Finally moving on to southern Florida...we hope!

This morning Chief Stew (Jane) and I are enjoying what promises to be our last day on the 'Forgotten Coast' of Florida. We are in Apalachicola (26 degrees last night), and we are scheduled to leave with a caravan of boats for Clearwater at 2pm tomorrow (Friday).

We have enjoyed the panhandle immensely. We have re-acquainted ourselves with PCB, and gotten to know Apalachicola (and several loopers in waiting) during our 7 day stay here. Very proud fishing (oysters) history here...as opposed to 'little drinking village with a fishing problem'. We have expansive views of brackish river and marshlands emptying in to the Gulf of Mexico. We have been in the panhandle area for 67 days now, having spent nearly 30 days of that in Michigan with family.

Christmas Tree in Le Reve at PCB

So what does one do with the other 37 days?

In addition to the trips to 'the PIG' (Piggly Wiggly) in the marina golf cart, light shopping in nearby town, two rounds of golf in PCB, several movie outings (loved Molly's Game), Happy Hour with other loopers, occasional dinner in the town, and a couple days on the beach back when it was warm....Captain Bob has had a couple projects:

• Installed mounts and extension to hold my tablet with Navionics software at the helm that is removable and fitted to a suction mount in the dinghy. I LOVE my Navionics charts and now I can use them on Le Reve, or in the dinghy.

Helm Tablet Mount

• Routed Salon A/C and Heat to the helm area in the flybridge. Originally intended to keep us a bit cooler on very hot/still days, this will be much appreciated for the heat when we cross the gulf in 35 degree temps!

New Helm HVAC Diffuser

• Sanded and oiled the time worn teak parquet floor in the galley.

Reconditioned Teak Galley Floor

• Replaced sundeck refrigerator/freezer/ice maker.
• Measured/sourced/ordered rolled teak and holly flooring to spruce (excuse the pun) up the two heads.
• Sanded and re-oiled the teak swim platform to good as new.

Reconditioned Swim Platform and Stairs

• Replaced the seawater rubber impeller on the starboard engine as routine maintenance, Old one was in good shape, so deferred changing the port engine impeller until in get to a marina and let them deal with the much smaller space on that side.
• Replaced 10 zinc anode rods on the engines and transmissions.

Science lesson.

The zinc is less stable than the valuable steel engine parts such as rods, crankcase, pistons, etc. There is always stray current in the water, especially saltwater, and this current will corrode steel...damaging the engines. These zinc rods are a 'sacrificial' metal that is designed to corrode before the steel will, thereby protecting the engine metals. These must be changed monthly now that we are saltwater.

• Washed air filter elements.
• Disconnected the 'Lo Water Temp' alarm on the Depth/Temp/Speed indicator. It is an original instrument (28 years old) and sending a false alarm that disturbed the Chief stew...I couldn't hear it! After fussing with it for a full day and talking with the repair service, we determined best to just disconnect the alarm. Much to do about nothing.
• Rigged a second anchor.
• Repaired display face on the Windlass display panel.
• Removed unsightly old caulk around rub rail (over 100').
• Removed old caulk around helm and re-caulked.
• Removed, resealed and replaced dinghy cradle on top on sundeck.
• Removed, resealed deck hatch window (grandson Ben's favorite escape route from the front stateroom).
• Many trips to hardware, West Marine, Caterpillar and other stores for materials. 

View from our dock at Apalachicola

 

So, on to SW Florida. This will be a 180 mile voyage from Apalachicola, through East Pass near Carrabelle, and then directly to Clearwater Pass. We will leave our dock in Apalachicola at 2:30 pm on Friday, and arrive at Clearwater Pass around 10:30 am on Saturday. Yes, this will be an overnight voyage, because we must depart and arrive in daylight. We will be asea for 20 hours at  9.5 MPH. Once we arrive through Clearwater Pass we will proceed another 20 miles to the                  Venoy Marina in the heart of St Pete. We will have FINALLY arrived in St Pete on January                20th...not December 12, as we had planned.

All is good, and I am loving every minute of this adventure.

Happy New Year to all,

Captain Bob