Pensacola FL Sailing Blog - sailingnightwatch

Sunday morning the NOAA forecast seemed more like what we had received off the internet.  We ate breakfast and went back to the hotel and got back on line.  The front had slowed and was moving more Northerly.  It was time to go.

 9:00 A.M. we are off across Apalachicola Bay and through St George Cut into the Gulf.  This is one of the areas in which the ICW leads you into open water.  The wind was less than 10 knots out of the east.  It was also hazy.  The wind was suppose to move through the southeast and on to the west and increase to 15 knots.  Perfect as long as it did not stay to the SE to long.  John reminds me that gentlemen do no go to weather. 

 Our goal was to make Clearwater between 24 and 30 hours.  The favorable breeze lasted about an hour, and began to die.  During that time we motored at reduced RPM but soon we were back to cruising RPM.  We pulled the main in tight and the staysail after rolling up the Yankee.  We stood 3 on, 3 off watches.  By the time my 2-5 A.M. watch rolled around, the Gulf was as flat as I had ever seen it.  For those of you who have never sailed the waters in the Big Bend area, the area is shallow and the seas are always lumpy.  3-4 foot seas with 4 second periods seem to be the norm.   The winds are generally light.

Clearwater has a new claim to fame.  From about Tarpon Springs south past Clearwater, the gulf is full of Crab Traps.  One of the individuals we met at the Clearwater Yacht Club said they are thick out past 10 miles. 

 We spent several hours in the hotel bar drinking wheat beer and looking at the weather on several sites to help us get a better handle on when we could leave.   I was in favor of leaving in the morning from the information we gained.  John was reluctant.  We had gone into head seas leaving Destin and they where not as bad as the NOAA was forecasting for the next couple of days.

Apalachicola is the friendliest place I have ever been.  We met a man who was the owner of a store in which we were browsing and were discussing our fresh water pump problem and he called a marine store and told them our problem, and they had a replacement.  He then said if that did not work, he had a spare of the right size on his boat and would sell it to us.  He then gave us the keys to his SUV to go to the marine store.  In another case, we were looking for a wifi connection.  We asked at a hotel about hot spots for getting some work done and checking the weather.  The lady said use ours, and gave us the password.  The chef had to later come out to show me how to get an Apple on line with their wifi.      

The town, is known as the Oyster Capital of Florida, maybe even the world, and the seafood restaurants, are plentiful.  This quiet fishing town is changing itself to a quiet resort town.  With the attitude of the people, they should be successful.

 The weather said a big cold front is coming in the next 24.  20+ knots, 33 degrees, 6 foot seas. Therefore, we decide to hang around town.  We also were having  a fresh water pump that was acting up and need to go find a replacement. The problem was that the bad weather was to last through the weekend and give us a weather window on Tuesday.

 The ICW in this part of Florida runs through old rivers and is a nature lover’s paradise.  There is no development for miles.  We were surprised by the lack of birds.  I did see a Buzzard and that was not until we got close to the coast and the return of the sea birds.  The area is something to behold.  On the negative side, we did see dead heads floating in Lake Wimico.  Both were in the main channel and the tops were pointed with us.  A power boat with speed could very easily have their hull punctured.  Care should be exercised when transiting the area.  

We have a winter front coming and I am in favor of making a break for Clearwater in the morning or we will be stuck here till Tuesday.  John is trying to get the short wave tuned to weather.  The weather on the VHF has been very consistent, but does not match the isobar forecasts.  In truth, it does not sound like we are going tomorrow.