A Blow Is Coming

I am sorry for any confusion caused by the last ‘post’ received by subscribers.  Let me assure you, we are not in Norfolk!  I don’t know why an old post (from Oct 2019) was resent, but I am certain it was my fault.  I was playing around in the Blogger management site, trying to determine why the comment option is not working.  I opened several old posts (that had comments) to see if the settings were different. FeedBurner (the service that handles subscriptions) must have identified that post as new or updated and sent it to subscribers.  Thank goodness it didn’t resend every one I opened that night!  We were still in Ft. Myers, FL when that post was sent.

Let me also assure you that we are not in the path of the coming storm! By the time Cristobal reaches the Gulf coast, we will be in central Alabama.  However, getting to this location has made for a busy past week.

DOUBLE RAINBOW!!! We stayed on the morning ball in Ft. Myer’s Beach a little longer than originally planned.  On Tuesday, May 26, we were able to get the Whaler into the repair shop at Moss Marina.  They were incredibly helpful and delivered Keith back out to the boat after he got Shrimp Boat) (the Whaler) to their dock.  This included a tow from a stranger after he broke down in the channel.

Do you see why her name is Shrimp Boat?  It’s not just her size...her name comes from the sticker on the stern. Do you think this forklift can handle the launch?  Well, after two days it was determined that she could not be repaired any time soon.  Unfortunately, the manager informed us that Evinrude announced the discontinuation of outboards.  The timing of this announcement contributed greatly to our inability to get technical support and parts.  We were unable to get a head gasket, so we took her back in the same condition.  This cost us two travel days and $317.  We can run her under 1700 rpm, which only gets us about 4 mph...not good if there is any current against us.  We will try to replace the head gasket in Chattanooga, but if that doesn’t work we’re shopping for a new Suzuki.

Happy to see birds again! There were very few birds in the Bahamas, but there were plenty of birds in Ft. Myers.  Even though these birds enjoyed lounging on our boat I was unable to capture a good picture...until now.  Keith and I were returning in Shrimp when I saw this beauty resting on the swim platform.  Oh darn...I don’t have the camera!!  Wait, my phone...where is my phone! By the time I got it out, I had time for this one shot. WOW!

Every day we were able to witness the birth, growth and death of thunderstorms over the land.  Traveling along the west coast of Florida has been an interesting lesson in Meteorology.   

After leaving Ft. Myers, we spent one night anchored outside of Sarasota, and the second night anchored just north of Tarpon Springs.  From there we plan to do an overnight crossing to Panama City.  This was the scene as we headed for our Tarpon Springs anchorage.  I have never seen a pop up shade tent used in this manner, but it is a popular idea here.

This is one of the resources we use to make travel decisions.  I will be the first to say, “Marv is marvelous!”  His wind and wave forecasts have been VERY accurate!  The top row of this chart is wind predictions, and the bottom row shows wave height predictions.  Can you see why we wanted to be in Panama City by Monday.  Also, can you see what conditions will be like on Sunday the 7th?  A blow is coming! There isn’t enough Dramamine on the planet!

On Sunday, May 31, at 10:00 a.m. we set out for our Gulf crossing.  Two hours in we caught a small tuna.  This was the perfect size fish for us!  Once filleted it provided enough meat for 4 meals.

This was the view all day and into the evening.  Wonderfully calm conditions!

This was my view at night. One ship is crossing 3.5 miles in front of us. One ship is heading toward us 10 miles ahead, and one vessel is 14 miles behind us, but is not traveling in our direction.  That means just one target to keep an eye on, at this time.

Keith was lucky to have helm duty during sunrise.  You can see that the water is a little choppy now, but those conditions only lasted from 5:00-8:00 a.m.

Keith was also able to capture some amazing pictures of this shrimp boat at sunrise.  

We entered the Panama City Inlet at 1:00 p.m. on Monday afternoon, and continued to the northwest end of North Bay to anchor for the night.  We were underway for a total of 30 hours, and we were both exhausted!  However, there were a lot of people enjoying the water on this beautiful day!

We are now back in the ‘ditch’. We will take the Intracoastal Waterway from Panama City to Mobile Bay.  No need to worry about waves here...unless they come from an inconsiderate boat.

On some days the clouds are ominous, and on other days they are simply beautiful!

Wishing everyone peace and tranquility!