Adventures Are Overrated

Last time on the exciting Adventures of Cap'n Rumslinger and the Dread Pirate Trevor... We were about to leave Panama City. Now we're caught up.
So we left Panama City. It was a bit choppy, but nothing we couldn't handle. And cold, too, but we could handle that, too. On our way toward East Bay, we encountered a couple of large boats. They were going way fast and making a big ole wake. But they slowed down right as they got to us. Unfortunately, they should have slowed down a half mile sooner. We were rocked mightily by their wake and cursed about how any idiot can buy a boat. Just a little while later, another Clorox bottle boat came roaring around the corner toward us. This guy didn't even slow down and passed really close by. Thanks to my awesome captaining skills, we came out unscathed, but annoyed. I may have said a few expletives and given him a 1-finger wave, but I'm not sure (I'm totally sure, and he had it coming). Then we rocked and rolled all down East Bay. East Bay ends in a really narrow (really narrow) channel, and of course there was a barge coming the other way when we got there. It was a tight squeeze, but we made it. Then 4 boats came up on us (it would have been nice if they'd caught us in the wide bay, but no) and passed us when we got to some marshy area (also narrow, but less formidably so). Then we motored on down the Searcy Creek and anchored in an area labeled "inpenetrable swamp" on the chart. The nices place we've anchored in the last few days.
I'd post pictures, but Blogger is being really stupid and won't let me. *pout*
The next day we headed out (like we do) toward Apalachicola. The day was cold, but we were alright. The marina where we intended to stay was up a creek, so we had to turn into the wind, and then we froze our butts off! Dad led the way up the creek and into our first choice of marina. But it was shallow. He stirred up mud on his way in and his depth finder read zero (never a good thing), so he broke out the boat hook and checked the depth in the next slip. Only 2 feet. So we headed down to Scipio Creek Marina. I led the way into this one, and when we rounded the corner, I saw Phil Waste waving at me from the pier. (Phil and Linda were my dock parents back in Chattanooga, until they left on their boat a couple of years ago.) So we parked the boat, and had lunch with Phil and Linda. So awesome to see them!  They shared lots of stories and advice about the upcoming trip.  And Linda took us to the Family Dollar to get thermals and gloves to keep us from freezing on the Gulf crossing.  We even got to do some grocery shopping.  And ate gelato at a local chocolate shop (so good!).  That night we plotted and looked at charts and made plans for crossing the Gulf.

Yesterday was cold, and we didn't have far to go, so we didn't leave until 10 or 11.  Had a bit of an adventure getting out of the marina.  A mini-adventure.  The wind caught me off guard, so we ended up pinned sideways at the end of the pier, precariously close to another boat docked there.  After some tricky  maneuvering (and some hard shoving from Trevor), we ended up safely out of the harbor with no damage to our boat or the other.  We headed down the creek, and there were 2 boats side-by-side heading toward us.  One of them (happened to be a police boat) veered off a little, so we went in between them.  Once we hit the marked channel, we had to dodge sneaky crab pots that drifted out of their place.  Crab pots are somthing you never want to tangle with.  If you get the ropes wrapped around your prop, it's either time for a haul-out or some scuba diving.  No fun.  So we wove in and out of them, like awesome pirates that we are.  Went through a cut in St. George Island (bumpy ride getting there) and ended up in the Gulf!  The beautiful, gorgeous aquamarine Gulf of Mexico!  It was so great to see!  The big choppy waves went away, and we had gentle rollers following us.  It made for an excellent peaceful ride.  Nice change. 
Mom and Dad anchored off the southern side of the island (to protect us from the northern wind), and we rafted up together.  Trevor and I weren't sure about this arrangement, since we had waves knocking us about, but Dad was sure our stern anchor would keep us facing into the waves and not beam-on.  This held true until just after dinner (and just after sunset).  Then the wind shifted, and we really got rocked about!  With only 5 minutes of usable daylight left, we decided to break apart and go anchor alone.  With dark deepening around us, we were buffeted by waves and chilled by wind, but Trevor skillfully managed to get us anchored securely.  Ah, relief.  Until we went inside.  The boat was rocking up and down, left and right, hither and yon (I could go on, but you get the point).  It was a rough ride.  I'm not generally prone to seasickness, but I started to feel less than awesome.  Trevor was quick on the draw and sliced me a piece of ginger.  Fun thing about fresh ginger: if you bite into it, it immediately takes your mind off your stomach.  That taste is intense.  But it totally works!  Within a minute of biting into it, my stomach settled.  Yay ginger!  The boat was still rocking and rolling, though.  And with the dark outside and lights on inside, my brain could not compute what was happening.  Wicked vertigo.  So I went to bed in self-defense.  Trevor stayed up for a while to make sure we were secure.  Neither of us slept well at all last night.  The waves knocked us around, and the water in our water tank (right below the bed) sloshed and banged around all night.  Frightful racket, like a bowling ball in a bucket.  But the waves did slack off a little after a couple of hours.

And then they came back in full force this morning.  It's so hard to get out of bed and get dressed when you're in a washing machine.  My stomach objected again.  Tried to eat, but that wasn't really happening.  I finally figured out that I might be better outside.  So I bundled up, went out, and felt better immediately.  Now I know I can't be inside the boat when it's really rough.  This might prove problematic in the future.  So we started the motor and pulled up the anchor.  The sun came up on our right as we made our way to the end of St. George Island.  The plan for the moment was to get back inside Dog Island to where it was more protected.  As we neared the turning point, the motor slowed down.  Weird.  A minute later, it slowed down, chugged, and stopped.  Uh oh.  Trevor looked at the motor, and there was nothing glaringly wrong.  So I cranked it, and it started right up again.  No idea what that was about.  Maybe with all the waves rocking us around, we got a bubble in the fuel line or something.  But it seems okay now.  We went on the inside of Dog Island, then back out to the Gulf.  This time around, the Gulf had gently rolling waves, small ones.  It was a great ride!  The sun was out again.  Gorgeous!  Where did this come from?  We could have cruised all day in that.  But by this time, there were very few places within reach before sunset.  So we're anchored right next to Alligator Harbor.  Trying to figure out our plan for tomorrow.  Steinhatchee is 70 miles away, and there's not much that's closer.  The weather is also turning fouler sooner than the forecast called for.  So there's a lot of plotting going on right now. 

We'll see what happens!  Not taking any chances.  But we're ready to get to the other side of the Gulf.