Big River: 12/12/2004

Day 57

Another nice day today. We took the boat out to test the “fixes”. Only bad news, about 2 miles out, it hesitated again. The mechanic was positive that he fixed the problem, so we figured it was just some air left in the line from when he was fixing it. It didn’t choke and die like it was doing before, so at least that is a good sign. Grant wasn’t too worried about it, just a small concern.

After we came back, we walked into town, but found that everything was closed down. A lot of these shops just open and close as they please, and around the holidays, they are closed more than open. The town was also fairly dirty. Not clean like Panama City was. Panama City was almost pristine. It seems like this town has a lot of industry, which tends to make it dirtier. It is the Oyster capitol of the world, and also has a large shrimping industry as well. We were looking for a malt shop, but found that also closed, so we settled for an ice cream cookie sandwich from the local gas station. It was a lazy afternoon and we spent the rest of the day playing cards, having a Tetris competition on Grants phone and making our weekly phone calls. Tomorrow we prepare for leaving on Tuesday. That still seems like our best day. It will be about 20 degrees the next few days and then a warm up. We can’t wait. This cold weather is getting to us….

Day 56

Tabbie didn’t sleep very well last night, so she spent part of the morning sleeping in. Grant washed down the entire outside of the boat and rinsed off the saltwater. Tabbie then went into town to check out the boutiques at about 11am and spent 3 ½ hours checking out the town. Grant had a mechanic come out to take a look at the boat and diagnosed a few problems that were easily fixable. It ends up it was the antisyphon valve on the fuel tank that was corroded and was allowing air to get into the fuel line causing the hesitation. While the mechanic was there, Grant had him look over the rest of the engines and help us prepare the boat for salt water. The mechanic also repacked the packing nut to fix our leak so we don’t have to worry about the boat sinking anymore…

We did a few loads of laundry, which was pretty expensive. Three dollars a load to wash and dry! We are coming to find out that everything at this marina is pretty expensive. Dangerous Love came over to invite us to watch the basketball game when Tabbie was in town and then invited Tabbie later to come to the boats for drinks, which we did that evening. After drinks we all went to eat oysters at the bar, and come to find out it was the last day they would be open for the Holiday season!! Well, that wasn’t good, so we needed to get our fix full of oysters - Tabbie had oysters called Captain Jacks, which we the best that she had ever tasted. They were Jalapenos, hot sauce and cheese. Grant had raw oysters on the ½ shell. We also had to try their signature appetizers of Oyster soup and bacon rapped oysters that were deep-fried. We stayed until bar close (10:00 – weak!) and headed back to our respective boats to retire for the night.

It looks like we are going to be here for a few days. Grant spoke to the owner of the marina who suggested that we make a crossing to Steinhatche, which will only be an 8-hour trip, doable in one day, during the day. It would then be 2-3 days to Tampa. He suggested that we look at leaving around Tuesday because there was a cold front moving in and the best travel happens after a cold front. All weather accounts verify that this will probably happen on Tuesday. This gives us limited time to make it to Tampa by next Monday, which is our day to fly home. But we can only do what the water lets us to. Mother Nature is always the boss!

Day 55

We woke up today with a fast decision to make. Do we leave or do we stay? The mechanic never called us back, so we decided to head out. Angel, the other boat in the marina that we have been crossing paths with, was also leaving. We decided to go because it was smarter for us to travel with someone, while we are having this problem with the engine. Apalachicola was not all that far away and could be done in a day’s time. Sure enough, about an hour into the journey, the engine began sputtering and would not stay running. Grant decided since we were with another boat it would be safe to travel the rest of the day on one engine. This cost us a bit of speed, but we were still able to travel quick enough to make Apalachicola in daylight. We called Angel to tell him our problem and he gladly slowed down and said he would follow us. Everyone is so helpful and kind when you are boating, it is like its own little club!

We ended up in Apalachicola at a marina highly suggested to us. The name is Scipio Creek marina and is supposed to have a fantastic Oyster bar. We pulled in at about 4:30 and Grant got in contact with a local mechanic who would come out in the morning to look at the engine. The marina was along a small creek nestled in between a couple shrimp boat companies. The marina itself was not very busy or populated and there was only a few other transients besides us . The marina has significant dry storage, and a forklift that transfers boats into and out of the storage facility. It apparently could lift out boat right out of the water! The creek is also a manatee area, which we had to be very careful of, because they are so slow moving and easily hit and killed by boats. We have yet to see one, but Tabbie has been roaming the docs with the camera, waiting to catch a glimpse of one. They tend to hang out in shallow areas because they prefer warm water, however, with the weather dipping into the 20’s, we were told that they travel to the power plants which discharge warm water.

Tonight we went out to eat with Phil, the captain from “Angel”. We went to the Oyster bar, which by the way lived up to praises of the couple from “Trust Me”. The oysters were the best that either of us has ever eaten. You could get any and everything that you wanted on the oyster. Tabbie ordered Scallions, Colby, and Monterey melted on her oysters, Phil ordered Oyster Rockefeller, which was cheese, and Spinach, and Grant ordered Colby, Jack and Bacon bits on his oysters. Then we also had a grouper sandwich and cheeseburger. Then back to the boat to watch Braveheart. (Yes Candace, Tabbie finally watched the whole thing. Too much blood and fighting) We are going to be here until the weather gives us the best possible chance to cross. It will be almost 20 hours that we will be driving and for 16 of that, we will not see land….

Day 54

We had anticipated on being able to leave today, however, we will be staying on at least one more day. Grant has found a few more things wrong with the engine and was unable to fix the bilge pump. An electrician of sorts did come out and work on it, and found the problem, however now Grant has to find a way to mount the float for the bilge. The weather is nicer today, a little warmer and calm. Tabbie spent the day in the Marina store on the internet, doing all sorts of research: jobs, apartments, marinas, etc. They have high speed here, which is always very nice. The employees at this marina are very nice and friendly. Willing to help out with anything. And the showers are clean too!

We hope to be able to leave sometime within the next two days. Grant has another guy coming to look over the engines to tell us what we need to change due to the salt water. We would feel much more comfortable knowing the boat is set up for salt water when we try to make the Gulf crossing… We will spend one day in Apalachicola and then make the crossing to Clearwater, which is right outside Tampa. We have begun to look for Marinas that offer long term docking. Tabbie found one on a river that is almost downtown Tampa. If we could get in there, that would be very beneficial to our job search. Tabbie continues to get very positive responses to her resume and applications. She is particularly interested in Pharmaceutical Sales. There seems to be a high demand for these salespeople. Maybe because of the elderly population? She has also looked into some Recruitment positions. There is a lot out there to choose from. It is nice to have options. Now we just need to set up the interviews.

We are excited to get home and see everyone, although our time may be short. We will have to get back to Tampa quickly. We anticipate that we will be in the cities from Mon-Thursday and then Eau Claire from Friday to Monday. The time seems like it has gone by really fast for us. We are both looking forward to working again, although in a few months we may say that we miss being on the boat. On to our next adventure….

The Panama City Marina.

Day 53

It feels good to sleep in once in awhile, right Tabbie? Today we got up and moving around 10am. We have been having trouble with one of our engines, which happens to be hesitating. So we took it out for a test drive today. The water was calm and we kind of felt bad for not moving on to Apalachicola, but our fellow transient boater – Angel – also was experiencing some technical difficulties and was delayed today (Is this marina cursed??). Anyway, the engine which had been giving us trouble, started to act up and Grant eventually had to turn it off, which he had difficulty doing since it kept dieseling. He thinks that it may be dirty fuel or even the carburetor. We made our way back to the marina and Grant started to check things out. Then he comes to find out that the bilge pump is permanently on and will not shut off. So he ends up cutting the wire to prevent it from burning out. There was an electrician in the boat next to us that Grant received some advise from. It seems like it is the switch, which Grant thinks he may be able to fix. The other mechanic did end up calling us back and is coming out tomorrow after lunch. The only thing that we are worried about is that we are slowly taking on water, and without a pump we could start sinking!

After a bit of diagnosis, Grant thinks he may have found the problem, in that of a bad rotor and cap on the ignition system. It is nice to have two engines to compare parts with!! Grant biked to Napa only to find out that the ignition systems in a marine engine are too different than a traditional automobile engine, and Napa does not carry the correct parts… Grant received info on who to contact in town to find the parts, and will start calling tomorrow. Hopefully he can get the problem fixed before the mechanic charges us $200 to tell us it was a $5 part!

Phil, our fellow transient, has been able to get his problem fixed, and will be leaving in the morning. Unfortunately, it looks as though we are here another day, so we will not be able to move onto Apalachicola with him. He his heading for Naples, and once we are settled in Tampa, we may try to get in contact with him if we make it to Naples at any point…

Tabbie spent most of the day researching jobs in the Tampa area while Grant tried to fix some of the minor problems on the boat. We may have to switch our job focus to Panama City if this becomes a larger problem than anticipated!! (Remind anyone of our plans in Demopolis!?!) This marina does not have an onsite mechanic or a way to dry dock the boat. The closest actual dry dock is about 2 miles away. There has been a huge explosion of condo’s here and the marinas are selling out to developers. So now there is becoming a shortage of marinas! Well, maybe that is good news for Grant’s career search! We have to wait until tomorrow for the rest of the story….

The dolphins are everywhere!

Here he is again

Can you see it? It is a dolphin. Way out there.

Now we are passing large ocean vessels

Day 52

Grant woke early today and left at about 7am. Tabbie was up late the night before completing some Internet stuff, so Grant let her sleep in. (Like she wouldn’t have anyway!!) We passed into the Eastern Time Zone today. We crossed the Choctawhatchee Bay in the morning which ended up to be very choppy due to winds associated with a cold front that is hitting the area. We have to put most of our stuff on the ground, off the shelves and into the sinks to avoid it flying everywhere. Once across the bay we entered a man made channel that was fortunately very protected against the wind and we were able to travel faster and straighter! The canal spilled out into West bay and then into St. Andrews bay which is where Panama City is located. There was a boat that was about 3 miles behind us for the entire trip, and we couldn’t quite make it out, but it ended up being a friend of ours from – of all places – Demopolis! Phillip Smith and “Angel” his boat pulled into the marina just after we did. It is good to see familiar faces along the trip!

We pulled into Panama City around 3:00 and are staying at a marina that was highly recommended by Jim and Sheila. This marina is run by the county and was highly suggested by many other boaters.

While arriving to the marina we did experience some rude boaters, which seem to be the norm in the gulf area. While pulling into the bay, which by the way posted NO Wake, we had a guy fly by us and pull right up to the fuel dock. He just couldn’t wait 2 minutes. There was enough room for everyone. Then he proceeds to get off and smoke on the fuel dock. How smart do they get? He ended up being only a transient. Thank goodness. We took 183 gallons of fuel, with one tank only having 3 gallons left in it! Now that Grant has a GPS he can determine the exact mileage between fuel-ups and what our fuel economy is. This was the test to find out the most accurate fuel consumption to determine if we can make a gulf crossing safely. We are going to be close…. Thank goodness the gas was cheap here. Under 2 dollars. The cheapest yet. While at the gas dock we also saw these racing type boats pull up and get gas. They were painted all yellow with numbers running along the top and sides. We thought that they were racing each other. Come to find out, their job is to test Mercury boat engines. So all day everyday, they speed across the bay and into the gulf, working these motors until they break. Then they bring them into get looked at and take on another engine. Where can we get a job like that? We saw several of them come in to gas a few times.

Panama City is a nice, quaint, town. The only thing bad about it, is that it is COLD! We drop to about 25 degrees at night and we are back to wearing our winter jackets and mittens outside. We took a walk and went to eat at Hunt’s Oyster bar and felt like we were in MN. We hear that there is no snow there either. It is supposed to remain this cold for a few days. We are thinking about staying here and waiting it out. Grant hit the sack early today but Tabbie stayed up late looking for jobs in the Tampa area. The market looks good and she has been getting positive responses back. A few interviews tentatively set….

He will swat it away.

She likes to adopt pets. As her mother well knows.

Grant has an idea.....

Oops, Tabbie fed this seagull a crumb of bread, now he won't leave us alone.

White sandy beach

An almost sunken sailboat!

Here is a boat that was washed ashore during a hurracaine. We saw many of these along the way.

Shirts off!

Sunrise

Day 51

Today we left the anchorage at 7:30 to try and get half way to Panama City. We are traveling slower since we left the river (lost about 3 mph), so we are unable to travel as far during the daylight hours… As usual, Tabbie was up long enough to help pull up the anchor, and then off to bed again! Grant enjoyed a beautiful morning watching dolphins and the pelicans feed on fish. Grant finally had enough and woke Tabbie up at 10:00, and trust me it wasn’t easy!! The entire day was beautiful, and Grant decided to celebrate the warm weather with shorts and no shirt! (see pic).

Along the way we passed through Pensacola, Navarre Beach, and Fort Walton. It was amazing to see the number of high-rise condominiums that were both already there, and the number that was currently under construction! Maybe there is a job around here for Grant in development…

Sea Angel and River Arc had left about an hour earlier than us, but we eventually caught up to them and found out they were nearly at their destination, so I guess we won’t be seeing them anymore… We bid them farewell, and kept moving to the next anchorage spot. We arrived early (3:30), and decided on an early dinner of steak and potatoes – Grant’s favorite! After a game of scrabble, Grant went on to fix a few things small items on the boat, and Tabbie worked at finishing her Christmas cards.

Day 50

50 days on the river! 52 without jobs! We both are anxious to get to Tampa. We booked our flights back home now that we know that we are getting near. We wanted to make sure that we had enough allowance for bad weather, especially crossing the gulf. We will be back on December 27th. We haven’t defined our exact plans yet, but it looks like we will be in the cities until Friday, then Eau Claire after that. Not quite sure what day we will head back to Tampa. Maybe on the 2nd or 3rd of Jan. The water really calmed down yesterday evening and night. It will be smooth sailing today. No waves to rock us.

We left today at 9:30. We are shooting for an anchorage called Big Lagoon. This is the first day that Grant gets to use the GPS. It works pretty slick for the price paid. Now we know the exact mileage per hour and distance traveled. It also gives us the amount of miles left to our destination. Tabbie spent part of the time upstairs with Grant as we navigated the way through Mobile bay. Surprisingly the bay was extremely calm, so much so that the water was like glass in parts, which is strange since it is so large (about 40 miles long). After about an hour Tabbie took her mandatory nap. Later in the day she drove and as we were passing through a larger part of the waterway she saw some dolphins! Throughout the day we would continue to see more and more surface for air. We assume that they like it in the waterway because it is shallow and warmer. We also saw numerous pelicans dive-bombing the water for fish. They don’t graciously scoop the water like gulls or other birds, they head beak first with a big splash. It is quite the sight. Grant was able to get close enough a couple times to see the fish struggling in the pelican’s pouch and then swallow it down. It looked similar to a small snake swallowing a rodent that is larger than its body!!

We ended up anchoring out with some of our friends that were in Demopolis with us. Sea Angel, Angel and Water Ark were also in the anchor spot. They are slower going than us, and even with us stopping at Mobile for a day, they were still going non-stop. They had been anchoring out since Demopolis.