DAY 66 - ST. PETERSBURG TO VENICE (56.6 mi.)

Saturday, January 14, 2017 ~ We left Harborage Marina at 8:00 am.  We are in Tampa Bay which is a very large body of water with great depth in the channel.  From here we enter Anna Maria Sound where we had depths as low as 3.2 feet.  At 10:15 am we are in Sarasota Bay with Long Boat Key on our starboard side.  Were there is water, there are bridges.  We had to call three of them ~ Stickney Point Bridge, Blackburn Swing Bridge and Albee Bridge for an opening.  The vibrations we felt yesterday are still happening and we also have an issue of white smoke coming from the port engine.  After docking at Fisherman’s Marina, Venice the first thing Frans did was contact four different mechanics to see how soon any of them could come out and look at our new issues.  We have an appointment for 12:00 on Sunday, January 15.  So I guess we ware here for another day.

The amazing Sunshine Bridge

Anna Maria Sound Islands

Boats anchored just south of Cortez Bridge

This sailboat is listing due to low tide

The shallow waters in Sarasota Bay outside of our channel

Not somewhere that we would like LADY V to be anchored

The Saturday traffic at Stickney Point Bridge

A bird's nest on buoy 34 in Blackburn Bay

DAY 65 - CLEARWATER TO ST. PETERSBURG (38.8 mi.)

Friday, January 13, 2017 ~ At 8:00 am we left the dock at our marina for Clearwater Beach Marina for fuel.  By 9:00 am we are cruising at only 6 - 8 knots.  There are a lot of docks, boats and fishing boats in the water.  We saw many sets of dolphins in front of the boat.  At 10:00 am we felt this unusual vibration on the boat when we were going only 6-7 knots.  After this we felt it again about 4 - 6 times.  When we got our speed up to 20 knots at one point in time there was nothing.  This is very strange.  We docked at the Harborage Marina, St. Petersburg at 12:30 pm.  After lunch on board we walked into town along Beach, Bay and Centre Street.  It was an uneventful day besides the fact that Frans got a nice radio message (for once) “Captain Lady V we thank you for the slow pass.”  Our only issue at the marina was that we could not get internet service.  

The channel to Clearwater Beach Fuel dock is very
shallow on the Portside

This is what we see when we talk about crab pots

Beautiful homes along the waterfront of Boca Ciega Bay

Corey Causeway Bridge closing after a sailboat
and LADY V went through

An old building in St. Petersburg 

DAY 64 - CLEARWATER ~ SIGHTSEEING

Thursday, January 12, 2017 ~ After washing the boat we took Uber to the first ever Hooters Restaurant for lunch.  Frans was there with Brian Posivy 25 years ago.  The girls no longer go around on roller blades!  From there we headed to Clearwater Beach and were amazed at how many people were on the beach.  This was one of our first warm days.  

Lunch at Hooters

Clearwater Beach

Pier 60 Clearwater Beach

DAY 63 - CARRABELLE TO CLEARWATER (186 mi.)

Wednesday, January 11, 2017 ~ I was up at 5:15 am to get ready.  This is our day to cross the Gulf of Mexico to Clearwater.  We disconnected the power and the lines at 6:45 am.  As we leave the marina Conductance is right behind us.  The channel is long and narrow and slow going.  By the time we are through the sun is rising in the horizon.  Since the winds are from the SSE the biggest waves will be as soon as we are heading into the East Pass just south of Dog Island.  We are going about 17 knots and still crashing every 5 - 7 waves.  At 30 miles south of Carrablle, 9:10 am after I come up from the galley, the boat rocks just as I am about to sit and I fall.  I hurt a rib but that is all.  Three minutes later both engines stop!  HMMMM!  We are stumped.  We call in a Pan Pan to the Coast Guard.  It will take 2.5 hours for the towboat to get to us.  We tell Conductance to keep going.  We are fine but put on our life jackets just for safety.  The boat is not moving much and the waves are not too bad.  As we sit and wait, I am brainstorming.  At 11:15 am I have Frans check the DC breakers underneath the stairs and sure enough when I fell I touched the EMERGENCY STOP/STOP toggle.  The ignition breakers had tripped.  Frans corrects them and both engines start right up.  It is 11:38 am and we still have one hundred and thirty miles to go.  For the next thirty miles the gulf is just so-so, but then it flattens right out.  We are now doing 20 - 25 miles per hour with our ETA about 5:30 pm into Clearwater which means it will still be light.  At 3:00 pm I spot a boat ahead of us.  At 4:00 pm Conductance calls us on the radio wondering if it is us behind them.  We caught up.  Finally we are only 12 miles from the entrance, but now we have to start watching out for crab pots.  All you can see in the water is a floating ball which is attached to a chain which is attached to a metal container which collects the crabs.  I am relieved once we call the marina and slip into our dock.  On the bright side, we had a beautiful sunny day, I spotted a lot of dolphins, the Gulf of Mexico waters were more than great and we got in safe and sound.  

Sunrise at the East Pass into the Gulf of Mexico

Look at how calm the Gulf of Mexico is!

A tour boat just leaving the Clearwater Channel

Sunset from our dock in Clearwater Harbour Marina

DAY 59 to DAY 62- PANAMA CITY TO CARRABELLE (91.26 mi.)

Saturday, January 7, 2017 ~ It is only 1 C outside with 15 - 19 knot winds.

We left the Palafax Pier Marina, Panama City at 8:50 am.  From St. Andrew’s Bay we entered East Bay which was very choppy, but the sun is finally shining.  I am wearing the last pair of foot warmers which we bought at the Walmart in Demopolis.  At 9:50 am we entered a 20 mile long canal with 15’  of water in the centre.  It was a beautiful run.  Our next body of water, Lake Wimico is only 5 miles long but here you must stay in the marked channel because the lake is shallow on both sides.  Next we are in the Apalachicola River with the Apalachicola Marina at the junction of the river and bay.  The bay is exposed with no real protection from strong winds until you reach Caravelle 25 miles away.  The water was very choppy with white caps.  The channel is well buoyed but we had to keep our eyes out for all of the markers to stay in the channel.  Finally at 2:00 pm we are at the Moorings Marina, Cartable getting fuel.  We are docked on a nice wall by 3:00 pm.  Breakfast is included with our docking fees which was a nice surprise.  We are just a short walk from an IGA and Fisherman’s Wife Seafood Restaurant.  

Our length of stay in Carrabelle will depend on the weather.  Our next destination is Clearwater.  We are looking for a weather window to go out into the Gulf of Mexico.  We cannot go until the winds are less than 15 knots and the waves are 2 feet or less.  Right now that looks like Tuesday, but Wednesday may even be better.  

A scenic picture of the canal we are in

The channel to the left is the Gulf County Canal, a canal which
will take you to the Gulf of Mexica and Port St. Joe

Railway Swing Bridge on the Apalachicola River ~ It was open!

Entrance to Carrabelle Channel ~ It is so shallow on both sides
that our wake is breaking on the shoals

Our first big cleaning due to the salt spray from
Apalachicola Bay

Sunrise Tuesday, January 10, 2017 at
the Mooring of Carrabelle

A Dolphin playing in the channel Tuesday morning

This is the Marv's buoy weather we are watching for
our window out to the Gulf of Mexico ~ Wednesday looks good!

LADY V docked at The Moorings in Carrabelle

DAY 58 - PENSACOLA TO PANAMA CITY (111.3 mi.)

Friday, January 6, 2017 - At 8:00 am we left Paradox Pier Marina after much discussion about the weather forecast for today.  It is overcast with some occasional light rain.  The winds are 9 - 11 knots.  We cruised through Santa Rosa Sound into Choctawhatchee Bay which is 30 miles long.  With the wind it was quite choppy but we could still maintain a speed of 25 knots.  At 11:00 am we are through the bay into into a canal for 15 miles.  This section is narrow and scenic.  From here we enter West Bay which is another wide body of water allowing us to make good time and then at mile 285 we are in St. Andrew Bay which is our home stretch into Panama City.  At 12:30 pm we are at the Panama City Marina fuel dock filling up and getting a pump out.  After we were done that we docked on a long wall.  Rick the dock master was more than helpful getting our lines and fenders set up.  

We need to go to a marina store to get a replacement American flag.  As Frans and I start our walk there with a cold brisk wind blowing this truck pulls up to us.  The driver, Charles  says he knows that we are from the marina and he will take us were we want to go.  We tell him about the marina store and he says he is going to West Marine and would that work for us.  So in we get and off we go.  Charles is a retired aviator and charter fisherman who has lived in this area for 12 years.  He gives us a great history lesson and after we leave West Marine he takes us on a scenic tour and shows us his favourite place for supper.  He offers us his vehicle for the evening so we can go there when ever we are ready.  There are some truly amazing people in this world.  Frans and I took him up on the offer and had a great seafood dinner at the Captain’s Table.  After we got back to the boat the winds picked up and the rain started about 8:00 pm.  Another cold and damp evening.

Cruising through the canal

West Bay Creek Bridge

Panama City Marina

DAY 57 - FAIRHOPE TO PENSACOLA (64.1 mi.)

DAY 57 - FAIRHOPE TO PENSACOLA (55.7 nm)

Thursday, January 5, 2017 - We left the dock at 8:15 am into Mobile Bay and reached the GIWW at 9:15 am.  which is very well buoyed.  We are travelling through some beautiful bays ~ Oyster Bay, Wolf Bay, Perdido Bay, Big Lagoon and Pensacola Bay.  We saw dolphins along side the boat in Oyster Bay.  As we entered Perdido Bay we passed a pleasure craft boat ‘Radiance’ and spoke to them on channel 68.  They completed the Great Loop three years ago and they wished us safe and pleasant travels.  At 12:00 noon we were in the Palafox Pier Marina docking next to a 70' yacht.  We looked like a dinghy.  

Lunch was at the restaurant on site JACO’S Bar and Grille.  

After some boat maintenance we took a stroll into town.  The streets were very pretty with Christmas lights still wrapped all around the trees.  We found a whiskey bar and decided to go in for a drink.  There we met James (from Texas) and Casey (from Winnipeg).  James’ boat was in the same marina as ours.  We spent the rest of the evening with them enjoying their company and sharing stories.  We had an awesome supper together ordering the 60 ounce Tomahawk steak which we all shared.  It was an evening not to be forgotten.

Some beautiful homes along the GIWW

LADY V docked in Pensacola Marina

The Christmas lights on the trees during a day

A night time picture of the lights on the trees

The whiskey bar

Vita, Casey, James and Frans at Jaco's for supper

DAY 55 - 56 - GRAND MARINER MARINA TO FAIRHOPE (12.2 mi.)

Tuesday, January 3, 2017 - We left Grand Mariner Marina on a lovely sunny day going across Mobile Bay to Eastern Shore Marina, Fairhope.  We arrived at 10:00 am and got diesel before proceeding to our slip.  We had to go in bow first because the water level was too shallow on the inside dock.  Our 50’ power cord was not quite long enough due to the tides, so they found an extra one and lent it to us.  We need to get some work done on both engines because of an oil leak.  Dewl, the mechanic was tied up for the day, so we took the courtesy car into town, shopped and took the scenic route stopping at a pier for lunch.

Wednesday, January 4, 2017 - I started the day off with doing some laundry - sheets and towels.  We finally saw Dewl at 11:00 am.  With a helper, they both worked on the port engine until 5:30 pm and had the job completed.  We could now leave early the next morning.  We took the courtesy car to Sunset Pointe for supper.

Lunch at Shux on the pier in Fairhope

Fairhope City

Sunset Pointe ~ Beautiful location for a restaurant 

DAY 54 - BOBBY’S FISH CAMP TO GRAND MARINER MARINA (168.1 mi.)

Monday, January 2, 2017 - We have one final lock to go through, Coffeeville Lock and Dam and they are ready for us at 7:15 am.  We exited the lock at 7:45 and are now in salt and tidal waters.  Today we are not fighting fog but all of the debris in the Black Warrior Tombigbee Waterway caused by the rain yesterday.  We are only going 10 kt.  It is totally overcast.  By 10:45 we had gone only 42 miles.  We are now getting ‘Severe Weather Warnings’ for our area on the GPS.  We have to sheltered places to go so we weather out the storm from 11:20 am  until 12:00 noon.  After the storm moves north of us we start to motor at 20 knots.  At 1:30 pm we still have 40 miles to go and the weather clouds are forming again.  We are booting it and arrive in Mobile Bay at 3:30 pm with dark skies, rain and more GPS weather warnings.  The 10 miles in the bay to the marina were pretty choppy but we were lucky to get docked just as the skies opened up.  It pelted rain together with thunder and lightening for three solid hours.  We could not even venture out for supper even though they had a restaurant on the premises.  

Beautiful winding Canal

Scenic Cliffs along the canal

'14 Mile Bridge' with Conductance cruising through into Mobile Bay

Tug activity in Mobile Bay

Docked at Grand Mariner Marina
with a severe storm passing though

DAY 53 - KINGFISHER MARINA TO BOBBY’S FISH CAMP (98.1 mi.)

Sunday, January 1, 2017 - We called the lock at 6:30 and they were ready for us.  Both boats left the dock at 7:00 am.  We arrived at Demopolis Lock and were taken down 34 feet which took 20 minutes.  For the next few hours from 7:30 - 10:00 am we were in heavy fog going only 10 kt.  Finally at 10:15 it started to rain and the fog lifted.  We began to cruise at 22 - 24 kt.  It was nice to see were we were going.  At 12:00 there was more drizzle.  We are running with the front window open for visibility and it is pretty cold on the bridge.  We arrived at Bobby’s Fish Camp at 12:45 pm.  and both boats filled their fuel tanks.  We all had a cat fish dinner at Bobby’s Fish Camp Restaurant.  

Demopolis Lock and Dam

Heavy Fog ~ Conductance is ahead of us on the right

Passing some towboats

Captain is cold and miserable

Bobby's Fish Camp

Lady V docked at Bobby's Fish Camp

Debris floating down the river after the rain