It was time for us to start the return trip home. We are now into Hurricane season and have already seen a couple of named storms, including Colin that formed essentially over us, disrupting our planned crossing to Cuba. Not only that, but there is that four letter word starting with "W" - but it does pay the bills!
Our return trip took us from Veradero to Key West, with a night in the party town - then on to Marco Island, Tarpon Springs, cross the Big Bend to Apalachicola (which is where I am while starting to write this). So I will cover those legs pretty briefly in this post. PS note - finished this blog in Apalachicola, (June 26).
Veradero to Key West
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| Approaching a Storm |
Leaving Veradero we encountered our worst storm so far on this trip. We always try to sail conservatively and avoid bad weather, but this one caught us. Leaving the marina, we saw the storm, but it appeared as though it would pass ahead of us quickly. We considered holding off on exiting the channel/bay just outside of the marina, but pressed on. Interesting side comment/thought - I have learned that when you have such "gut thoughts", it is often good to listen to them. This was certainly the case when we abandoned out first attempt at crossing to Cuba. But this time we pressed on. We motored (good decision), waiting for the storm to pass before putting up the sails. As you may have guessed by now, the storm turned, chasing us and quickly we found ourselves in the middle of it all. Using the radar to check on its extent - yes, we were well into the middle and it seemed to be traveling with us. It was black behind, in front, and to the sides. Lightening was increasingly frequent. 1-2-3-flash; 1-2, flash; 1-flash. It was intense and nowhere to go. The winds started to build - 20, 25, 30, 35 then gusts to 38. We were motoring with bare poles, suddenly with a following sea we were doing 8.5 kts. After about 2 hours, things subsided and a "notch" appeared ahead of us - this was visible on radar and as a clearer area of sky.. It was in our direction of travel, so we stayed with it. The storm started to dissipate and veer off our course. Another 30-45 minutes and we were back to clear skies. All was well. Of course the cameras don't really come out that much in a storm, but we did get a couple of shots taken just before things really hit..
Our overnight crossing to Key West went pretty well from this point onwards.
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| Screen shot of AIS Display |
The most notable things were the strong current of the gulf stream at times, and the very heavy traffic in the Florida Straights. Once again, thank goodness for AIS. A screen shot of one of our heavier areas gives an idea of what we were up against. At one point, I counted a stream of 7 freighters that we had to cross. One-by-one, I pointed at their sterns to ensure they would cross ahead of us. It took us several hours and took us about 5 miles off our course to ensure a safe transit across this busy shipping lane.
One freighter called us on the VHF to tell us he was stopping his engines and drifting as he had to wait for his port entry time. He was slap bang in the middle of the shipping lane and right ahead of us.
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| Approaching Key West at Sunrise |
We arrived in Key West the next morning to a beautiful sunrise. We were in the slip at Conch Harbor Marina by around 9 am. At nearly $200 per night - this was a one-night stay! We relaxed by the pool and toured the town - except that me and the Admiral were suffering from a stomach upset. We puzzled over what we had eaten different to the rest of the crew - the only thing we could put it down to was a frozen lemonade just before leaving Veradero.......maybe they used unfiltered ice? who knows, but we did miss out on the Key West nightlife in favor of Peptobizmol, ginger ale, and an early night!
Checking in to Key West - three of us had registered with the Small Vessel Reporting System (SRVS). So we called the 800 number to check in. I had also filed the voluntary float plan......but, two of us had renewed our passports since registering. The Department of Homeland Security requires an in-person visit as there is no way to update your passport online, so we had to make the taxi-treck to the Key West airport. I got a grilling over trash disposal..."what trash did you bring back, fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy products?"...."we ate it all, our only trash is plastic drinking water bottles"...."what did you do with that?"........"disposed of it at the marina".....wrong answer - apparently ALL trash has to be disposed of in 3 mil black plastic bags and then disposed at an APHIS-approved facility (Key West Airport in this case). Oh well, too late - the agent told me she would make a record of it in my SRVS registration, and gave me a copy of the regulations. I also called the USCG as the instructions with the USCG permit to Enter Territorial Seas (CG330) said they "recommend we report in to inform them of our safe arrival". The USCG seemed surprised at our call, and didn't even ask the name of the boat. Oh well, we informed them! Interesting that coming home was much more of a hassle than checking in to Mexico or Cuba - in both cases, the officials came to see us, were polite, friendly and courteous taking shoes off to board the boat. In the US, we had to take taxis to see them, and got our wrists slapped!
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While in Key West, we saw our name-sake, "Midnight Sun". We had heard them on the VHF, but unfortunately the owners were not on board. We left them a boat card and a note, but have not heard from them. What a nice looking classic boat!
Key West to Marco
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| Midnight Sun II at Marco Yacht Club |
The next morning, we set sail for Marco Island. on previous trips we had encountered constant crab traps, so although this was a long leg, I wanted to make the trip in daylight. Having been in to Marco in the dark before, I was not too concerned about a nightfall arrival. As it turned out, there were very few crab traps on the route - I am not sure why, but maybe there is a season. Those that we did see could have been ones that were lost or not retrieved for some reason. This leg was about 92 miles, and with some motor-sailing, we managed to make the inlet by 8 pm, just ahead of sunset. Being members of Pensacola Yacht Club gives us privileges to use other GYA Yacht Clubs, including a free night of dockage. We took advantage of this benefit, making use of the pool and laundry facilities before heading out on our next long leg of the voyage home. This would be from Marco to Tarpon Springs, FL.
Marco to Tarpon Springs
Windyty.com and other sources showed good conditions for a crossing - light winds, but not in the best direction. So we decided to leave after spending the one night in Marco Island. We swam in the morning and left in the afternoon, planning an overnight crossing for this 170 mile leg.
Conditions were good overnight, although we did have to motor. Throughout the night we heard messages from the USCG about a swimmer lost in the water off Charlotte Harbor entrance. As we passed that area, we noticed helicopters searching the area. We kept an eye open, but saw nothing of any help. Apparently two young men had been out swimming and a jet ski had rescued one, throwing a lifejacket to the other. But when he returned for the other, he could not be found. I am not sure of the outcome to this story, but suspect it was not good.
We saw little traffic and conditions were pretty much as expected. In the early morning hours, the wind became more favorable and we put out full sail and turned off the engine, We spent several hours sailing making good progress. As we approached Clearwater, conditions were deteriorating - counter to the forecast for decreasing winds. It was gusting to 25 kts (forecast 7), so we elected to take the Clearwater entrance and continue on up the Intracoastal Waterway. The wind persisted all the way to the Anclote River entrance. We called ahead to several mariinas, but didn't get much response. Finally, the City Dock at Tarpon Sprigs called us back and had space. We went up river several miles to the city centre and found our spot in the small city marina. The dockmaster, Mike was very friendly and helpful. The location was excellent being right on the riverfront area of the town. It was time for the crew to take a breath from long legs, so we decided to stay 2 nights and savor the Greek food and culture of Tarpon Springs.
If you have not visited Tarpon Springs, it is well worth a visit. Although it is certainly "touristy", the Greek food is pretty authentic, and the bakeries are a sight for a sweet tooth!
We celebrated Tanner's birthday at Dimitri's, and sampled a couple of the local bars. The next night we ate at Hella's Restaurant and Bakery. Both served excellent food and we really enjoyed our time here. My daughter Helen came to visit us here with her dog Belle - so we had a boat full!
The next day, the boys departed for Apalachicola while the girls took the car. This is perhaps our last real long leg of this trip before we get home. It was another overnight crossing of about 170 miles. We left in the early afternoon.
Tarpon to Apalachicola
After celebrating Tanner's birthday in Tarpon Springs, it was time to head off on our next long leg to cross the Big Bend. Our planned route was from Tarpon Springs (exiting the Anclote River), to Dog Island, then up the inside of St. George island to Apalachicola. This was an overnight crossing with a total distance of about 170 miles.
We left downtown Tarpon Springs in the early afternoon, filling up with diesel on our way out. After exiting the river and getting into the gulf, winds were light and on our nose. Typical! motoring again. Seas were at least very small (1-2 ft), so it was comfortable ride. As the sun set we settled in for the night crossing. This leg was just myself, Brian and Tanner, so we elected to have 2 in the cockpit and one sleeping with a 2 hour rotation. This worked pretty well, giving everyone time at the helm, relxing in the cockpit and some sleep.
We had two notable events during the night. I had been watching another vessel ahead of us on the AIS. It was about 10 miles ahead, but we were slowly closing in on it. Hmm....perhaps another sailboat? 4.5 kts., pretty much the same course as us. Then, I spotted a bright orange light in the sky - dead ahead of us. I jumped forward to investigate, as did Tanner. We saw it for about 5 seconds, then it rose upward quickly and disappeared. Strange!
After a couple of moments, I decided to call the vessel ahead of us - maybe it was a flare? I called them, but they had not set anything off, nor had they seen anything. I asked if they were a sailing vessel. "No, we are a tug boat with two barges on a one mile tow"....Crap - we were gaining on them and a one mile tow line at night is something to keep well clear of. The wind clocked adn we could sail, but this barge was leeward and we didn't want to slide towards it or loose speed. We elected to continue motoring and get past it. Of course, with a 1-2 kt speed difference and several miles between us, this was a slow process - actually about 8 hours. While I was sleeping, Tanner and Brian heard another vessel call in "3 flares spotted" at about the same position we had seen the orange glow. After some grilling about what the other vessel had seen from the USCG, they offered up a possible explanation of "military activity". Based on past research of charts, its my understanding that the Big Bend is often used as a "fall-out" area for NASA launches from Cape Canaveral. I have not seen anything published for a launch at the time we saw this - but who knows....UFO?
