Change of Plans -

We’re bringing Bay Breeze home

Like what is happening with most people, our plans were changed by the Covid-19 pandemic. We had hoped to resume cruising Bay Breeze to the Florida Keys and perhaps even The Bahamas this year. But then, with the stay-at-home rules and common sense, we punted on cruising this spring.

Gasparilla Marina near Boca Grande

After self-isolating until Florida’s governor lifted the travel restrictions, we headed to Gasparilla Marina in Placida to bring Bay Breeze on a slow cruise back to our home dock. When we’re on the boat, we have very limited contact with others.

As is the norm, the wind was from the direction we wanted to go, so instead of sailing, the Yanmar diesel propelled us up to Sarasota where we stayed two nights at Marina Jack’s, taking advantage of a two-for-one special they had going. Then we motored across Tampa Bay to anchor overnight in Boca Ciega Bay. We enjoyed a supermoon, a full moon when the moon is closest to Earth.

Next stop was Clearwater. The city has a nice marina under the bridge to Clearwater Beach. The tide rips through the marina making docking challenging. It was great to have a new bow thruster assist our maneuvers into a slip. 

Knowing our usual cruising is off the table for the indefinite future, during this trip we opted to purchase a daysailer as a new pastime. We found a 1964 Pearson Ensign in Dunedin. With a hall-of-fame design by renowned naval architect Carl Alberg, she’s in good shape, needing just a little sprucing up. We were fortunate to have met up with Zeke, the founder of Ensign Spars that specialized in restoration of old Ensigns and builder of new boats from the original molds.

From Clearwater, the wind shifted enough for us to deploy our roller furler to motorsail up to Tarpon Springs, with a brief stop at Dunedin to meet with Pearson Ensign expert Zeke and look at the progress he was making with our new old boat. 

Things start to go awry.

It's always special when manatees visit

Tarpon Springs

Our early morning departure from Tarpon Springs was delayed when we had to go up the Anclote River to find diesel to top off our tanks. We had hoped that we might go offshore for the direct trip back to our home port. Our Plan B was an overnight at Cedar Keys and perhaps then on to Steinhatchee, then home.

With a Sirius Marine Weather subscription we can see the forecast for winds and waves as well as the current conditions and forecasts from NOAA National Weather Service in different marine zones. With all the information from various sources, we were perplexed with the variety of prognostications. Generally, it was good to have the weather information, but the accuracy was disappointing. Perhaps the weather forecast is good for general trends and big weather events, but we didn’t find it accurate for details. We have always trusted the “weather dog” (Send the dog outside. If he comes back wet, it’s raining. If he comes back dry, it’s sunny. If he doesn’t come back, it’s windy.)

With wind picking up as the day burned on, we elected to go to an anchorage off Seahorse Key, in the Cedar Keys, that we had visited before when time or weather made it a good choice. So we set the anchor and spent a rough, but tolerable, night bouncing on the wind and waves from the east and a strong tidal current aligning the boat perpendicular to the weather.

 

Sunset at anchor at Cedar Keys

Stormy morning as a front moves in.

Awakening at dawn, we saw a low cloud bank rolling in, as a front came from the northwest. Rain and wind were fierce and we were glad we were at anchor rather than out on the Gulf. As the front passed, conditions improved to a wonderful sunny day. We decided to pull up the anchor and head out to Pepperfish Keys. But, when we were out of the lee of islands, the Gulf was not settled, so we returned to Cedar Keys to wait another day. 

This time we took the opportunity to anchor the boat off Atsena Otie Key. Small boats and kayakers came from the town of Cedar Key to visit the Cedar Key National Wildlife Refuge. We anchored Bay Breeze off the refuge beach and took our inflatable to town to purchase ice. 

Somehow the safety clip on our outboard had disappeared and the outboard does not start without a safety clip. We made a temporary clip from a plastic bottle cap. At the town docks, Lee stayed with the dinghy while Marvin walked to the small grocery store to purchase ice and gallon bottles of water. 

When we returned to the boat, we visited the beach that, on one side of the island, was soft, powdery, white sand. The love bugs in the lee of Atsena Otie were overwhelming, covering the cockpit.

Because the tide was going out and our anchorage was getting shallow, even for our 30” draft, we decided to anchor again back at the same anchorage we had been at last night. Conditions were blustery. We set two anchors trying to better control the position of the boat in the tug-of-war between the wind and the tide. Unfortunately, our efforts only resulted in having two lines aligning under the keel, doing nothing to keep the boat into either the wind or tide.

Weather in the AM two days in a row - like groundhog day!

The night was a rocky and rolly one, again from the opposing wind and tide. In the morning, once again, a low cloud bank from another strong front greeted the sunrise and wind and rain came out of the northwest. Clearing in the late morning we decided to move our boat to a different anchorage near Atsena Otie Key as the wind was predicted to be out of the east. The island would provide shelter from the wind. 

As it would happen, the windlass switch wouldn’t work to haul the anchor so we had to power forward to retrieve the two anchors manually.

Atsena Otie - Cedar Key National Wildlife Refuge

This anchorage provided the best conditions. Although it was just off the channel, it was close enough to the island to block the wind. The waters are shallow, keeping the wave action down. It was a pleasant evening and the love bugs were not too bad in this spot. As the sun was setting, we watched as birds returned to their roosts. There were many black-crowned night-herons and roseate spoonbills, along with white ibis and a few herons and egrets.

In the morning we resumed our trip home taking the north channel out of Cedar Key. While the routes in and out of Cedar Key are a bit confusing, they are not as impossible to navigate as cruising books warn.

Winds were supposed to be favorable according to our Sirius weather. This was not actually the case during our trip home. The sailor’s curse of the wind coming from the direction of the destination prevailed. So it was with our 16-hour motor trip. Sirius weather predicted 10-knot winds; we had 20 knots. Sirius weather predicted 1 to 2’ seas; we had 2 to 4’ foot seas. 

Just at sunset, and only a couple hours away from arriving home, our autopilot, named Helmsley, went on strike. We had to self-steer the compass course in darkness. 

Fortunately, we could retrace a track from a former trip into our channel. The channel markers in our area are not up to USCG standards, but as a home port, we were familiar with the route and bolstered with the excitement of getting home. The hardest part is discerning the tripod that marks the channel entrance from all of the other blinking lights on markers and towers, and headlights from cars cruising the beach. It was a refreshing sight to see the St. Marks Lighthouse re-lit after so many years of being dark.

With Marvin on the foredeck using a spotlight to illuminate markers and Lee at the helm, we made it back to our dock with little anxiety on a clear and humid night. Finally, the wind had calmed to welcome us home. Marvin swung the boat around and sidled right into the dock with a perfect maneuver, in the dark.

In the morning we could assess our autopilot and found the tie rod that links the two rudders had snapped at a swivel joint, so we only had steerage from one rudder. Bulbs for an anchor light and foredeck down-spot were burned out. A bilge pump on a gray water sump died and had to be emptied with a hand pump and bucket. The windlass button on the deck had failed. All in all, while we had many wonderful upgrades and service done at Sailors Wharf in St Petersburg, being safe and maintained at the boat yard for a year took a toll on Bay Breeze. So now we have a couple dozen fixes on a to-do list. 

Being back at home, we were ready for Zeke to deliver the Pearson Ensign from Dunedin to St. Marks. We’ve decided to call her Calypso. Brett at Shields Marina helped us offload her from Zeke’s trailer. Then the sky opened up and lightning flashed across the sky. It was not a great time to raise the mast. After hours waiting for the downpour to lighten, we finally set the mast and launched Calypso. The three of us were tired and soaked. 

The next day conditions were calm enough for us to take our 13-foot Boston Whaler over to St Marks to tow Calypso to our dock. All went well as we navigated down the St Marks River for about seven miles to just off the historic St Marks Lighthouse. Seas had picked up. The Ensign and Whaler were tied together using the rudder on the Ensign to steer and the 40-hp Evinrude for power. In the increased waves and wind, the boats were taking a beating.

We anchored and called Sea Tow. We’ve found them to be more responsive than Tow Boat US in our area. Sea Tow arrived in about an hour and a half. As we waited, it was interesting to see how boating courtesy has changed over the years. Only one out of 20 boats slowed as they passed us and not a single boat came to see if two boats anchored together needed assistance. In fairness, we didn’t display any distress signal, but we’ve always been ready to check on boaters that may be having difficulties.

Sea Tow’s powerful boat easily towed Calypso, with Lee riding in the boat. Marvin followed in the Whaler. Safe at the dock, we secured the lines and began making a to-do list for Calypso. We look forward to daysailing this sporty vintage club racer. With a 3-ft draft, full keel we won’t have much worry about tides. 

With all the work and expense, and the hardships and challenges of cruising, some might question why folks would take to the waters. Well, for us, we find rewards in facing the challenges, solving problems, and satisfaction in reaching a destination. As for the work, someone said "there is nothing so worthwhile as messing about in boats.” As for the expense, it keeps the excess cash from building up.

So, cheers for the Presidente beer, skoal for the Aquavit at happy hour, salute for the rum when the day’s done.

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June 1, 2020