Port St. Joe to Clearwater
22-Apr-2015 – After a great night’s sleep, we did some boat maintenance (cleaned salt off boat, checked engine oil & transmission fluid levels) and set off through the ICW to Dog Island. This leg of the ICW is beautiful, nothing but trees & wildlife. We saw dolphin, bald eagles, osprey, turtles, alligators and even a manatee! We stopped in Apalachicola for fuel and then anchored at Dog Island. V rowed Sophie to shore and she loved running up and down the beach – first free run in awhile. It was a beautiful night at anchor.
23-Apr-2015 – After an early morning wake-up (0430), to deal with anchor issues and a row to shore for Bear and Sophie to give her one last opportunity to potty before our longest crossing. We left Dog Island @ 0730 to make a long Gulf crossing to Clearwater. The wind was predicted to be S 5-10 kts but was actually NE 5 kts. We are seriously starting to doubt the weather “guessers”! After motor-sailing for hours, the wind finally switched to S 5-10 kts and we were able to sail with a full main and jenny. At ~1530, Bear started the engine but it did not sound good – a quick check on the exhaust and, yep, it was running dry, so it was time to immediately replace the impeller. Bear wasn’t quite sure where it was located, but V took a look and found the spot (with a sticker that basically said “impeller goes here”). After ~2 hrs of Bear cussing like a sailor, the job was done. In the midst of the repair job, Bear took a break to come up and catch a fish – king mackerel. V sailed the whole time and managed to stay relatively on course and speed. We dodged a few thunderstorms but overall, conditions were great – calm seas, just enough wind. We saw dolphin, a huge loggerhead sea turtle, portugese man-o-war. Around dusk, a bunch of swallows flew in to rest on At Last. There were at least two dozen birds – they settled in between the mast and the dinghy with some bunched up on the life-line.
24-Apr-2015 – Overnight conditions had changed to wind from WNW with following seas. We sailed a broad reach for awhile but could not keep our course. As daylight broke, we took down the mainsail, reefed jenny to 100% and motored toward Anclote Key pass. It was a very rocky-rolly ride as the following seas were confused and winds kept shifting to N. We made it to first mark at 1000 and to Dunedin Marina at 1230. Unfortunately, while most of the birds flew off at dawn, some did not make it. We gave them a burial at sea. One particularly heartbreaking moment, but a true testament to dedication happened when one of the birds died, but its mate would not leave its side. She stayed with us even after we disposed of her mate. As we were arriving at Dunedin Municipal Marina, she attempted to fly off, but made a complete circle, landed on Bear’s shoulder, looked at him for a few seconds and then dropped to the deck…she was still alive, but eventually she joined her mate in the after-life! It was a very sad and emotional experience and not one we will soon forget! But all in all, it was a wonderful passage – 29 hours. Sophie was so grateful to see grass & finally get to pee!! Again we slept for almost 12 hrs.