Better safe than sorry…

December 11

Dave and I have been holed up at the Moorings Marina in Carabelle for a few days. We have been having issues with the autopilot and yesterday we took WB out into the bay and reconfigured it to no avail. Add to that our fuel burn rate at our maximum cruise of 17 mph and we were concerned we can’t carry enough fuel. Making a 46,000 lb boat go 17 mph drinks diesel ($3.09 per gallon last fill up) at the rate of 35-40 gallons per hour. WB only carries 500 gallons. Concern was there would not be enough reserve for a safety margin. I was quite upset last night and went to bed with the intent of hiring a driver to drive us 50 miles to Tallahassee to pick up a rental and drive home. Over breakfast with Loopers from 5 other boats they shared their plan with us. We departed on a 15 mile run to an anchorage known as Alligator Point and are waiting for the other 5 boats to arrive. We will form quite an armada.

Open water tomorrow, out of sight of land.

At first light Wednesday morning we will begin a slow run across the Gulf to Steinhatchee which is 120 miles north of our original target, Tarpon Springs. Running at 8 or 9 mph we will get superb mileage, maybe 1.5 miles to the gallon! You’d think we were in a Prius!!

While we are at this anchorage we are preparing the boat for the voyage. Securing the dinghy to the top of the boat since it is up high it will pendulum as it weighs around 400 lbs. Seas may be a bit rough but all of the forcasts for tomorrow show a calm travel day. We’ve tied the handles together on the cabinets, placed all glassware (‘cept those damn souvenir glasses Debbie likes) in the dishwasher with proper spacing. Moved the aforementiond “precious cargo” to a safe spot in a cooler with cushioning between the bottles.

Here’s my favorite part:

Dave scraping old caulk off the forward hatch above his bunk. HA! Bet he’s sweating his ass off!

Bright sunshine so I’m sitting on the deck reading a book, look up and WOW! It’s the Spanish Armada, No wait, it’s the US Navy!

Naw, just the rest of our posse.

This is our little Navy. Up before dawn, hoist the anchor and under way before sunrise.

It’s 5:30 and I can tell there is going to be a beautiful sunset. Reminds me how much I miss Debbie. We love sunsets and we’ve had a bunch of ‘em!

Watching the sun go down and had a splendid idea! Check out this time lapse video.

Looks like the boat is moving but that is just the wind on the water. It’s the wind moving the boat around that makes the sun appear to move to the right.

Pretty cool, huh?