RUNNING THE TRAP LINES

December 6, 2011  Dateline: Clearwater Beach, FL USA

When Rich and Carol went to sleep last night they were discussing whether or not to leave Carrabelle for Clearwater.  Their discussion dragged on in the morning and after some discussion with other boaters they told me it was time to get out of town.  So they woke up the sleeping Cats and we started to leave the dock.  Initially there were three other boats that “might” go with me.  They all had to go to the fuel dock and one had to have some repairs done.  Carol said, “If we are going, let’s go, it is getting late and we will not get there before dark if we wait too much longer.”  So off we went, we would have to make the crossing alone.  We left Carrabelle about 9 in the morning.  Carol had opened the MOJO shirt Rich had purchased in Apalachacola and Rich put it on

The first hour was ok until we got from behind Dog Island then the wind from the south took over.  I bounced along for the next 2-2.5 hours.  The waves were a bit choppy but nothing that I have not faced in the Atlantic Ocean.  Suddenly, the waves laid down and the water became nearly flat.  Great !!! Rich pushed my throttles forward and I began to move at 23 mph.  Carol did some quick calculations and said it would be about 6 PM when I got to Carrabelle.  Now it was a race with the sun.

I was doing just fine and then the lines of crab pots started.  These lines were laid in a 45° angle off of my route.  Carol’s job was to spot the lines and Rich’s was to get me around them.  They both did a great job.  As we got closer to Clearwater all of a sudden the crab pots were no longer organized but they seemed to be randomly placed with dark colored floats. Oh dear, this is not good.  As it got darker they became more difficult for Rich and Carol to see.

At seven miles out from Clearwater (21 minutes), Carol took this picture of the sun going down.  By the time I got to the channel into Clearwater the sun was gone and I had to find my way to the marina in the dark.  That turned out to be not an easy task because the channel is unlighted and had only 3-4 feet of water on either side of it.  On the bright side, there were no more crab pots.

At 6:30 I saw a man standing on the fuel dock ahead of me.  He directed me to a slip close by and I got tied up for the night.  One of Rich and Carol’s Looper friends sent over half a pizza for dinner, they told me it was very good but that I would have to wait several days to get my tanks filled.  I had traveled about 167 miles for the day in 9.5 hours. I was very hot and tired.

It looks like for the next two days I will be staying in Clearwater, then off to someplace else and another adventure.

PS:  Still no dolphin pictures, I think Carol has given up on getting any.

       Also, I am the only boat that made it to Clearwater. One is still in Carrabelle and the other 2 stopped at Steinhatchee.  It must have been the magic of the MOJO shirt, which the others did not have.