TIM PATTI RILEY BIG ADVENTURE: November 2017

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

11/19/2017

Coming to you from Clearwater, FL.

We left Panama City on Sunday 11/12. Sunny day with only small white caps on the open bays. Pretty uneventful. We ran to White City & stayed on a free dock with no amenities. Many buzzards, I guess because of all the fisherman cleaning their catch. No cell service. We are back in Eastern Standard Time Zone. That's good for me. Never get used to time changes. We sat out on the dock for awhile watching some giant bugs (I think I mentioned, I don't like bugs). I was told they were Palmetto Bugs & get used to it. Like that is going to happen! Anyway, looked more like giant beetles to me. Are Palmetto bugs black? I managed to feed a couple to the fish.

We stayed at Apalachicola next. Only 1 night. The marina we originally planned did not work. The docks were not big enough. Went up the river a little & stayed at Scipio. New owner, is currently renovating. Uneventful.

We went to Carrabelle in the morning to wait for a weather window to cross the gulf. The day was sunny & the water was choppy & skinny. On our first morning there we woke to find the stern was sitting in the mud. Low tide & skinny water. Not a good combo. We waited till the tide came up & moved to another dock where the water was deeper. The people at the marina went & measured dock widths till they found one the would accommodate our beam. As it turned out, they were partially right. We could not get all the way back. Docks in FL tend to be pilings with just a short dock near shore. We need that to get us all off the boat. Especially Riley. We were able to tie up close enough to the dock with a little grease (just kidding) & Tim's expert docking abilities. Yea, Tim.

The Gulf can be crossed slow or fast. Our boat is capable of a fast crossing, but we were unable to find a fast buddy boat to cross with. It is safer to cross with a buddy & we absolutely needed one as our radar is not working & we were unable to get it fixed at this time. So instead of a 10 hour daylight crossing it was 21 hours. Our buddy boat was Donna Mae. We saw the sunset & sunrise while on the Gulf. The stars were awesome. As predicted, around midnight, the seas kicked up, so we were rocked around a bit. When we finally got to the approach to Clearwater, the sun was shining in our eyes. Poor timing. To make matters worse we were now on 30 hours without sleep & having to dodge crab pots. It is not something I would do again. Riley agrees. I had pee pads, with his scent on them. He would not use them no matter how I prompted him. When we made land, we ran off the dock & he stopped at the first tree & created quite a puddle. Then it was nap time. The plan was 2 days in Clearwater, but we ended up staying 3. Riley got to go to the beach & charge the surf & meet a horseshoe crab.

ABANDONED BRIDGE GIWW

DOCK PARTNER??

ABANDONED BRIDGE GIWW

CARABELLE DOCK

DOLPHIN IN OUR WAKE

GIWW

RILEY WATCHING DOLPHINS

SUNRISE ON THE GULF

CLEARWATER BEACH SUNSET

SUNSET ON THE GULF

TIM ENJOYING OYSTERS

A MAN & HIS DOG, AKA TIM & RILEY

Saturday, November 11, 2017

11/11/2017

Panama City, FL. Arrived yesterday. Staying at least today. Wind is howling. When we do run, the plan is Carrabelle via Apalachicola to wait for crossing window.

When we left The Wharf, we went to an anchorage at Fort McRee. Best yet. Protected & surrounded with sandy beaches. Riley got to run. He also thought it was fun to run in the water. He quickly learned, one does not drink salt water! It was near Pensacola, so we were treated to a free air show. The Blue Angels were practicing for the Veterans Day air show. A pod of dolphins swam right next to our boat. At night we had the swim platform lights on & saw a school (gam) of baby sharks (pups) just hanging around. We grilled burgers & were joined for dinner by our traveling partners, Lori & Derek.

Next morning we headed to Bahia Mar Marina to pick up props. It was a short run. Lori & Derek traveled on. We spent the night, picked up newly refurbished props & received lift struts Tim had ordered from Amazon. Now all we need is oil & filters, so he can change all that before we cross the Gulf.

Next stop Rocky Bayou. It was a little of a wake up call for me. It was cloudy, windy with some rain. We got out in the bay & realized it was pretty choppy. I was used to being in the ditch where weather was not really an issue. Looking around at the water, it was 3 -5's! No one else was out. Not that Craic couldn't handle that, but had we been at home, we would not have gone out unless we had to. Lesson learned. Pay attention. We are now back to some open waters. (That is why we decided to stay in Panama City another day). We were able to run on plane for some of the time, which made the trip faster. We ended up in Niceville, FL for one night.

On our run to Panama City, there was plenty of open water. Problem, very skinny. Do not nose out of the channel. We found ourselves in 2ft or less. Some of the buoys for the channel were missing, hence the skinny water dilemma. I was monitoring my Garmin charts & Tim his Navionics. The sail line was not always the same. Garmin wins😃

Another Riley Story. He was at his usual place at the stern, guarding against who knows what, when he started barking like crazy. I looked back & not only was he barking, but backing up as fast as he could. He pressed himself against me at the helm seat & peeked at the back of the boat. I looked & saw nothing. He does have better eyes. I went back & in the wake, dolphins were following us. Guess he will take on Asian carp, but dolphins are a little too big! Or maybe he watched Jaws when we were not home??? He could be excused from not knowing the difference between sharks & dolphins. Anyway, I gave him a pass.

SPEAKS FOR ITSELF!

BLUE ANGELS

MORE BLUE ANGELS

DOLPHINS, VIEW FROM OUR BOAT AT NICEVILLE

FERRIS WHEEL AT THE WHARF (YES WE RODE IT)

FORT MCREE ANCHORAGE

SAND DUNES ALONG THE DITCH

VIEW FROM BOAT AT NICEVILLE

SUNSET PANAMA CITY

MOON WHILE ANCHORED

LIGHT SHOW AT THE WHARF

Monday, November 6, 2017

November 6, 2017

We are currently in Orange Beach, AL at The Wharf Marina. We arrived Saturday 11/5. The plan is to leave Wednesday for an anchorage near Pensacola & a free air show. While here we found a diver to change the props. We hit a dead head in the ditch after the last lock. He seems to think we will be happier with the 4 blade vs 3 blade. We shall see.
Now if we can just get the radar to work. Someone looked at it, but found no solution. Tim is now taking it apart.....to be continued.

We have been doing long days to get here. Anywhere from 50 to 70 miles per day. At not quite 10mph, that is a long day filled with tows & locks. Speaking of locks, we went thru our last one till we get back up north. Once thru the Coffeeville Lock, we hit salt water. Tim & Craic both shuddered. They are still quietly sobbing. 😢

The monotony was broken by wildlife sightings. A large coyote was standing on shore just watching us pass. Eagles flying low to catch dinner. And last but not least an alligator. It was huge, (at least I thought it was). My guess 12 feet. And my personal favorite, moths. I have never seen such BIG moths. First time I heard one, I thought Black Hawk. I swear it is only a slight exaggeration. 😇

Arriving in Mobile Bay was a shock after days of traveling the ditch. Civilization! Big & bustling. Ships, tows, barges, city buildings. We left the shipping channel & cut across the bay. It was odd to see so much water with so little depth. Average about 7 foot. Once again my eyes were glued to the depth finder. We made it to the GICW without incident. Nice area.

Anchoring presents a challenge for Riley. Tim can not take him to shore after dark due to the wild creatures. Just not safe for either of them. That makes for a long night for him, Riley not Tim. Not to mention the lack of grass. Grass is his toilet. I told him he could relieve himself on the boat, but so far, no go. (Pun intended). Speaking of Riley, he did not need to go to the vet. His limp is gone. A dock hand suggested he may have been bitten by fire ants. She said that happens to her dogs. Given what Tim said about him just standing in the grass when he yelped, it made sense to me. Limp is gone & he is running like the wind again. His new favorite thing to save us from, Pelicans.

Here's a little ditty (no not Jack & Diane) about the garage & the inflatable. We carry the inflatable on the swim platform. Works well. We also have a very large "garage" in the transom. When we first saw the set up we thought "this is great. Storage & an easy way to carry the inflatable". Now the problem. The garage is packed. We mostly stern into a dock for ease of egress. When sterned in, we cannot get the inflatable off the platform. Hence no access to the garage. It has become a standing joke. When someone asks for something, we say, oh yea, we have that, but it is in the garage. People we have been traveling with automatically say, "I know, it's in the garage." We have slowly been moving things to other places on the boat or going without. Moral: Theory & practice do not always jive.

One day while running the river, I was taking down canvas. All of a sudden the engine noise was very loud. I looked at the cockpit floor & to my great surprise, saw it opening. I started yelling, "What are you doing?" Tim of course denied, he had anything to do with it. Riley was trying to find a place that was stable. I, of course, was still blaming Tim & telling him to stop. He was yelling, that I was causing the problem. Not possible, I'm just taking canvas down. Turns out it was possible. Unknown to me, there is a switch on the side of the ice maker which controls the floor. I just happened to be balancing with my foot pressed against the switch. Moved my foot, put the floor back down & all was well. Of course I apologized profusely for blaming him. 😁

We have run into some very cold weather. I did not pack for that. We were going south. It's warm there, right? Wrong. We have had nights in the 30's & days with wind, no sun & 50 -60. Hopefully that is behind us. I had on so many layers, I looked like the kid from the Christmas story.