2015-16 Cruise Begins

November 14, 2015

Our 2015-16 cruise has begun.  We are currently anchored in Pelican Bay on Cayo Costa Island on the west coast of Florida.

Pelican Bay Sunset

We left Twin Dolphin Marina in Bradenton, FL midday on Thursday (11/12)  and made the short 4- mile trip down the Manatee River to anchor at Emerson Point and stage for a  '0-dark-thirty' departure down the coast the next morning.

We raised anchor and headed out of the Manatee River at 3 AM on Friday (11/13).  Winding out through the narrow shoal-lined channel to Tampa Bay in the dark is always challenging; the New Moon that night (pitch black) made it more challenging than average.  

In spite of lighted aids to navigation and modern chart-plotters, staying in the channel and avoiding unlit markers is still demanding. The Coast Guard threw two curve-balls this year:

• The Red "12" day-mark that denotes the beginning of the narrow channel out of the river has always been a 'Flashing 2.5 sec' light.  Luckily the night before I noted that it appeared to be a 'Quick Red' light;  all of my charting (paper, electronic, on-line) still indicated the 2.5 sec characteristic .  Light characteristics are a key element that helps the mariner distinguish between nearby aids to navigation and I was glad that I didn't have to figure that out at 3 AM. 
• Secondly in researching this light, I found information that the Coast Guard was planning to add an unlit Green "5" marker in the channel.   Now the question: is it there or not?  It wasn't, but the uncertainty is nerve-racking!

After exiting the river, we crossed Tampa Bay and exited through the south-west channel on an outgoing current.

Crab pots become the major danger traveling on a dark night like this.  Luckily we had a favorable moderate (8-12 knots) wind that allowed us to sail through the night hours, reducing the potential of getting caught in a trap line.  Overall, it was a great sail for about 6 hours and then a good motor-sail for another 3 as we transited down the west coast of Florida.

Entering Boca Grande channel on an incoming current and into Pelican Bay on Cayo Costa Island at around 4 PM on Friday was uneventful.  Total distance traveled of 72 nautical miles in 13 hours.

We have been cruising in the Cayo Costa area for almost 25 years and feel like it is our boating 'home'.  Last year we did not stop here on our way to the Bahamas, but this year we plan to spend 2+ weeks in the area.

After leaving the west coast of Florida sometime in early December, we plan to transit fairly directly to the Bahamas, arriving in Marsh Harbour, Abaco before Christmas.

The summer featured the usual mix of boat work and pleasure.  The previous blog entry (Summer 2015) details some of the pleasure.

In addition to typical boat maintenance, a few boat projects this summer are notable.

We replaced our galley stove.  After 20 years of faithful service our Seward Princess propane stove was starting to show its age.  Several years ago, I was lucky to find a rebuilt replacement for the mercury valve that controls gas flow to the stove.  This winter the 'igniter' stopped working and I was not able to find a replacement part.

In researching the replacement, we were somewhat shocked to find that they were no longer making the Seaward propane stoves.  Interestingly, they still make electric and gas range-tops, but have discontinued the gimballed stove (liability issues perhaps?).  We were able to locate a stove in inventory and ordered it while in the Bahamas and had it installed upon our return to Bradenton last Spring.

Stove with one-piece grate

After some debate, we ordered the model with a one-piece grate (as opposed to the traditional individual grates).  As a note to other boaters facing a similar purchase, we probably would get the individual grates if we were to repeat the purchase.  While as anticipated, it makes 'pan management' much easier, but makes cleaning the stove-top harder (you have to always remove the grate).

And as any offshore sailor knows, your gimballed stove is your lifeline to hot food and drinks underway and the ONLY place you can set something down with a reasonable expectation it will stay where you put it without spilling.  What we just realized on our recent trip down the coast is that the one-piece grate is not as stable for this purpose.

Another notable project was a factory rebuild of our water-maker.   Our product quality had declined last winter.  We thought we would just get a new membrane, but a factory rebuild was recommended. The factory reported that our high-pressure pump cylinder was scored due to some particles that evaded the extensive filtration system.  I have been cleaning our fine-filters and reusing them several times; this may be penny-wise and pound foolish.

A cold-front came through here the night of our arrival, producing brisk winds today and a day on-boat, but it is great to be back in Pelican Bay.  We just saw a small flock of White Pelicans - yeehaw!


Tom
Anchored Pelican Bay
Cayo Costa