Good Bye to Tarpon Springs

We had a wonderful time in Tarpon Springs.  We reconnected with the new harbor hosts and now gold loopers, Cindy and Chuck and missed Herb Seton about 3 times.  Bruce and I first met Cindy and Chuck on the Illinois River and again at Green Turtle Bay.  We met gold loopers, Rick and Monica of MoniJean, who also have a blog I have been following and had lunch together at the Rusty Belly.

We had a great day with Bob and Shelly of Allons, fellow sailors also from Minnesota.
Tarpon Springs is known for its sponges and Greek cuisine so we stocked up on sponges.  Bruce likes the big sponges and I like the little silk sponges that are great for cosmetics.  The restaurants were great and we sampled a few.  Shops for olive oil, cheese, spices and homemade soap are abundant and I left with some great products.

We spent a wonderful Christmas with our son Peter and his family and had the honor of being present for his swearing in as an attorney.  Peter just graduated from Stetson Law School in May.  Thanks to Jim Thalen who came to Pete's house to perform the ceremony.

Our grandchildren, Alex and Delilah are just a little excited to open all those gifts under the tree.

Two weeks in Tarpon Springs and time to move on.

Cruising to Gulfport→→→→

Gulf Crossing from Dog Island

It has been over a week since we made the crossing but it is still fresh in my mind.  It was definitely not an Eddy Wag recommended day.  We started with beautiful sailing weather for the first half of our trip which quickly deteriorated over the night crossing.  The forecasted 5 sec delay between waves was more like 1-2 seconds with 4-6 footers (occasional 8 footer, yikes!) and the winds were steady at around 17 knots with gusts up to 27 knots overnight.   The rough seas battering the boat made it feel like Lake Superior on a bad day.  It was also exhilarating learning to use the sails again.  We found that the Sea Hawk is much faster with the new sails than our old stretched out sails and we made good time even with our sails fully reefed.

Look closely and you will see that our boat is well heeled on a port tack (wind coming over the starboard side).

Sea Hawk early in the crossing

We met up with our buddy boat the Cormorant II at Dog Island and started the crossing at first light on Monday morning, December 11.

Cormorant II

This is the first time we had a buddy boat for a crossing and it was comforting to see their navigation lights and be able to check in with one another occasionally overnight.  We have made shorter crossings on Lake Superior several times, but never this long.  Marsh and Corinne are long time Canadian sailors and we enjoyed getting to know them.  We found how true it is that you do not want to come into Tarpon Springs before 10:00 am with the rising sun in your eyes to avoid the many crab pots.  We came in about that time and had to keep a close look out.  It was a long exhausting trip as it was difficult to catch any sleep with the heavy motion of the boat.  We managed to stay awake until that evening and slept very well that night, (and the next few nights!).  As hard as this crossing was it was great to be sailing again!  

Bruce is definitely the photo taker in our family.  I could never get such great dolphin shots.  The dolphins just laugh at me!

We found warm weather!  Exploring Tarpon Springs......

It’s Cold

I mentioned the cold in my last post, three days later it is still cold.  Cold temperatures, winds gusting up to 25+ knots, and snowy rain do not make for pleasant cruising.  We are pushing on and hope to get to Apalachicola today.  We erroneously thought we had no further need of solid fuel for our cubic mini wood stove which was jettisoned to make more room for more important items, hmmmm.

No fuel

The results of that are, we are freezing cold, the boat is dripping wet and nothing will dry.   All the lockers are damp at best, wet for some.  I quit using cloth towels to dry the drips because there is no room to hang towels that won’t dry and started using paper towels.  Bruce lost his Kindle when the port over his wall organizer dripped enough water into the pocket holding the device.  Even using the propane stove for cooking is a mixed blessing as it adds some heat but also adds to our moisture problem.  The Baileys Irish Cream is almost gone, and it is time to find some charcoal.  I think I’d drive a great distance to find solid fuel this afternoon, hopefully it will be within walking distance when we get to Apalachicola.
The solid fuel heat should go a long way towards drying the boat.  Then the big job starts as I will have to go through each locker, dry the contents and spray with mold and mildew inhibitor.  I have been using Concrobium which has worked great so far.
Hope the pay back days are over.

We made it:)

Looking for warmer weather...........

Chapter 3 Florida Cruising

December 7  Pearl Harbor Day

So here we are at MM 253 on the GIWW at anchor on a very cold dreary day. But we are on the boat  and our Pensacola refit is completed and I’m having Irish cream and coffee trying to stay warm.

We look like a sailboat again with new rigging, new 135 roller furling and reefing head sail, main sail with two reefing points, and stack pack main sail cover with lazy jacks.  Zern Rigging took care of our rigging needs and Shurr Sails supplied our sails.   Blue Coral made our half tower which now holds our propane tanks and solar panels.  We couldn’t be more pleased with the work and can highly recommend all their services.

Tammy, the office manager of the shipyard was wonderful and very accommodating.  We were in and out of the shipyard, many times without notice to Tammy and she always made room for us.

So here we are desperately trying to find warmer weather and starting a new chapter in our journeys.  Actually we are headed first to Tarpon Springs to spend the holidays with our son and his family.  We will be looking for that elusive weather window sometime early next week.  After the holidays we will head slowly for the Bahamas.

From this to →

This →

Happy Sailing!

Old Historic Pensacola Village and Joe Patti’s

November 22

While waiting for our new sails we had the opportunity to explore Pensacola.  Last weekend we were able to view the Blue Angels Homecoming, the last show of their season from our anchorage at Fort McRee.  This week we toured Historic Pensacola Village.  There are several museums to visit and with the exception of the Art Museum it only cost a very reasonable $7.00 per person.   Here are a few of the highlights we visited.  

We began our day at the interesting T.T. Wentworth Museum.  T.T. Wentworth was a businessman, politician and collector of historic artifacts.  He was also a charter member of the Pensacola Historic Society and left his vast collection to the state of Florida.  He was said to never throw anything away and his eclectic collection is well worth viewing. 

We were also impressed with the Trader Jon display within the same museum.  Martin Weissman was the eccentric owner of Trader Jon’s Bar well known for his mismatched socks and “Tradernomics”.  The establishment was one of Pensacola’s top tourist destinations for decades.  It was patronized by local military personnel as well as politicians and celebrities.  It closed in the 90’s after Trader Jon had a stroke. 

Also included in the T.T. Wentworth was a captivating display of 50 illustrated envelopes featured by The Art of ACE.  Art Cover Exchange was an organization active from 1935 into the 1950’s.  The members were from around the world and they would illustrate the envelopes used to mail letters to other members, often getting

their inspiration from released stamps, day to day life, and major issues of the day.  

The Julee Cottage was built around 1805 and named for one of its earliest owners, Julee Panton, a free woman of color.  The cottage is part of the self-guided tour and is a representation of a working class African-American family during the era of Reconstruction.

Old Historic Pensacola Village is all within walking distance of Joe Patti’s, a remarkable fresh seafood market with a staggering display of seafood.  The only downside of this shopping trip was the size of our freezer which will fit about one tray of ice cubes.  You can pull up to their docks at no charge.  We stayed 2 nights in order to tour the Village and ate fresh seafood for 4 wonderful days.  I highly recommend a stop at Joe Patti’s.  They also have a Beignet Stand in front of the store, so we had pastries covered!

Still waiting for sails……….

Blue Angels Homecoming Airshow 2017

We have been in the Pensacola area for the last 3 weeks waiting for our sails to be ready.  We have had the awesome experience of watching the Blue Angels practice every Tuesday afternoon.  November 10 and 11 they had their final show of the season.  

The Blue Angels is the United States Navy’s flight demonstration squadron with aviators from both the Marines and the Navy.  First formed in 1946 they perform from March to November ending with their final show at their homebase in Pensacola, FL.  The 6 demonstration pilots are currently flying the McDonnel Douglas F/A-18 Hornet.  Local weather conditions dictate whether the show will be a high, low or flat show.  The high show requires at least an 8,000 foot ceiling and visibility of at least 3 nautical miles from the show’s centerpoint.  Minimum ceilings for low and flat shows are 3,500 feet and 1, 500 feet, respectively. 

This is a big weekend attraction for the local boaters and they came in droves starting Thursday.  We came on Monday and there was only one other boat anchored.  This is what it looked like for the Friday show…….

There must be at least a 100 boats in here!!  I wonder if that should be a check off on the bucket list, anchoring with a hundred boats in one anchorage.  Hmmmm.

Anyway, it was a great show and we were happy to be among the many spectators.

Still waiting for the sails............

Fort McRee Anchorage

October 27, 2017

Fort McRee was one of three major installations constructed by the United States to strengthen defenses at Pensacola Bay following the War of 1812. 

Its construction lasted from 1834 and 1839; the facility was a three-tiered fort and a detached water battery close to sea level. It was located on the eastern tip of Perdido Bay on a stretch of beach known as Foster's Bank. It had a highly unusual shape because of its position on a small, narrow barrier island

Although the fort was completed in 1839, its 122 guns were not installed until sometime between 1843 and 1845. It is likely that many of these guns were not in place for some time due to several issues, the most important of which was a problem with rot beginning in the second tier wooden decking.

Fort McRee was named in April 1840 for Army engineer Colonel William McRee.                                 Exerpts from Wikipedia

Fort McRee was last used during World War II.  The fort was monitored by the US Navy until 1971 when it was turned over to the National Park Service after nearly 140 years of military use. 
                                                    

Some of the remains of Ft. McRee

We really enjoyed the wildlife and the shells along the shore.

The great blue heron

These herons have big feet!

   

The biggest seashell we have ever found on the beach

This anchorage is very busy during weekends but during the week it is pretty much deserted.

Back to Pensacola to get the mast stepped.  YAY! ~~~~~~~~→