The Land of Shallow Water

Pardon the delay in updating this blog. It’s been several days without Internet connections and no pictures. (How do you take pictures of shallow water?) . We left Carrabelle on Wednesday morning after spending three days in that port, waiting for the weather (and waves) to calm down out in the Gulf of Mexico. Because the trip out into the Gulf is long, about a 160 plus miles to Clearwater, weather is quite a factor. If the weather were bad or your boat had trouble making a long jump like that, there was an alternate site about 80 miles away, called Steinhatchee, Florida. We headed out after being warned by the marina folks that it was not a good idea and that we’d probably return. Well they were right and it was lousy out there. Instead of returning to Carrabelle, we turned and plowed our way to Steinhatchee, running right into a strong easterly wind and waves. Terrible trip, but we made it only to arrive in the shallow water town of Steinhatchee at low tide. The marina where we intended to get fuel told us not to approach their dock, since the water level was too low, and instead directed us to a competitor where there was slightly more water. We did bump bottom but made it to their dock and got our fuel topped off for the long run the following day. Opting to stay at their fuel dock for the night (without any electric or water connection), they offered us the “loaner” truck and some instructions to “Roy’s”, the local fish house where the fresh grouper was delicious. Thursday morning we were underway after daybreak and headed out of Steinhatchee and out the five miles through “Deadman’s Bay” to slightly deeper waters, intending to run south to Clearwater. Because we were now on the eastern side of the Gulf and protected slightly by the Florida land mass, we hopped for a smoother ride. The only problem was that overnight, the wind had shifted to the southeast and again we ran into the wind and waves. It was a long run and because of the seas, we were forced to go slower, however we did arrive off Clearwater around 3:30 pm and felt that AWEIGH could go further toward Tampa Bay. Our original destination was The Vinoy Hotel and Marina, in St. Petersburg, but we found out that they were not reopening until November, so we ducked into Tierra Verde Marina near Bradenton. Bad choice, since their dock master told us he was going home at 5:00 pm and couldn’t help us dock and further, that the only slip available was only 16 feet wide. Now our boat has a beam (width) of 15 foot, 8 inches. That left all of 2 inches on each side. That’s a challenge, but we made it only in, only to find that there was no water available anywhere near our slip. To add additional insult, the following morning as we filled our fuel tanks, we discovered that their fuel was perhaps the most expensive price per gallon on the entire trip. As you can imagine, the decision was made to head for home and Gulf Harbour rather than spend more time in the Tampa area where we’ve been several times before. As Judy said, “We’re outa here” 

Ned