats were all headed out of the Steinhatchie River. It's obviously a great time for fishing here - all of the boats were lined up solid along both sides of the channel. We are finally on a course heading south, cruising through the minefields of crabpots. Destination for tonight is Cedar Key - anchored next to Atsena Otie Key.

3/8 - Headed on south to Anclote Key (just west of Tarpon Springs). Great ride and on the hook for 2:30pm. Dropped the dinghy in, picked up the Beebe's and headed to the island for a walk on the beach. Barefeet in the sand and Bill's favorite day of the year - Daylight Savings Time begins!!!!! Is life good - or what?

3/9 - Did a few chores and had a lazy morning. Picked up the hooks and headed to Clearwater Marina to reprovision and pick up Joe & Janet Miller (from Ocean Springs). They are going to cruise with us until we get to the east coast. This is their first cruise this far south and through the Okeechobee waterway. The stone crab season is still in full swing - crabpots everywhere!

3/10 - Got an early start, had a beautiful day and fantastic run on the gulf headed for the Venice Inlet. As were were coming into the inlet, Joe noticed that we were dragging a crab trap (not just a float and line, but the whole thing!). He managed to free it from the boat just as "Journey" was coming up on us. We're not sure how Barney missed it, but he did. Tied up at the Crow's Nest Marina and had a VERY crowded dinner on shore.

3/11 - Decided to run on the inside (ICW) for the trip to Ft. Myers. Nice cruising day, no crab pots! On the hook at Glover Bight/Tarpon Point around 3:30pm. Ready for eastbound run through the Caloosahtchie River and the trip to Lake Okeechobee.

3/12 - Got an early start, had good ride. I boarded "Journey" to help them with going through the locks. Joe & Janet did a great job on "Conched Out Too"- another 1st for them! Tied to the face docks at Moore Haven City Docks around 5:00pm.

3/13 - At first light we were ready for another lock and the trip across "Lake O". The weather could not have been any better! Lots of wildlife - alligators and birds of all kinds. We came into Stuart to one of our favorite places - Harbor Inn Marina & The Deck Restaurant. Had a great afternoon & night with Brooke, Aaron, Ruthie & Cindy.

3/14 - Had a rainy, misty morning leaving Stuart, but we arrived in the sunshine at Ft. Pierce! The gang at Harbortown had everything ready for us and were there to greet us and welcome us back. Joe & Janet didn't get any "unwind" time because, I had to get them to Vero Beach to pick up their rental car. We had a great time with them and look forward to future cruising with them. Needless to say, we had a great reunion with our "Harbortown Family".

To Date - 737 nautical miles for this trip

7/17 - 8/3/08.....Yes, we did make it home! To Date - 1,607 nautical miles on our 2008 adventure!!

As I was starting to post our 2009 trip I realized I never updated the blog from last year, so I decided to make a few notes:

7/17-7/20 Got a slip at Sportsman Marina (Orange Beach) to visit with the family and to reprovision.

7/21-7/29 Back on the hook just hanging out. Barney & Annette (on "Journey") joined us for a few days. Relocated to Ingram's Bayou for 1 night before heading to Fairhope, AL.

7/30-8/1 Picked up the hook for an early run up Mobile Bay to the Fairhope Yacht Club to visit our friends Mikey & Dee. It's always great to see them! What a GREAT place!!! They did a fantastic job with the design and layout of the new club which was destroyed by the hurricane (it was in the final stages of construction, but we were able to get a tour).

8/2-8/3 Slipped the lines early to head for home. Decided to spend one more night on the hook and anchored near the west end of Horn Island - it was a great sunny afternoon. Had our last beach day and a great night on the hook. We had a sunny start but arrived back at Point Cadet Marina under overcast skies. Tied up around 1:30 - back home for now.

7/8 - 7/16.....Hanging around the panhandle

7/8 - We had some early morning showers, then it cleared to a great day. We picked up the anchor @ 10:00am heading west. Cruised on past the Pensacola land cut and anchored in the Big Lagoon area @ 3:00pm. Went to the beach for "happy hour".

7/9 - Still on the hook. Boat cleaning day (inside and out) - then a lazy afternoon.

7/10 - Lazy morning, picked up the hook @ 10:00am and turned around to head back east. We anchored in Little Sabine Bay/Pensacola Beach (we will be here through the weekend for the Blue Angels show on Saturday). We had cocktails and dinner on board with Ken & Karen (the couple that bought the former "Conched Out Too" - the President 41 we had before this boat, now named "Chardonnay").

7/11 - Pretty morning and great day (we found out later that this was the calm before the storms). Joe & Janet Miller (from Ocean Springs) arrived on their boat "Miller's Time" around noon, just in time to enjoy the "dress rehearsal" for Saturdays air show. We invited the girls down for the weekend and they arrived with their entourage around 4:30pm. Amy & Leah with our grandsons Tyler, Brayden & Cole; boyfriends Chuck & Scott with Charlie, Madison & Katherine. If you're trying to keep track, that's 4 more adults, 5 teenagers, a 7 year old and us. Believe it or not, the logistics all worked out great - Cole slept on board with us and the rest slept at the hotel both nights; Ken & Karen got us parking passes for their cars, use of the condo swimming pool and also loaned us their kayaks to help with water transportation; the Millers loaned us their dinghy to help with the "water taxi shuttle" and we were set for the weekend. The 2 other boats we were waiting for came in. My sister Annette, her husband Barney Beebe (on m/v Journey) with my brother Paul & girlfriend Jeanie on board. The other boat with friends Richard & Trisha (on m/v Christine Noelle). We rafted up the 4 trawlers together for the afternoon so that we could all visit. "Journey" & "Christine Noelle" untied to set their anchors for the night. We cooked hamburgers for our crew and after dinner and a fun visit, Bill shuttled them back, so that they could head to the hotel for the night.

7/12 - We were all ready for a great day but woke up to clouds and a morning of scattered thunderstorms. We picked up the girls and their crew @ 8:30am. It cleared a bit, the other 2 boats came back to raft up for the day and we all got to enjoy some time in the water waiting for the Blue Angels Air Show to start. We had a great spot set up on the shallow shoal area with umbrellas, chairs, ice chests, etc. Janet had some great pictures of the raft up, but at some point she jumped in the water with the camera in her pocket - oh well! The show was delayed due to the weather, and around 1:00pm all hell broke loose (actually the _ _ _ _ hit the fan!!!!) WINDS, RAIN, MAJOR LIGHTNING - What a nightmare!!! There were people on the boats and scattered everywhere in the water. As the winds picked up and swapped around, boats started dragging anchor and stuff was flying everywhere. We untied "Journey" and "Christine Noelle" to lessen the pressure on our anchor (we had the only one down). Although our anchor didn't drag, our position change caused some very tense moments for us and the boats around us. Three hours later the winds, etc. finally started to subside, and we got word that the show was canceled and rescheduled for Sunday. We had dinner on board with our crew and afterwards, Bill loaded up the 2 dinghies and shuttled them back to the condo around 9:30pm. What a day - tomorrow could only be better!!

7/13 - We had a much better forecast and is was a clear and sunny morning. The water shuttle (Bill) picked up the kids @ 9:30am. It was a beautiful morning, not many people made it back into Little Sabine Bay for the show. I'm sure some of them will ever get on a boat again (we heard there were several reports of lightning hits and people in the hospital being treated). We set up our spot back on the shoal to wait for the show. It was a FANTASTIC show!!! The pre-show acrobatic planes were unbelievable and the Blue Angels gave all of us chills! Afterwards, we were all just hanging out, talking about the show when Bill looked at the sky to the north (not good!) We all went back to the boats for him to check the radar (much worse than it looked!), and we realized we were going to get hammered again. Since "Miller's Time", "Journey" & "Christine Noelle" were not rafted up to us, the first chaos was getting 10 people off of our boat, into 2 dinghies and back to shore to their cars before the worst of the storm hit. They made it, Bill didn't. It was a repeat of Saturday, except I was on the boat alone (well, me and Sassy - help that she is). It was raining so hard that I couldn't find him on the water, at all. I finally was able to contact the Hopkins on "Christine Noelle" (they were closer to the shore and in Bill's return path). After a while, they spotted him against the shore (the prop spun out on our dinghy motor and since the lightning was so fierce , he beached both dinghies and hunkered down under the bow) The winds were 30+ knots and I knew that was too much pressure on the anchor. I cranked the engines (actually I could only get one started) and eased up on the hook. After the weather calmed, Bill finally made it back to the boat. What a day!!! A little later, everyone from the 4 boats gathered on "Conched Out Too" for cocktails and to trade war stories from the day. It was an early evening and we went to bed exhausted.

7/14 - Everything on board was soaked, every towel, all rugs & crap was everywhere, but the sky was clear - the radar and forecast looked good. We started the clean-up process, then we picked up the hook @ 9:30am, all 4 boats headed to Sportsman Marina/Orange Beach. We spent the afternoon washing and drying the mountains of wet stuff. We had dinner on board with the Miller's and called it a day and had a peaceful night tied to the pilings.

7/15 - Barney loaned us his truck to run errands and re-supply, then "Conched Out Too" and "Miller's Time" headed back east to Big Lagoon for the afternoon and night. Great, great, great! No winds, no rain and most of all, no lightning! Afternoon spent on the beach on the gulf side - beautiful! Fantastic steak dinner on board, compliments of Joe & Janet, then we called it a night.

7/16 - We are going to hang here for a while longer. Joe & Janet on "Miller's Time" pulled out to head back home. They made it to Dauphin Island today and will make the rest of the run to Ocean Springs tomorrow. Bill had an afternoon business meeting on board with 2 of his associates. Afterwards, we all loaded up into Charles' center console and went to the "Oyster Bar" in Perdido. We had a great dinner and visit, then a nice run on the water back to our boat (it felt like we were flying in Charles' boat - we're not used to going that fast on the water).

A few pictures to follow later.

7/5 - 7/7.....Heading west along the Gulf

7/5 - Picked up the hook @ 6:30am and headed out of the Cedar Key NW channel. The weather looked good so we decided to make the run to Dog Island - south of Carrabelle. Had mostly flat seas and great weather (all of the scattered thunderstorms stayed away - woohoo for us!!! ) Put the hook down @ 7:30pm (another 13 hour run!) It was a long day, but worth it. Glad Bill made the call, if we had taken the shorter run to Steinhatchee we would have been stuck for a while - the weather went to crap along that area for the next several days.

7/6 - Picked up the anchor @ 8:50am headed up the river and into the ICW. We had a crab pot line wrap around the port wheel so we dropped the hook for Bill to cut it loose, then dropped the hook around Apalachicola to let a thunderstorm pass. Other than that, we had a good day. We cut off of the ICW at the Port St. Joe canal and went south across St. Joseph Bay and anchored off St. Joseph Point around 3:30pm. We mixed up a batch of margaritas, dropped the dinghy in and went through the pass to spend the afternoon on the beach. Very nice!

7/7 - Had another hellacious 3:00am thunderstorm - loud with a lot of lightening, very close by! It blew on through and by 8:00am we were able to head out of the channel into the gulf - Panama City or Destin bound - the weather would be the deciding factor. What a great day!! We had several pods of dolphins running under the bow. Off of Panama City we had 7 of them run with us for a couple of miles. I got some great video clips with my camera but couldn't get it to load on the blog. Their markings were different than most that we have seen - their sides and bellies were spotted and they had a bit of a hump forward of their blow holes. Came in through East Pass at Destin around 5:00pm and headed west in the ICW, to anchor at one of our favorite spots in "The Narrows".

6/26 - 7/4.....North along the west coast

6/26-6/28 We spent a few days checking out Sarasota and the part of town around Marina Jack, there is a beautiful waterfront park. It's really a nice area. Found several great restaurants and bars.

Took the tour of the John & Mable Ringling mansion, which overlooks Sarasota Bay and the Ringling Circus Museum which is on the grounds - quite interesting and very enjoyable. As always, it was hot during the day and by noon on Saturday we were ready to get out of the marina and back on the hook.

We beered up, iced up and slipped the lines @ 12:30. Took the short run down to Longboat Key and dropped the hook @ 2:20pm. We loaded up the dinghy and headed out the pass and to the beach. It was our first time to set foot on what we call a "real beach" in awhile (sugar white, soft sand). Great relaxing afternoon.

6/29 - Picked up the anchor mid morning to cross Tampa Bay and to check out a location around St. Pete. Dropped the hook in Boca Ceiga Bay across from the the city pier at Gulfport, FL. Someone recommended the marina and area here for a possible place to spend some time. We were not impressed.

6/30 - Picked up the hook @ 7:30am headed for Tarpon Springs/Anclote Key. We crossed into the gulf at Pass-A-Grille and had a nice run (SE winds 5kts., seas 1ft. with gentle swells). We pulled into the Tarpon Springs fuel dock around 1:00pm. While Bill was fueling I called in a "to go" order and headed over to pick it up. I couldn't stand the thought of being this close and not having some of the great Greek food that they are famous for. We enjoyed our gyros on the ride back down the river and dropped the hook at Anclote Key @ 2:30pm. Took the dinghy over for a little beach time. Had a wonderful Greek salad for dinner and some coconut macaroons to die for - you just can't beat Hella's Restaurant & Bakery!

7/1-7/3 We're ready to head north to Cedar Key, but the forecast and weather sucks! It's fine here at Anclote so we have several lazy days - reading, napping and cooling off in the water. The forecast for Thursday night was bad so we headed into the city marina at Tarpon Springs for the afternoon and night. Tarpon Springs is famous for its sponge diving industry (this is one of the boats at the waterfront).
Had a great dinner in town at Mykono's. The major thunderstorms and lightening hit around 3 - 4:00am and blew on through.

Happy 4th of July and Happy 62nd Birthday to Bill !!!

We had a good forecast for the day, so we slipped the lines @ 6:20am for the run down the Anclote River and north up the gulf to Cedar Key. We had a beautiful sunrise and a fantastic day. Put the hook down @ 3:00pm, floated in the water to cool off and to wait for the fireworks show. Two boats beached on the island right next to us to set up and we realized that we might be in the line of fire and become part of the show. We dropped back and reset the hook and had front row sets to a great fireworks show, both on the island and all along the waterfront of Cedar Key.

6/23 - 6/26.....Heading North SLOWLY !!

6/23 - Lazy morning, just hanging out. We headed into Naples City Dock Marina around noon and cleaned up the boat. Had cocktails and a great dinner with our friend and my former boss, Bill Hill at Tommy Bahamas. As always, it was great catching up with him.

6/24 - We had a hectic, busy, hot morning. Bill loaned us his truck so that we could run errands, reprovision and get Sassy groomed. We finished up and pulled out of the marina around 1:30pm and headed out of Gordon Pass to the gulf to take a look. Bill checked the radar again and it showed several major thunderstorms developing in the east and heading west, so we made a quick u-turn back to the protected anchorage in Port Royal. We had major thunderstorms, lightening , and high winds for several hours (glad it was during the daylight hours). Afterwards we had a beautiful full rainbow and a very soothing sunset. Fortunately we had a calm evening and night.

6/25 - Our plan was to head to Ft. Myers, so we got an early start (6:30am & a pretty sunrise!) to beat the afternoon thunderstorms. We lucked out and made it to Pelican Bay/Cayo Costa at Boca Grande Pass around 1:30pm with no storms!! We took the dinghy out to the gulf side so that I could look for treasures (seashells, etc.) No luck, but it was a nice afternoon.

6/26 - Picked up the hook @ 8:00am to head north. We wanted to run on the outside (gulf side) but had the same forecast as yesterday (70% afternoon thunderstorms), so we ran up the ICW. It's always a pretty view, but a very slow ride due to lots of "no wake zones".
Sassy has been very busy on "dolphin watch" for days now. Today she scored, we had several run with us for a while. Our luck held out for us again, we dodged all of the storms and pulled into Marina Jack in downtown Sarasota at 2:45pm. We've always wanted to visit here, so we'll do the "tourista thing" for a few days. We met Gil & Kathie (m/v Lotus) at A&B Marina in Key West and they are letting us use their slip here. What a great couple!! No matter where you are, you can't beat the "boating community".