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| Apogee |
Sunday night, in our Pura Vida team meeting, we decided there would be an early departure for our next leg.
Our plan had several options. We would awake at 0545, shove off at 0615
to make the 0645 lift at the Ana Maria bascule bridge. We would follow
the ICW into Tampa Bay where we would decide to head west into the Gulf of Mexico or turn
east then take the inside passage north. The inside passage meant the
crossing across the Apalachee Bay, the NE corner of the Gulf requiring a night
passage offshore, would be delayed at least a week because of weather. If
we steered into the Gulf we would turn NW toward Apalachicola and still have
the option of bailing out to Clearwater or Tarpon Springs if the conditions were unfavorable. Otherwise we
would make the overnight, 175 mile passage to Saint George Sound near
Apalachicola.
Monday morning we were out of bed shortly after 0545 but
didn't pull up anchor in time to make the 0645 lift. So, we circled for
25 minutes waiting on the 0715 lift. When we reached Tampa Bay,
conditions were acceptable so we turned west. The bay had a chop with NE
winds at 14 knots. We traveled west in the Egmont Channel for about 10
miles before turning NW, 320 degrees. The Gulf had 3 ft rolling waves on
our beam with 14 knots of wind also on our beam. We were able to travel
at over 7 knots, with both sails deployed and the motor running at half
throttle. Normally I would have shut the engine off and traveled near 6
knots but with predicted light winds ahead it was best to get ahead of the
curve.
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| Little Stowaway |
I pretended to turn
several crab pot floats into packing peanuts with a pretend Remington 1100, along the
way. By early afternoon it was obvious that the wind was rotating clockwise
into a more northerly direction. We tightened the sails until the wind
was just too close to sail. We finally furled the jib around 1600 and
steered the boat directly toward East Pass at Saint George Sound. The AIS alarm
sounded when another sailboat entered our safety zone at 1500 on Monday. Apogee was headed to Galveston. We had a
nice conversation and wished each other well. Throughout the evening we had
visitors. A small bird which looked out of place took a break and
eventually got stuck in the bubble of our cockpit enclosure. A small, but
very fast variety of dolphins hung out a while. Finally the sun set in the
west, Ruth and I started our 2-hour shifts and the nearly full moon rose in the
SE. This corner of the gulf is very quiet. Very rarely did we see a
blip on the radar or an AIS signal. Throughout the early morning the wind
continued its clockwise rotation becoming very light behind us. The seas
became smooth, like mirrored glass. When the sun rose at 0719 we still
had 28 N/M to our destination. By 0800 there was hardly a ripple. We followed
an incoming tide through the East Pass, turned east and anchored behind Dog Island
at noon.
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| AIS sounding alarm |
After making my Tuesday
call to Mom, I gave the Yanmar some love and thanks, meaning I performed a
little maintenance. Unfortunately, the weather dictates that we will be required to start our westerly direction in the ICW. I contacted the
Scipio Creek Marina where Art and I secured fuel in December to make sure they are
up and running. We are considering
renting a slip there tomorrow to more easily secure fuel, water and do laundry. This would be the first time Pura Vida has
been in a marina slip since early December 2019. For now we will regroup and
get some rest. Until next time!
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| All Night Long... |
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| A new day |
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