Several momentous EVENTS of the DAYS:

1st: we crossed the Gulf of Mexico without a problem. Many folks have had to wait up to a week for favorable weather, but we had been watching the forecasts and it favored us today. Sunny, minimal wind, smooth surface except for the mid-portion when we had about an hour of 1ft waves and some whitecaps, but they were on the bow so no difficulty. After getting outside the East Pass by Dog Island, 10 miles from Carrabelle, it was 77 miles to Sea Hag Marina in Steinhatchee. We cruised on autopilot at 2200 rpm with a speed of 13 mph, and it took 7 hrs total. Saw many fishing boats along the way, but mostly within the last 30 miles.

Had to navigate through a large 'crab pot field' 10 miles outside Steinhatchee, where the depths were only 16-20 feet, but patches of less than 10. Crab pots are red or green or white floats [size of a softball] marking the crab traps and are seen everywhere in the Gulf, not just in shallow waters [can be in water 200-400 ft deep]; it took us 20 min of slowly picking our through these - don't want to get one tangled in the prop as it can stall the engine, not to mention cut the rope and the fisherman loses his catch.

It was a peaceful event for us, humming along, sunny skies, the engines working well. We were indeed fortunate.

2nd: Yesterday, when hooking up our shore power cord at the Moorings in Carrabelle, we didn't have power to one of the two 'lines'. We have a 50 amp cord, which has 4 terminals, including one red for 120v and one black for 120v, so could use 240v if needed. Only had 1 of the 120v lines working. I assumed it was the pedestal at the Marina, but their handyman checked the line voltage and showed me 120v on each 'leg'. So we figured it was our plug, since it had been accidentally fried by another marina this winter, who had replaced it. Took the boot cover off it and the wires almost fell out and looked corroded. So I spent a good 5 hrs, with excellent suggestions from the admiral, rewiring the plug, but after two 'rebuilds', with good solid wire-terminal connections, we still only had one line. So thought it was likely in our distribution panel because of corrosion or some other misadventure.

Fortunately, we had power on the important line: all galley appliances, the battery charger, the outlets, the water heater; just not to the a/c units. So ran the generator last night for the a/c and left this a.m. thinking we would work on the problem in Steinhatchee.

WELL. Got here and decided to hook up anyway and whaddayouknow!? Both lines worked!! This suggests, per good boating mentor Terry Smith, who knows far more than me about such, that the power to that section of the pedestals wasn't 'balanced' and only really had 120v available, not 240, and therefore 1 line didn't work. Anyway, didn't have to do anything here and so we celebrated immediately by having a mid-afternoon beer and pita chips.

We hopefully will be able to use Sea Hag's courtesy car and go for some groceries this evening. We have been watching dozens of smaller fishing boats, maybe even a 100 per Marg, go by the marina heading upstream to other docks. The lifting of restrictions has opened the 'flood'. Don't see anyone distancing here.

Several photos of past 2 days have been attached. You will see the last two marinas, which are obviously a contrast to Orange Beach Marina [we were definitely fortunate to have found it to stay for 5 weeks]. Added several from our Choctawatchee Bay to Carrabelle legs; I like sunrises, if you can't tell! The one shows what an electronic navigation map looks like, on our Samsung Galaxy Tab A tablet; similar to the one that is on the actual chartplotter. Several show the landscape along the ICW [IntraCoastal Waterway].

Until something else happens [just a matter of when], we are feeling quite cheerful this evening. Tomorrow, we head for Crystal River, where the Manatees are frequent. Then to Tarpon Springs on Tues.

Comments:

Dd  •  04 May, 2020:  Congrats! What a trip❤️