Day 97: Fog Part Deux

For once it wasn't Nellie doing the 3 am anchor drag, it was another boat near us.  We've all been there; it sucks. 

We hoped to cruise the Suwanee today but a call to a marina in the mouth of the river deterred us.  The river's entrance has shoaled to 2' MLW.  Today's highest tide will add 2-1/2'.  That leaves us a 1' margin; which technically is enough.  Realistically, however, it's too early in this adventure to wreck Nellie on oyster shoal ;-)  To console ourselves we went ashore for an oyster breakfast (OK, it was really blue crab quiche).

Here's a shot of Cedar Key as we departed.  This morning.

Here's a shot, four hours later,  of the Florida coastline.

Here's a shot, eight hours later,  of Steinhatchee's channel.  Are you starting to see the common thread in these photos?  Today's fog was so thick that if at any time we had 1000' of visibility, we considered ourselves lucky.

The good news is that the fog lifted in time for us to enjoy this evening's sunset.

At anchor in Steinhatchee, FL.   47nm today and 474nm todate.  DBH

Day 96: Fog and more Fog

Peter Riech, Teddy Bear #15, who is just south of us, said that his fishing trip into the Gulf yesterday was very rough.  Meanwhile our boat neighbors in Tarpon Springs said they've been pinned down for eight days.  Thus it was with more than a little trepidation that we ventured into the Gulf this morning. 

Instead of the expected waves what we found was fog.  Pea soup fog.  One hundred yard visibility if you're lucky type fog.   Did I mention that to get out to sea from Tarpon Springs requires several miles of shoal-ridden navigation?  But, I'd trade calm seas for restricted visibility anytime.  Thank you Neptune.

In the midst of the foggy deparure we celebrated Nellie's engine going over 6000 hours.  Here's to wishing her another 6000 safe, happy, and trouble free hours.

Bicki's confident were going north now that we can see the rising sun ;-)  Yes, the two of us are just loaded with little known navigational knowledge.

After three hours the fog lifted.  We were 10 miles offshore, in 10 feet of water, and in calm seas.  Ahh.

OK, file this under absurd.  After dropping the hook in Cedar Key we dinghied ashore for some of the clams they're famous for.  For the record, they are great!  The fog moved in before the dinghy ride back.  Here's Bicki holding our nav light.  Meanwhile I'm using my pocket MFD (i.e. smart phone with navigation software) to find Nellie.  Isn't technology great!

It was a long 63nm from Tarpon Springs to Cedar Key.  The total for this cruise is now 427nm.  DBH

Fwd: Day 95: Terra Incognita

The CQR held well last night in the sandy bottom and with the reversing currents.  Now I've got to figure out how to secure it so it doesn't bang against the hull in big seas.

This arrangement is promising.  The line to the port hawse cleat is holding the fluke against the strike plate.  Perhaps if the line is kept taught enough the anchor won't move.

The waters north of Clearwater give us a taste of what's to come.  The water can be rough, the channels are narrow, the shallows are everywhere, and 'deep water' is what you get at high tide.  Looks like my favorite reading material for the Big Bend will be the weather forecast and the tide tables.

Not much anchoring room in Tarpon Springs so we take a slip at Turtle Cove Marina.  It's a nice place with a pool and hot tub.  Walking about town we came across this bike; it summarizes well life here.

20nm/362nm.  DBH

Day 94: Depart St. Pete

Finally, and somewhat reluctantly, we cast off from St Pete; the Grand Prix cars trumpeting our 'Hail and Farewell'.  As the map shows, we were very close to the action.  Not so close as to have to wear earplugs, but almost.

It was an easy run to Clearwater.  The current and winds were with us.  So much so that we kept dropping the RPMs and yet maintained 7kts; a speed that normally requires about 1800 RPM.  Today we did 7kts at 1300 RPM.  Yahoo, saving fuel!  We found a protected anchorage but danced a bit in the 25kt southerlies.

Tomorrow begins our terra incognita.  There's certainly some anxiety when contemplating a long voyage; especially a long voyage through unknown lands.  Our plan is to eat this elephant one bite at a time. 

34nm today and 343nm so far.  DBH

Day 93: Depart St. Pete

Where to begin. Perhaps by paraphrasing Captain Ron's Martin Harvey,
'Nellie runs badly.'

At the crack of 10am we prepared to leave the St. Pete marina only to
find Nellie's engine wouldn't start. An hour's worth of head scratching,
trying this and that, and bleeding the entire fuel system, several times,
finally yielded results. About an hour into the trip, while just north of
the Sunshine Skyway bridge, the engine started revving. This we'd
experienced four years before. Air was getting into the fuel line. In the
middle of Tampa Bay we pull over, drop the hook, and kill the engine. Sure
enough, both Racors were low on fuel. After topping them up we turn the
ignition key and ... she won't start. More head scratching and fuel line
bleeding was rewarded shortly thereafter by the engine coming to life.
Thirty minutes later, while we're right in the middle of the shipping lane,
the revving returns. Chastened by our last attempted fix we decide to
press on for Sarasota. The next four hours pass with the sound of revving
grating on our nerves.

After safely arriving in Sarasota, and downing a beer in celebration, the
search began for the smoking gun. We found it. The fitting connecting the
fuel supply line to the first Racor was allowing air into the system. A
lot of air. This explains all the symptoms. Tomorrow will tell if our
diagnosis is correct or not.

Oh, the failed fitting, it wasn't one we even touched during the engine
room makeover. Go figure.

Fingers crossed tomorrow goes better.

Where's Waldo?

Can you spot the mechanic in the picture below?  Hint, he's wearing a yellow shirt.  No Photoshoping was necessary.  I'm leaning over the transmission while trying to drill out the broken engine mount bolt.  Yea, it's pretty tight in there.

The good news is it worked.  Here's the bolt being backed out the last few inches.

Day 6: The Con Leaki

It was a nice run up to St. Pete today.  As the picture below of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge makes clear, there's wasn't any traffic to contend with.  We made it under the bridge without having to lower the mast.  It was close though with only 425' to spare ;-)

I found two more leaks today.  One from the rudder's packing gland and another from the waterlift muffler.  The first is an easy fix.  The second, not so easy.  Especially since I don't exactly know where the fiberglass muffler is leaking.  I'll remove it and do a visual inspection--which is easier said than done.

2015 has certainly been the year of water leaks.  Fortunately the year is almost over. Just in case the woes are going to continue Bicki and I batted around some new names for Nellie.  Con Leaki tops the list.

33nm today and 106nm for the trip. DBH