Our computer crashed so I haven’t been able to post for the last few days. Michael has worked very hard to get it to the point but I can’t get the photos to upload. Sorry for the long post
Thursday, 2/20/19
Still in Apalachicola, Florida – Up this morning to pea soup fog again. Took the dogs for a walk and stopped by Café Con Leche for their delicious cinnamon buns. They bake them fresh each day so if you get there just after they open at 8:00 am they are fresh out of the oven. Yummmmm good!

Waited until 11:30 for the fog to lift enough for us to get underway to Carrabelle. All four boats left in single file like little ducklings heading out for our approximately three hour cruise. The sun came out, it was beautiful and a pretty uneventful journey. Arrived at the Moorings marina about 3:30 pm, and topped off our fuel. Then off to our slip for the night. There has obviously been hurricane damage in this area and the marina. As we approached we saw wrecked and sunken boats and docks in total disrepair. The people are extremely helpful and gracious but the place is a little rough. If you purchase 100 gallons, or more, of fuel you get a discount on the slip rate. The going rate is $1.50 per foot with the fuel discount it goes down to $1.00 per foot and the diesel cost seems pretty fair at $2.75 per gallon.

Anyway this is where we make the decision about crossing the Gulf of Mexico. We have a couple of choices. We can go the Big Bend route which means we leave here and go to Steinhatchee which is approximately 78 miles or about 8 to 8.5 hours OR go all the way across to Tarpon Springs which is about 170 miles and would require a night crossing and obviously many more hours. Since three of this crew (Sharon, Snooki and The Duke) are not much help to Captain Mike and one of the crew (Sharon) can’t see sh#t at night we made a unanimous decision to take the shorter and supposedly safer daylight trip to Steinhatchee. From here we will hopscotch our way to Tarpon Springs.
We’re waiting for an update from Eddy’s Weather WAG to advise us if the weather will be right for crossing this weekend. Eddy’s report said the following on Thursday: I still have my hopes up for a weather-window this coming weekend.  Maybe, just maybe, an overnight crossing on Friday-night / Saturday will be possible. Like I alluded to on Monday, it won’t be picture-perfect flat because ground swells from the south-southwest are forecasted.  It should, however, be safe and there will be a good deal of lunar illumination available to make it less scary!  If this prediction doesn’t materialize it looks like the next good weather-window won’t arrive until sometime after the 27th.

Friday, 2/21/19 – Woke up to foggy and misting weather this morning. Walked over for the marina’s free buffet-style breakfast. The lady who runs the place works there seven days a week cooking and providing breakfast for us who come in by boat and has for the past couple of years. Wow, that’s what I call dedication. Ace hardware and the IGA grocery are right across the street. The IGA’s claim to fame is their cleanliness. It is the cleanest store I have ever seen. AND they sell Moon Pies! I don’t think I’ve had a Moon Pie since the 50′ or 60’s so I bought a couple and tried to get Michael to share one with me but he refused so I ate the whole thing myself. Hmmm – don’t think I’ll need another Moon Pie for another 40 or so years. On the way to the grocery I saw a white squirrel – I have never seen a white squirrel! I took a photo but it was too far away to see…..

So today Eddy says: I would have gotten this report out sooner, but the fog was so thick this morning I couldn’t find the way to my desk! Consistency and stability are two things to look for when dealing with forecasts for the Gulf crossing.  At least we have that going for us with the Friday-night / Saturday window that we’re hoping to have.  Sea swells are forecast to be at the maximum end of the “good weather-window” scale.  Keep your fingers crossed, prayer beads at hand, and lucky pennies shined and we’ll see if tomorrow’s forecast has improved news.

We left Carrabelle this afternoon for an hour cruise to Dog Island. Arrived at Tyson’s anchorage about 2:20 pm and set the hook. We hope to leave for Steinhatchee in the morning. It’s a beautiful cove with white sand beaches and a spattering of homes and the only way to get to this island is by boat. How cool for the residents who live on it! A 40-something foot power boat has been ferrying people back and forth all day since we’ve been here. The sad thing is we are looking directly at what was a beautiful sailboat probably 40 feet that is partially sunken. A reminder of what has happened to so many in this area. The fog has come in again so it’s hard to see the shoreline now but wait a little and it’s clear again. We went for a scout-about in the dinghy. Took the doggies to the white sugar-sand beach and they absolutely went ape-sh#t crazy. They loved the white sand and ran around like wild dogs. Duke even ventured out into waist deep water. For those of you who don’t know Duke that depth is 6″. I don’t think I have ever seen them so happy!!!! We promised them many more white sand beaches to come and they were very happy. Woof, woof. Will see what happens tomorrow weather wise.

Saturday, 2/23/19 – Woke up before sunrise and the visability looked like it would be acceptable for our departure by sunrise it was pea soup again. We had to wait until about 8:30 this morning for the fog to lift enough to stick our noses out and head to Steinhatchee. There were three boats anchored together at Tyson cove here at Dog Island and we decided to make the journey today – Miss Adventure, Mo Whiskey and us (Scout). The trip started with fog and about an 1/8 to 1/4 mile visabilty for about the first 45 minutes. Then the fog cleared, the sun came out and it was beautiful. It was good to have other boats with us. We were leading the way and were able to gauge the view distance ahead by looking at the boats behind. Radar is great but SEEING with your on eyes is better. The seas were about one to three feet so it was lumpy. The first four hours were very lumpy then it eased up a bit but it was lumpy the whole way. And it was a looooong trip. We have done eight hour cruises before but this one seemed like it was a least sixteen hours – nothing to see just wide open ocean! About two hours from Steinhatchee the crab pots showed up – hundreds of them so we had to dodge pots the rest of the way.
Arrived at Sea Hag Marina (gotta love this name) about 4:45 and tied up at the front dock. We were front and center. They were just finishing a fishing tournament so there were hundreds people here but it cleared out pretty soon after our arrival. Will check in tomorrow…..