Making Good Progress! - Bahamas Bound

 Moving Right Along

We saw a seemingly good weather window to make the longest leg of the trip to the Bahamas - this, surprisingly is the trip across the "Big Bend" of the Florida Panhandle.  From Apalachicola, we motored up to Dog Island on the ICW, just inside St. George Island.  There, we made an appropriate "pitstop" for Salty so he could relieve himself on Dog Island.  We walked the beach for an hour or so for him to run off some energy.  We left Dog Island at around 4:30pm so that we would have a daylight arrival in either Anclote Key or Clearwater. 

A brief stop at Dog Island

It was a cold day, but the wind direction was favorable from the NE to NNE.  I looked at 6 weather models.  Now I must say that to me the forecasts for this part of the Gulf have always tended to be a bit iffy, but the models were reasonably consistent.  I think discrepancies happen on this area because there are not many observations in the area.......and many of the weather buoys in the area are not operational, or have gone missing in storms - so the models have few data points.  Anyway, 4 models showed wind strength from 10-15kts - on the beam so perfect.  One showed 14-18, and one showed 15-20.  At least the directions were consistent.  What do you think we actually got?  Well, when we left, we were struggling to make good speed with winds at 6-8., so we put out the Code Zero.  Soon we were at 10-12 kts of wind - perfect, smooth calm conditions and moving at good speed.  But of course things changed after dark.  

Winds built and we switched from Code Zero to jib.  Winds built, seas got lumpy with 3-5 ft waves but

Salty finds a stick!

at about 4 seconds period - yuck!.....crash bang, bumps in the road!  For the majority of the trip we had winds in the 18-26 range, with some significant periods of 23-25 kts.  Well although it was bumpy, we were going fast, averaging in the high 7s and 8s and peaking at 11kts.  We slowed down for the last few hours with wind decreasing to below 14 kts, and direction moving behind us.  So we switched back to the Code Zero sail to maintain about 6 kts in speed.

Sunset over Big Bend

Since we were making such good time, we elected to go directly to Clearwater as we had made a reservation for a night at the Clearwater YC.  We made it in by about 2:30pm making for a great time for the crossing.  The total trip from Apalachicola was 164 miles, and about 144 from Dog Island - so 145 miles in about 22 hours - not bad  going!

After a night in Clearwater (staying at Clearwater YC), we continued on to Tampa Bay, then back up to St. Pete's as a gale watch was coming into effect bringing cold frigid air our way.  Wait - wasn't Florida supposed to be warmer??

We decided to have a little downtime so elected to stay 3 nights at St. Pete's YC.  So for anyone reading and thinking "why stay at Yacht Clubs?" - there's a very good reason.  We are members of Pensacola YC which is a member of the Florida Council of Yacht Clubs.  One amazing benefit is a free night at any Florida Council YC, and with dockage at at $3-4/ft at commercial marinas.....this is a great deal!  Of course we will anchor in some locations, but in urban settings with things to do ashore, the marinas are more convenient.  And the people and staff at the YCs have been so helpful and friendly so far - thank you Clearwater and St. Pete's!

Sunshine Skyway Bridge

On Monday, we will head for Sarasota!