Tuesday, 18 October, between Sharon and I, we tried to sustain the economy of Apalachicola. Shopping complete so we decided it was time to move on, especially with a cold front expected to cross the Gulf of Mexico on Friday. We woke early on Wednesday morning and made preparation for our departure, the only issue was the starter battery didn't want to go. I re-rigged the starter circuit to the house battery bank and the motor fired right up, underway at 0815, a little later than anticipated but still not bad. The trip through Government Cut was an adventure with the tide ripping out of the channel and the wind coming in the channel, huge waves or swells, whatever you want to call it, they made the 2 mile journey miserable. I had decided to leave the galley hatches cracked open for ventilation but we buried the bow a couple times and water flowed along the upper deck all the way to the cockpit. Things below were soaked, but everything was salvageable.
After clearing the channel we made course for the Clearwater Inlet on Florida's west coast, just north of Tampa. The winds were as predicted, East at 10-15 knots for the first half of the day, seas were a bit confused but as the day wore on, the winds died down and by sunset had almost quit completely. So light were the winds that we decided to motor. Unfortunately the autopilot decided to not participate and we'd have to hand steer all night. Sharon turned in for a nap and I drove. Around 10 p.m. the winds had started to fill in, again as forecast, from the northeast at 10-15 knots. Our second stroke of misfortune occurred around midnight when the forecast winds became 'unforecast'. We had had fairly smooth seas since the wind had died down but all was about to change as the unforecast winds became East at 20 knots then increased to 25. The seas lumped up and it became a very long night fighting strong winds and increasing seas. Finally the sun showed it's face and all was good again, winds returning to the expected northeast direction at 15 knots and seas slowly diminishing over about 3 hours. We arrived in Clearwater around 10:30 am and refueled and got a slip for the evening. We needed to have fresh water to wash the copious amounts of salt all over Great Adventure and to affect repairs on the autopilot and battery.
We took the panels off the steering pedestal, inspected the autopilot and found that the lower sprocket was missing. Sharon was able to stick her hand down the channel where the steering cables are and located the sprocket and a washer, I found the screw that holds it all in place on a ledge beneath the autopilot. All in all, it was an easy repair, much easier than I had expected. The battery is simply a remove and replace item. Tomorrow, Sharon's brother, Jimmy and his wife are visiting us at the marina. They have said we can use their car to make a battery store run, so repairs should be complete.
We talked with a couple who arrived this afternoon and they said there is a crab festival this weekend, this perked up Sharon's ears, I seen crab in our future.
City Marina at Clearwater is a nice facility, clean showers and a break on the price of fuel for Boat US members. It is also in a great location for shopping, a grocery store and Walgreens nearby as well as an opportunity to go to the Clearwater Marine rescue facility where the famous 'Winter' from the movie Dolphin's Tale lives along with her buddy, Hope, the sequel movie and many other rescued sea animals. We've always enjoyed the marina at Clearwater and recommend it highly.