Jan 30

Today we walked to the Salvador Dali museum, was really nice, must be one of the biggest in America (said the brochure), was quite a walk and on the way back we visited the aquarium on the pier. Cleaned a little the boat because tomorrow we will leave for the Manatee River.

Ria

Jan 29

We are not lucky and it rained nearly half of the day. Jacques installed the Led lights in the port hulls, so every bunk now has its own light, an other thing done from the still long list of things we wish to do.

Ria

Jan 27

We left Clearwater, the dolphins came again to say goodbye, to go to St. Petersburg, had to motor the whole trip for lack of wind. In the sailing guide was a anchorage just downtown and we found a nice place in the basin just north of the “pier,” a big thing in St. Pete’s.

Ria

Jan 26

Nice weather again and we took a long dinghy ride, Jacques clearly wanted to see what the dinghy could do we, so it became a racing trip, not really how my thoughts about a ride is, we were really wet when we came back to the boat. In the evening a gentleman named Piet Wireman came by, he had seen the Dutch flag and wanted to try his Dutch again, was a nice visit, he gave us some tips about anchoring places and were we should go for dinner.

Ria

Jan 25

Very rainy day at the anchor, I read one and a half book! And Jacques was just trying the computer, very peaceful, the weather still a little on the cool side.

Ria

Clearwater

After arriving in Clearwater we first went to fill the diesel tank to see how we had done, the motors are doing very good and used… for the trip. Then we went outside the harbor to anchor and take long naps. The next two days we stayed in the marina to explore Clearwater, it was Clearwater Beach and had a very nice boardwalk and wonderful beach. We did a lot of walking and had a very nice pizza in a Greek restaurant.

The next day we wanted to explore downtown Clearwater, we took the bus, we had taken a day pass what was very good, because downtown was really nothing, we took the next bus back and wanted to make the trip down the whole island trip. But we were not lucky there either because the road was only lined by hotels and condominiums. So halfway we took the bus back and called it a day, the “bus day.”

Ria

Clearwater arrival, Jan 22

We had a cold but nice trip from Apalachicola to Clearwater. When leaving Apalachicola Bay we were escorted by 6 dolphins, 3 at the bow and 3 at the stern.

It was again cold during the night but we could stay in the cabin while the autopilot and engines were doing the work and we were watching our progress on our laptop navigation program hooked up to a handheld GPS.  Ria was sleeping on the couch in the cabin under a thick blanket.

In the morning, when closer to shore, we were dodging the lobster pot buoys and had to stay outside to see them against the bright sunlight reflecting in the water. Apparently we missed all and arrived safely in Clearwater where we tanked fuel and then anchored close to the Municipal Marina to get some sleep.

Today we are in the marina to wash off the salt and take a shower. The next few days we will anchor again because it will be warm during the days and also above 50 degrees at night. There will be light winds and we plan to see a bit of the area. From there we haven’t yet decided where we go afterwards but hope to have good winds to sail without using the engines.

Pensacola to Destin

Jan 20

On the first day of our trip we sailed from Pensacola to Destin. The autopilot suddenly said you can do the steering yourself and we steered manually. That prettty much stopped our plan to go overnight directly to Panama City, because, without the possibility of taking the ICW (bridges too low), it would be too cold. The wind was 15-20 knts from the N but  the waves were small in lee of the coast. After dark we anchored near the interstate bridge in Destin. It was freezing cold during the night but we were warm in bed. When we left the next day, Jan. 17, two dolphins came to say goodbye, so cute and we motor sailed to Panama City Beach and moored in the “Treasure Island Marina” during the next two nights. On Sunday it was raining pretty hard so we didn’t need to wash the salt off the boat. Our charts were not very clear about the height of the bridge south of Apalachicola so Jacques walked a couple of miles to the coast guard station and on my way he saw a West Marine store.  Here they could figure out that the bridge was high enough and that the old bridge a little east from the new bridge was no longer there. This second bridge was marked too low to go underneath so we had to be absolutely sure that we could take a small part of the ICW.

Sunday evening we had a very nice dinner in a local fish restaurant about a mile from the marina. On Monday, Jan. 19 shortly after we left the marina we saw some traffic from the right. A deer was swimming across the lagoon and we let him pass in front of us and this time there were for sure three dolphins who swam with us for about five minutes, I can get used to that tradition. The trip from Panama City Beach to Port St. Joe was a bumpy ride with 8 ft. waves. (I found it very, very bumpy!)

Once in Port St. Joe we entered the ICW and had a very peaceful trip in the channel for 6 miles and then in the Jackson river where I had read that there were alligators but  I think the alligators were in hibernation. We anchored on the river during the night. This part of the panhandle is very wild without roads and we heard no sound other than sometimes a wind gust. At night I went outside to look at the anchor lines and was exited to see so many stars. The night was freezing cold again so we didn’t leave until 9 a.m. and drove the last 7 miles to Apalachicola where we are now in a small marina with internet connection to update our blog and facebook. It is blowing 20-25 knots at the moment with only 45 degrees although the sun is shining. Tomorrow we intend to cross part of the gulf to Clearwater which is about 160 nautical miles to the SE. This means sailing through the night but the winds are only 10 knots from the NW and later no wind and with the autopilot working it should be OK to seek shelter in the cabin every now and then were we have the gas cooker keeping up the temperature because it is again expected to be freezing at night.

The main reason for our sailing is to escape the cold winter in Wisconsin but we weren’t very lucky until now.

Second try

Pensacola, 1-16-2009

Yesterday morning we started our trip on the wrong foot. When we left the dock one of the mooring lines got in the propeller and the engine stopped. We also noticed a smell of burning wire insulation but couldn’t find the location. We went to the seawall and hired a diver to free the line. Then the engine wouldn’t start anymore and we called the mechanic. He traced the possible problem to a short in a wire harness and I told him that a couple of days ago I drilled a hole from one compartment to another for my VHF antenna cable and had problems to push the cable through. I thought it was caulk but after we removed a board we saw that the engine harness was damaged and triggered the starter motor and then fried the starter. We got a new starter installed and the harness repaired and are good to go again. Although it is blowing 20-25 knots today we plan to leave because the wind is from the north and we go east. It will be even colder than yesterday but it will be dry and sunny.

Talk to you later, love

Jacques Ria

We are going!!!!!

We have this morning decided to leave tomorrow morning. We intend to sail the day and the following night and see where we are then, we will be freezing our a.. off, but we are really ready to go. We still have to put everything in his place this afternoon, what I have been doing most of the time, but now it will not change everyday. We have chosen the good wind and no rain over the cold and hope it was the right decision. The last trip to the Laundromat,  to west marine and Walmart and of we go.

We are also into face booking, so everybody can also find us there.

Hope to talk to you all soon

Ria and Jacques

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Peace to the world and all the best to everybody reading this blog. I know it is  nearly a month since my last entry and that should not happen, because there was a lot to write about. We are in a marina attached to the boat yard, where we were working on land (in  marine language its called on the hard) and feeling very good about it, especially because yesterday in the late afternoon I heard a big splash in the water and said to Jacques that there must be some big fish in the bayou, we looked and there they were, the dolphins, 5 feet from the boat. I Burned the food because I was so fascinated by this sight, wonderful, they swam around for at least half an hour and than they probably went home, it was fantastic.

Over Christmas Paul, Karyn and the kids were here, they had the worst week weather wise since we have arrived in Florida. They had a flight on Friday night but when they arrived at the airport nothing was going or flying, the only thing that had arrived was 3 feet of new snow. The earliest they might get out was Sunday night. So they decided to pack the car and drive through the night to get here. It was cold and rainy but luckily the last two days made good and we went with them on our first water trial with warm weather and even Karyn came to sun on the foredeck. In the evening it was the 24th we went to a great Japanese restaurant where they do all the tricks, Zoe said it was magic, and then Karyn and I sent everybody for a fake shopping and hurried to the boat to prepare the presents Santa had brought to the boat (we had informed him earlier that we would be in Florida and not Wisconsin), is was a very different but nice Christmas eve.

The last day of their visit was a bit foggy but warm and we went to the Pensacola beach. The sand is really white and there are tons of shells half of which were collected by Alex and Zoe. It was good that they had the car to stow them.

The dinghy has a new name now and is called Alex. As soon as he was awake he stood next to the dinghy and was looking for somebody to get with him in the boat, he was really very good and also steered  Lady Hawk for a long time by himself, he is a born boater.

Ria