Catching Up

I know it's been a while since our last update, but I didn't get around to posting an update before we left for Missouri and time has just gotten away from me. On Friday, January 4th, we met Todd's sister, Jennifer, on the road between Orlando and St. Petersburg to pick up Todd's nieces, Shannon and Sarah, and come back to St. Petersburg where they dropped us off at Cathy's house and then went to spend the weekend with their father who lives in the Tampa area.

Todd's niece Shannon (left) with younger sister Sarah (right).


That evening we went to the V.I.P, a Mexican restaurant in Treasure Island, with Cathy and Mike & Mary where we shared a few pitchers of margaritas and sampled the local fare at one of Cathy's favorite restaurants. Mike & Mary left for Punta Gorda late Saturday morning to visit friends before continuing south to Isle of Capri where they plan to spend several weeks at another friend's dock.

Saturday afternoon Todd & I met Steve & Lisa at Tampa Bay Downs to watch the horse races. We had met Steve & Lisa at Cathy's New Year's Eve party and made plans to go to the horse races the following weekend. We tried several different strategies when placing bets, but in the end I made my choices based on the color of the jockey's clothing and, oddly enough, that seemed to work as well as anything! We ended up going over to Steve & Lisa's after the races to spend the night and stayed up late playing hearts and Catch Phrase and we even tried out Wii bowling, which neither of us had ever heard of! We had a really good time, though, and hope to see them again while we are in the area.

The four of us pose at Tampa Bay Downs as the horses roam around in the background.


Lisa and I display our winnings!


The Wii bowling experience - very interesting!


The Captain looks like a pro, doesn't he?


Isn't this special?!!!


We returned to Cathy's Sunday morning and enjoyed a beautiful, sunny day poolside before tackling various boat chores on Monday. Todd worked on more boat projects Tuesday while I spent several hours messing with our navigation software which has started locking up when we zoom in on certain charts, an issue that will have to be resolved before we venture too far south. Unfortunately, I didn't make any headway so a call to technical support may be in order.

On Wednesday we took "Life's2Short" to Gulfport Marina to pump out the holding tanks and then we went out into Boca Ciega Bay to test the autopilot and oil pressure gauge, both of which were out of commission during the Gulf crossing. For some reason the autopilot seems to be working fine now (go figure!) and we determined that the issue with the oil pressure gauge is a bad sending unit which should be an easy fix. We were back at Cathy's dock before noon and Warren & Robin arrived aboard "Pepi" about 1:30 that afternoon. We all met on Cathy's patio at 5:00 p.m. for a drink and then Warren & Robin joined us for dinner aboard "Life's2Short."

Thursday was a relatively lazy day with some time spent poolside before enjoying a wonderful meal of shrimp and angel hair pasta, courtesy of Cathy. Mo & Joe had driven down to St. Petersburg from Crystal River where "MOTU" is currently docked and were planning to spend several days on a friend's boat at a local marina, so we asked them if they would mind taking us to the airport Friday afternoon. They came over to Cathy's early Friday afternoon and we all visited for a while before heading to the airport to catch the flight to Missouri.

Lounging poolside at Cathy's. What a life!


Cooking with Cathy - always an experience!


We arrived in Springfield about 6:00 p.m. January 11th and were met at the airport by Nila & Everett Hayes. Everett is the one who came to our rescue last May when Todd needed someone to crew with him while I went back to Missouri to be with my mom. He and Nila also drove to Clarksville, TN this past August to spend a long weekend with us on the boat. We then drove to Shelly's house where she was having a get-together for the Dining Services management team. As you may recall, Todd was the General Manager of Dining Services at Missouri State University and Shelly took over as General Manager when Todd resigned.  We spent the next several hours enjoying a first-class meal prepared by Shelly and catching up with the management team before going back to Nila & Everett's to spend the night.

We had made arrangements to meet my parents in Lebanon, MO the next morning to go to their lake house at Lake of the Ozarks, so Nila & Everett drove us to Lebanon and we spent the next week at the lake house with mom and dad. Unfortunately, the weather was very cold and the fish were not biting so we spent most of our time there cooped up in the house. My brother, Dewayne, and his wife Pennie came up the following weekend and took Todd back to Lebanon Sunday afternoon where Shelly picked him up and took him back to Springfield.

I went back to Houston, MO with my parents Monday morning and stayed there until Wednesday when Todd picked me up and took me back to Springfield. Wednesday evening we got together with several former co-workers and friends and then Todd left with one of the University's vice president to go to the Missouri State men's basketball game while I stayed and visited with everyone. By Thursday I had developed a pretty nasty cold so I stayed at Shelly's house while Todd made his rounds on campus, touching base with various friends, former co-workers, employees, University administrators, etc.

That evening we went to Bob & Linda Eckels' house for dinner only to find that Linda was bed-ridden as a result of a foot operation the previous day. They purposely didn't tell us about the operation because they were afraid we wouldn't have come (and they were right!). Nonetheless, we spent a nice evening visiting with Bob and looking at dates for them to come see us in Fort Myers again this spring.

This is Molly, Shelly's little girl.


The Captain gives Dakota (Shelly's main man) some much-needed attention!


Todd went up to campus again on Friday while I stayed at Shelly's and got things packed for the return flight to St. Petersburg. That afternoon we picked Shelly up from work and went to the Springfield Brewing Company where we met a former co-worker, Tim Kilpatrick, and had a few drinks before heading to the airport. The flight appeared to be on schedule but after we boarded we were held up for 3-1/2 hours waiting for the plane to be de-iced! They finally got a de-icing truck that would work and we took off about 10:00 p.m., arriving in St. Petersburg at 12:45 a.m. where Cathy graciously picked us up.

I spent most of Saturday unpacking and putting things away while Todd tried to catch up on e-mail. Robin fixed lasagna Saturday evening and we all sat around chatting and playing Catch Phrase after Todd made a trip to Wal-Mart to purchase it. Sunday afternoon was spent enjoying the sun poolside while "Mr. Todd" put some low-lights in Cathy's hair. We told Cathy that Todd used to highlight my hair and she wanted to darken hers some, so Todd volunteered. Fortunately, it turned out well and Cathy was very happy with "Mr. Todd's" work!

"Mr. Todd" at his finest! Poor Cathy looks like she's being tortured!!!


Warren & Robin left this morning and plan to spend the next several days seeing the sights of Sarasota before continuing further south toward the Fort Myers area. After spending two very cold weeks in Missouri, we are grateful to be back in Florida, even though I am still trying to get over my cold and Todd has now come down with one. Hopefully, the Florida sunshine will expedite his recovery process.

The Final Weeks of 2007 and Ringing in the New Year!

We spent our final day (Tuesday, December 18th) in Crystal River doing odd jobs around the boat and then returned the rental car that we used to take John to Waycross, GA the previous day. Todd and Warren went over to Bob & Phillis' that afternoon to help Bob with some dock repairs and then Todd & I went back over that evening for a wonderful meal of Phillis' famous curry and a game of Mexican trash train.

After saying good-bye to Warren & Robin at the dock, we pulled out of the marina about 8:30 Wednesday morning. The trip to Anclote Key, our anchorage for the evening, was uneventful for the most part, but about half way there we managed to snag a crab pot so the Captain had to don his mask, snorkel and fins and dive under the boat in 66-degree water to cut the crab pot line off the shaft. Fortunately, he was able to remedy the problem quickly and didn't have to spend very much time in the chilly water! We had a photo of the Captain posing on the swim deck in his mask, snorkel and fins holding the crab floats and line that he cut off the shaft to post on the blog but somehow all of the pictures on the chip in his digital camera were erased so you'll just have to use your imagination!

We arrived at our friend Cathy's house in St. Petersburg about 1:00 Thursday afternoon and spent the rest of the day catching up and watching movies. Mike & Mary aboard "WhatDazeIt?" arrived about 2:00 the following afternoon and we spent another evening chatting and hanging out around the "campfire" we built in the fire pit in the center of Cathy's patio table. Cathy's friend Ed came over Saturday afternoon and we all played Ghettopoly (a "ghetto" version of Monopoly) that evening after dinner, although the majority of the game was between Cathy and Ed, with Cathy being crowned ghetto queen in the end!

Sunday was spent lounging around the pool and getting ready to leave for Todd's sister's (Jennifer's) house in Orlando the next day. Jennifer's daughter, Shannon, and Mark's son, Chris, drove over from Orlando to pick us up Monday afternoon. We arrived back in Orlando about 4:30, had a nice dinner and waited up for Mark's daughters, Rachel and Jessica, to arrive from Fort Myers. Christmas Day was relatively quiet once the gifts were all opened and some people napped while others watched movies or read. We had an early dinner that evening and Jessica and Chris headed back to Fort Myers to see their mother. The rest of us went to bed relatively early since we had all been up late the previous evening.

Jennifer & Mark and Shannon and Sarah all left for the airport about 3:30 a.m. on the 26th to catch an early flight to Denver, CO to visit Jennifer's (and Todd's) parents in Boulder while we house- and dog-sat for them. We took Mark's other daughter, Rachel, and her boyfriend, Mark, to the airport later that morning to catch a flight to Boston where Mark's sister lives and brought Jennifer's other vehicle back home. The rest of Wednesday was spent catching up on laundry while the Captain watched several hours of Texas Hold 'em.

Since we hadn't been to a movie theater in ages, we decided to go see a matinee Thursday afternoon. The movie tickets were $15 and the popcorn and sodas were another $16 so our little movie adventure turned into a $31 expense! Oh well, at least the movie was good ("The Great Debaters") and chances are we won't be going to see another movie any time soon - at least not at those prices!

We took a road trip to Crystal River on Friday to see Bob & Phillis and Mo & Joe. Mo & Joe got stuck up the Suwanee River and didn't make it to Crystal River until after we left so we wanted to try to see them while we were still relatively close. At any rate, we all went to lunch, along with Pat & Bill, another boating couple that Bob & Phillis and Mo have known for many years, and then visited on the patio a few hours before returning to Orlando. It looks like we may also see Mo & Joe in St. Petersburg within the next week as they are planning to spend a few days on a friend's boat in the St. Pete area.

On Saturday we went to Flea World in Sanford and spent a few hours browsing through the many booths that were selling everything from fresh produce to all the latest "As Seen On TV" gadgetry. It was quite an interesting place! We then went to Macaroni Grill to use a gift card we had been carrying around for several months and had a most excellent meal of mushroom ravioli (mine) and shrimp portofino (Todd's). We even had enough left over for dinner on Sunday evening!

Since we are thinking about wintering on the St. John's River next year, we took a road trip Sunday afternoon to a rather remote campground and marina on the St. John's where Todd's parents are planning to spend a few months in early 2008. Their boat is currently on the Cumberland River at Prizer Point and is being hauled to Florida later this month. The marina was pretty basic and didn't really offer any services for full-time cruisers, but I'm sure we will find something suitable between now and next winter. It isn't that we need much, but we do need access to laundry facilities and a grocery store and/or transportation of some sort and none of these appeared to be available at this location.

Jennifer, Mark and the girls were returning from Denver Monday afternoon so we dropped Jennifer's vehicle off at the airport and drove Shannon's vehicle back to St. Petersburg to attend Cathy's New Year's Eve party. It was a relatively small party with about ten "regulars" and a variety of other neighbors and friends drifting in and out all evening. We played poker for a while and then switched to Catch Phrase which was a lot of fun. As evidenced by the photos below, I think it's safe to say we all had a good time. Several of us even stayed up until 5:00 a.m. New Year's Day!








This is what happens when you look through the wrong side of the viewfinder while taking a picture!






Todd is playing poker with H.I.D., one of Mike & Mary's Jack Russell Terriers.








Cathy and Taz were smarter than most of us and went to bed before 5:00 a.m!


Cathy and Mary on the couch late morning New Year's Day fighting over a blanket.


The weather turned cold Tuesday with overnight temperatures below freezing in many areas, and today's high is supposed to be in the low- to mid-50's so we have been hibernating in the boat for the most part. Mike & Mary had planned to continue their journey south by today but are going to sit tight until the weather improves. As for us, we are planning to make a trip back to Missouri on the 11th and will be gone for a couple of weeks visiting family and friends. In the meantime, we will just be hanging in St. Pete doing more never-ending boat projects and hopefully enjoying some of that nice Florida weather (as soon as it returns!).

What a Week!

Chapter 1: The Gulf Crossing

As planned, we left Crooked Island early Wednesday afternoon, December 12th, and arrived at White City about 4:00 p.m. It was foggy the next morning so Todd spent a little time fishing and came back to the boat with a nice flounder. We left White City at 10:00 a.m., after the fog cleared, and ran in to dense fog a few miles before we reached Miller Marine in Apalachicola. We topped off with fuel and the fog appeared to be clearing about an hour later, so we tried to leave and were back tied to the dock within 15 minutes. It was 2:00 in the afternoon and the fog was so thick on the south side of the bridge that we couldn't see 200 feet in front of us! We waited all afternoon for the fog to lift but it never did.

The Captain took this photo from the Gulf looking back at Crooked Island.

About 4:00 that afternoon we heard a boat hailing Miller Marine on the VHF but Miller wasn't answering so Todd answered the call and asked if he could help. Jack, the captain of the boat "Flagmaker," and his crew member John were headed south in the fog and were looking for Miller Marine. He asked if Todd could shine a light his direction so he could find the dock. Todd turned on the spotlight and "Flagmaker" materialized out of the fog a few moments later. We were both planning to leave to do the crossing that evening but were not interested in trying to navigate through Apalachicola Bay in dense fog, so we ended up spending the night at Miller Marine.

We woke up Friday to more dense fog but it finally started clearing about 11:30 so we left the dock with "Flagmaker" and made an impromptu decision to go out into the Gulf through Government Cut to do the crossing. "Flagmaker" was able to travel quite a bit faster than "Life's2Short" so we lost sight of Jack and John within a few hours and continued on our own.

Sometime that evening, after dark and about 60 miles into the crossing, the oil pressure gauge on the starboard engine started fluctuating wildly so Todd shut down the engine and we continued on one engine which caused our speed to drop from about 9.5 mph to 7.5 mph. This may not sound like much but it added more than two hours to what was already going to be an incredibly long trip. Our auto pilot was also not working which made steering more difficult than we had ever imagined.  When you are out in the Gulf with absolutely nothing to orient yourself to, it is virtually impossible to keep the boat on course without fighting the wheel constantly, and even then you are off course more than you are on!

About 12:30 a.m., twelve hours into the crossing, the wind and seas picked up and we began taking waves on the bow making for a very uncomfortable ride and making steering even more difficult. We arrived at the entrance to the Crystal River channel about daybreak (6:45 a.m.) but had been dodging crab pots with the spotlight for two hours prior, straining to see through periods of light showers. We were just grateful at this point that there was no fog!

Our friend Bob who lives in Crystal River came out to Shell Island in his boat to meet us and escorted us the rest of the way to King's Bay where we tied up in a slip at Pete's Pier Marina. We had planned to anchor out in King's Bay but the forecast for the next day was stormy with winds gusting 40 to 50 mph so we decided the marina was our best option. Bob helped us get the boat secured and then had a couple of Bloody Mary's before leaving us to crash at 10:30 a.m., 23 hours after we left Miller Marine the previous day. At this point I had been awake 27 hours and Todd had been awake 28 hours. Needless to say, we were both beyond worn out!

Chapter 2: "Flagmaker"

"Flagmaker" arrived at Pete's Pier just before noon on Saturday and tied up in a slip a few boats away from us. They had anchored in the ship channel north of Crystal River about 1:00 a.m. and caught a few hours of sleep before making the final trek to King's Bay. We got up mid-afternoon Saturday and were still dragging our tails so we fixed a light dinner of Todd's fresh-caught flounder and were back in bed by 9:00 that evening.

In the meantime, Bob had met Warren & Robin whose boat "Pepi" is also in a slip at Pete's Pier and Jack & John aboard "Flagmaker" and had invited all of us to have dinner with he and his wife Phillis Sunday evening at their house. By Sunday we had pretty much recovered from the crossing, at least in terms of catching up on our sleep! The storms that had been forecast moved in overnight and we received 2-1/2 inches of rain with strong, gusty winds. It was also very windy on Sunday but the rain was gone and the temperatures were still quite pleasant.

Bob picked us up mid-morning on Sunday and gave us their car to use so I went to the laundromat to catch up on three weeks of laundry while Todd ran a few errands with Phillis. About 5:00 Sunday evening Todd went to get Jack & John to go to Bob & Phillis' and Jack told him they had decided to spend their final night on the boat getting things in order so they could leave early the next morning. He and John were planning to rent a car and drive to Jack's house in Waycross, GA to drop John off and then Jack and his wife Linda were going to come back to the boat and take it to its final destination on the Atlantic near Waycross.  At any rate, the rest of us went to Bob & Phillis' and had a most excellent meal of "Rosetti spaghetti" topped off with Robin's wonderful homemade cookies.

Robin and Phillis dish up "Rosetti spaghetti."


Robin & Warren are between Todd and myself with our hosts, Phillis & Bob, in the front. A fun evening with good friends!


The weather turned cold overnight and it was in the mid-30's by Monday morning. We had planned to go with Bob & Phillis to have lunch with Mo and her friend Joe who are stuck thirty miles up the Suwanee River aboard "MOTU" due to wind and low water. Shortly after 10:00 a.m., just as we were getting ready to leave to meet Bob & Phillis, John frantically knocked on our boat and told Todd he thought Jack was dead! Todd immediately called 911 and went over to "Flagmaker" to check on Jack, thinking he might be able to administer CPR. However, based upon Jack's body temperature, Todd immediately knew that Jack had been dead for several hours and had apparently passed away peacefully in his sleep.

A variety of emergency personnel were dispatched to the marina and arrived a short time later. The paramedics officially informed us that Jack was, in fact, gone and poor John was understandably devastated. Not only did John work for Jack managing his company in Tennessee, Jack was also his uncle and trusted friend. They had spent the past week together on the boat moving it from Mobile, AL to Crystal River, FL and had discussed many deeply personal and heartfelt issues along the way, which served to further bond their relationship.

It was several hours before the medical examiner arrived to examine and release the body so Bob & Phillis, who had canceled their plans to have lunch with Mo & Joe, invited us over to their house for lunch. John was very concerned about Jack's wife Linda and wanted to get to Waycross to be with her as soon as possible so he rented a car and we offered to drive him to Waycross as soon as the medical examiner was finished. The medical examiner had arrived by the time we returned to the marina and once John got his personal items off the boat we made the 200-mile trip to Waycross, GA, dropped John off at Linda's house and arrived back at the marina shortly after 11:00 Monday evening.

John was extremely grateful for our assistance and we were more than happy to do anything we could to help him during this most difficult experience. I should also note that Bob & Phillis, Warren & Robin and several other people at the marina were very supportive and did whatever they could to ease John's pain as he struggled to cope with Jack's death. Our thoughts and prayers are with he and Linda and their family as they come to terms with this unexpected tragedy.

The manner in which Jack died is reminiscent of the experience Todd and I had just over two years ago when we lost our best friend, Duane, on the Tennessee River on the last day of our boating vacation. As with Duane, Jack was by all accounts healthy, active and physically fit. Duane was 57; Jack was 60. We believe Duane may have died of an aneurysm whereas Jack appears to have died of a massive stroke or heart attack, but the suddenness with which both occurred is stunning.

Our friends and families are aware of how Duane's death impacted us, but for those who don't know, Duane's untimely death is what prompted us to leave our jobs, sell our home and all of our worldly possessions and do what we are currently doing. Our boat is named "Life's2Short" in Duane's honor and for anyone who doubts that life is, in fact, too short, Jack is another prime example. None of us know how much time we have, so please make the most of it and do what's important to you while you still can. The next breath you take could be your last!

A tribute to Jack and his beloved boat, "Flagmaker." He will be sorely missed!

Exploring the Gulf Coast

It was cold the morning of Tuesday, December 4th, and we had frost on the bow of the boat. We left Ingram Bayou at 9:30 and arrived in Pensacola around 1:00 p.m. We anchored in Little Sabine Bay and dinghied over to The Market (a well-stocked, if expensive, little grocery store/market just east of Beach Marina) to pick up a few items, went back to the boat and then dinghied back over to meet Dave about 5:00 p.m.

As I mentioned in the last blog update, we met Dave in July of 2006 at the Demopolis Yacht Basin and have kept in touch since. We went to a local restaurant called Flounders, had a few happy hour beverages and ate complimentary popcorn and hors d' oeuvres. The waitress told us the hors d' oeuvres were provided by the restaurant for the Martini Club but that anyone could help themselves, so we did and ate enough popcorn, fried shrimp and stuffed mushrooms to serve as dinner!

This is the redfish Todd caught in Ingram Bayou. We have a couple of nice fillets in the freezer just waiting to be consumed!


This is our friend Dave at Flounder's in Pensacola.


On Wednesday we did the tourist thing and walked around Pensacola Beach, although we were pretty much the only tourists there. We were told that this is the off season and things don't really get hopping until summer. Nonetheless, the sand is beautiful and the beaches are spacious but it was a little too windy to enjoy a leisurely stroll on the beach. Dave met us at Paddy O'Leary's about 3:00 p.m. and we went by his house so he could walk the dogs (Jack and Chester) before going to eat at a local Thai restaurant he frequents. The food was excellent and we ate so much that we called it an early evening, said our good-byes to Dave and went back to the boat to veg out.

The deserted but beautiful expanse of white sand on Pensacola Beach.


Our anchorage in Little Sabine Bay, Pensacola.


We made the six-hour run to Destin on Thursday and anchored in Destin Harbor. Dinner that evening was crab-stuffed Flounder, courtesy of a Dog River fisherman. Todd struck up a conversation with the fisherman the morning we left Dog River Marina and was asking how to catch, clean and cook Flounder. The guy happened to have one in his live well and offered it to us. I then found a crab stuffing recipe on the Internet and we were all set - a most excellent meal!

On Friday we dinghied over to shore and walked around downtown Destin, although it didn't take us long to determine that there wasn't much to see. We then dinghied over to the beach at East Pass on the other side of the harbor to see what we could find. The sand was very nice and the water was beautiful, but the area is all condominiums with no retail establishments or restaurants of any kind. We did run in to a guy who lives there on his sailboat, though, and he told us that AJ's was the place to go so we dinghied back across the harbor to AJ's where Todd enjoyed their happy hour (11 a.m. to 7 p.m.) oyster special.  By late afternoon the wind had really picked up so we called it a day and dinghied back to the boat.

This is a view of Destin Harbor as we entered.


Here are some sunset photos the Captain couldn't refuse - very nice!




The view at East Pass looking east.


Also at East Pass, looking north. The sand and water were spectacular!


This is the north side of the entrance to Destin Harbor.


This is AJ's World Famous Seafood and Oyster Bar.


The Captain enjoying his happy hour oysters on the half shell at AJ's.


It was foggy Saturday morning and we weren't able to pull anchor until 9:00 a.m. We had considered running offshore to Panama City but decided that the Gulf was too rough for an all-day (60 mile) offshore run. Once we got out into Chocktawhatchee Bay the fog seemed to worsen and we struggled along with about one-eighth of a mile visibility for the next ninety minutes or so. Along the way, after the fog cleared, we saw a number of porpoises, several of which swam alongside the boat surfing our wake. One even jumped about six feet high right in front of the bow a number of times. The Captain loves to watch the porpoises and went down to "greet" them every time they surfaced! We made it to Smack Bayou, just south of Panama City around 4:30 where we anchored with three other sailboats.

The porpoises surfing our wake between Destin and Panama City.

One of the three sailboats anchored with us in Smack Bayou.


Sunday was a quiet, beautiful day on the water, close to eighty degrees, and other than working on re-doing the weather stripping around the front windows, we just relaxed and enjoyed it. Monday was another beautiful, warm day so we dinghied over to the Panama City Marina and walked all around downtown Panama City, which was much more enjoyable than what we saw of downtown Destin. We ate lunch at Cassandra's (homestyle cooking, just like mom's!) and then made a trip to the downtown grocery outlet for a few essentials before heading back to the marina.

Just as we were getting ready to leave the marina and dinghy back to the boat, I heard someone say my name in the marina store and turned around to see who it was. I didn't recognize the woman but she recognized us from our blog photos and we knew her "electronically" by her AOL screen name. Come to find out she also knows Mo ("MOTU") and had taken Mo to Wal-Mart when she passed through Panama City about a month ago. She offered to do the same for us but we declined since we really didn't need anything very badly. At any rate, it was nice to finally meet Greg, learn her "real" name and put a face with it.

We left Smack Bayou Tuesday about 11:00 a.m. and went over to the marina to top off with water and pump out. We then made a two-hour offshore run in about four-foot waves to Crooked Island - not a pleasant trip! But the water was calm in the anchorage and it was another beautiful eighty degree day so we put down the dinghy, went over to the beach and strolled around looking for shells and listening to the pounding waves for a couple of hours before returning to the boat for the evening.

There appears to be a good weather window for crossing the Gulf on Thursday and Friday before a cold front moves through and shuts everything down for several days, so we are planning to leave Crooked Island later today and go as far as White City. Tomorrow we will proceed to Apalachicola with a stop at Miller Marine to top off with fuel before continuing on to St. George Island where we will anchor for a few hours and then head out into the Gulf later that evening with plans to make a 140-mile crossing to Crystal River.

This should put us in Crystal River sometime Friday afternoon before the cold front hits but it also means we will be traveling non-stop for more than fifteen hours, about nine of which will be in total darkness. Needless to say, I am more than a little apprehensive about the journey, especially since our auto pilot isn't working, but we either need to go now or be delayed several days due to the cold front. So, as things stand right now, that is our plan. The next couple of days are going to be challenging so please keep us in your thoughts as we set out across the Gulf and pray that the wave forecast of one-foot or less is accurate!