Heading North

Crab Pots, Enemy #1

We left Key Largo 0800 Thursday, April 2, 2020 after waiting for favorable winds.  We slipped under the Channel 5 bridge, at Long Key, shortly after noon.  We were seeing crab traps throughout Hawk Channel, which is the southern travel route of the Keys, but not as many as we saw in late December, heading east.  Our hopes were that there would be few enough in Florida Bay and the west coast of Florida, that we could make a safe passage straight to Pensacola.  We sailed Yacht Channel NW entertained by frequent visits of dolphins.  We noticed the crab pot population wasn't terrible but grew as we went north.  We continued a northwest direction off the Cape of Florida, instead of turning more northerly while trying to reach deeper water and hoping the crab trap population would be less. However, we saw more pots as we continued. At 0100 we were extremely tired and determined the pots were too dense to continue. So, 20 miles offshore, west of Little Shark River, we dropped anchor in 30 feet of water. It was very rough and we didn’t get much sleep, but we were mostly concerned for the boat. Even though we had a hundred and forty feet of chain deployed, a safely line and a snubber attached, the anchor still jerked the bow pretty hard as waves pounded. At 0430, we determined that we had had enough, pulled up anchor and proceeded north. The crab pots continued to be dense, so we both stayed on watch throughout the morning until daylight. I made a comment to Ruth that I would rather deal with the offshore oil platforms then these little crab pots. The oil platforms show up pretty big on radar, which we run continuously on night passages.  By now our plans had changed. We determined that it would be safest to take the intercoastal waterway route. So, we changed course and headed towards Fort Myers. The sail was smooth and pretty fast.  We saw the wind swing about 245 degrees throughout the day.  When we deployed sails at 0700 we were on a beam reach.  Throughout the day it shifted clockwise until we were on a close haul with the winds at 45 degrees on a port tack.  I moved the whisker pole from starboard to port before removing it completely. We dropped anchor at 2030, in San Carlos Bay, showered, then hit the sack. This is the first time that we went to bed without a definitive plan for the next day.  During the 150 N/M (173 mile) voyage from Key Largo to San Carlos Bay we used only 5 gallons of fuel. Not a bad MPG.

Rainy winter has returned. 64 degrees

On Saturday we awoke late, and wondered if the bridge schedule would be altered because of the corona virus. We made a few phone calls to no avail, so we pulled up anchor at 0830 and turned the vessel north, into the ICW, at mile 0. It turns out the bridge opening schedule had not changed and because it was the weekend the bridges opened more often, mostly on demand. We were surprised to see so many pleasure boats under the “corona” circumstances.  The journey was fast and pleasant. We experienced the same kindness from the bridge tenders as our southern journey in December. At 1930 we dropped the anchor in Little Sarasota Bay at Terrace Cove, 72 nautical miles from San Carlos Bay.  Not a bad day. 

We set no alarm on Sunday thinking we would only go to Sarasota, 7 miles to our north.  After checking the wind forecast we further verified that Monday and Tuesday would be a possible window for crossing the Apalachee Bay, the NE corner of the Gulf of Mexico. The crossing is an overnighter, approximately 135 miles from Clearwater to Apalachicola.  Bryce and I made the crossing in December, his first night on the boat.  After Tuesday, the wind will be from the west for many days and we would be unable to cross.  It was good having Don Thornton, Electric Gypsy, who is back in Kemah, verify the weather forecast. We pulled up anchor at 0930 with a new plan.  We would fuel up and top off the water tanks in Sarasota and continue north hoping to jump outside toward Pensacola or Apalachicola on Monday morning. 

There would be only four bridge openings required which wouldn’t slow us down too much. The first two went smoothly with no delays.  We were making good time until we were stalled for 30 minutes by the Cortez Bridge.  This bridge only opens every 30 minutes and we had just missed it.  A couple miles north was the Ana Maria bridge with only a 10 minute delay.  However, by the time we reached Cortez the wind had increased to about 22 knots, on our nose.  We continued forward knowing the large Tampa Bay was in front of us.  And, if we wanted to jump out at Clearwater on Monday we would have to cross it.  By the time we reached the Ana Maria Bridge the winds had increase to 24 knots, gusting to 28.  The bascule bridge raised its arms at 1515 and we throttled under it.  By now the light rain had increased to “steady”, but we continued-with uncertainty.  Before we reached Tampa Bay, the wind had increased to 28 knots and the rain continued.  When we made the last turn directly into the wind our 6 knot forward progress turned to 3 and we knew it was time to turn around.  We made it back through the Ana Maria Bridge at 1615 and dropped the anchor on the NE side of Cortez Bridge at 1645.  

I put on socks and shoes for the first time in months as winter returned today.  We also dropped the side and top front Strataglass panels for the first time in months.  The rain is supposed to cease tonight and the predicted winds are still favorable for a crossing.  If all is perfect we might still make the crossing, perhaps from Tampa Bay.  However, today Mother Nature warned us that she is still in charge.

Ruth Video'd these guys dancing off the bow: