6/15 Clear, Cool Waters of Crystal River

We slept well after our Gulf crossing yesterday.  Erik awoke at his usual pre dawn hour and preceded to fish a bit.  Yep.....they have catfish here also.  

Good morning Steinhatchee

It is gong to be another beautiful day! 

We decided to skip over going to shore and exploring Steinhatchee.  It really did not appear to have a lot to do and we thought instead that we would get an early start back on the water so that we could arrive at our next destination, Crystal River, early in the afternoon and do more exploring there.  Today planned journey brought us back out into the Gulf where we would travel another 87 miles south.   However, today we would stick closer to shore (about 4 miles off shore) and the waves were much friendlier.  

Coming into the channel to Crystal River.  This area of the Gulf is VERY shallow off shore and all of the ports have long channels to follow the markers into 

We have seen many dolphins.  This is a good example of the typical fabulous pics that Renee gets of them playing!  Do you see them?  haha...that's because those little boogers are a real challenge to photograph.  

Our first choice of marina in Crystal River was 'Petes Pier' in the Kings Bay area.  Unfortunately, we were not able to get a slip there since they were filled up.  Instead, we called and made arrangements for a slip at Twin River Marina.  After stopping through the marina and checking in/paying we decided to continue on back further into the channel to Kings Bay. Since it was early enough into the afternoon we thought that it would make sense to do some exploration before getting settled in at a marina slip.  We found a nice anchorage along with quite a few other boats in the bay.   By this point in the afternoon and after our long trip out in the sun we were both MORE than ready to jump into the water to cool down.  What a pleasant surprise entering into the water was!  Because of the many springs feeding the bay at this location the water temp was much cooler than what it is in the Gulf or other areas that we have been.  Additionally, the salinity of the water is WAY lower.   It was almost like swimming in fresh water .  Ahhhhh.....we needed that.   After a quick dip we got back into the boat refreshed and decided to blow up the kayak and explore.  We had heard from other blogs and forums as well as from our McConnelsville snowbird friends who winter in Crystal River that the springs are very nice.  From the anchorage we set out down a small creek (our boat would not have fit under the bridge).  We started off rough with Renee and Erik NOT in unison on their oaring!  Our inflatable kayak is not the most water dynamic craft that you have seen.  Soon though, after some loving and understanding conversation (or bitching at each other), we were cruising along nicely.  The are along the creek had many channels shooting off of it with very nice homes everywhere.  There were a whole bunch of other people on kayaks and paddle boards coming and going.  It felt a bit like we were on the Mohican River canoeing on a hot Summer day.  Our arms were getting tired but we were certain that there was more to see just around the bend.  We were right!  Just a little further and there was an entrance to an absolutely stunning part of the springs.   The water opened up into a small bay where the water was as clear as drinking water.   There were quite a few people swimming and kayaking around.  This is the area that Crystal River is most known for.  In the Winter months (December-April) there are many (sometimes hundreds) of manatee swimming in this area.   They love it because the springs keep the water here at a constant 72 degrees.  We paddled our kayak to the shore and exited on the rocky ledges.  The rocky shores were a bit slippery, but once in the water the reward was nice.  This water was even cooler and more refreshing than in Kings Bay.  Because we were in our inflatable kayak, that tends to get some water on board, we had not brought our phones.   However, Erik saw a lady who was standing on a paddle board taking pics.  He asked her if she would be willing to take a picture of us and text it to his phone.   We had brought our snorkels and masks along in the kayak.   It was very neat to swim around and look at the rock ledge shores under water and explore the bottom.  There were some fish, but mostly just a sandy bottom.  

One of several pictures that Erik had the bikini clad lady on the paddle board take and text to him.  Little did she know that it was just a ploy to get her phone number!  hahaha....she did text a few hours later inquiring whether the pics had come through.  It was nice of her to do that

After our paddle back to the boat we determined that we were both STARVING to death.  We pulled anchor and headed back up the channel to the marina.  Once settled into our slip we cranked up the A/C and got the grill lit.   We grilled out some burgers and ate some leftover guacamole and chips that we had made the day before.  After dinner Renee got online to balance the check book, pay bills AND make sure that Discover Card still had enough OTB to keep us on the water for the next ten days!   While she was doing that, Erik gave Aquaholic a good and much needed fresh water bath.  The two days of travels out on the Gulf with the saltwater spray had EVERYTHING covered in a layer of sticky, salty grime.  We stuck close to the boat during the evening but did walk the dock a bit and conversed with a local live aboard boater who was originally from New Jersey.  Nice guy who was in the process of restoring an old wood boat that he is also living on.  

After dinner we were treated to another nice rainbow

Rainbow Pic 2

Not a bad view from our slip again! 

bye bye sun!  We will see you again in the morning :-) 

Our boat and lazy chairs drying after their baths to remove the salty film as the sun set

6/14 Across the Gulf we go

After two days in a row of fairly long cruises, both out in the Gulf today (Saturday) We are rested up enough to catch up on some blogs. 

Thursday 6/14 came and we had waited out the waves and weather long enough.  We had been checking the weather, Windy.com and Marv's Wave reports as well as speaking with locals with much more knowledge than us.  Today was the day that we would go out onto the open waters of the Gulf and cross from Carabelle to Steinhatchee.   The water/wave forecasts were calling for mostly 2' wave height and the weather was looking good with winds out of the NE. 

An update on Renee's Math midterm exam; She awoke this morning to find out that after all the challenges and then being able to finally take the Exam late last night it turns out that when she was finished with it somehow it did not upload properly....Ugh!  Some commutations back and forth with her professor and it was determined that he would allow her to re take the exam this coming Tuesday.  

After refueling, checking systems and ensuring that everything in the cabin/aboard was well secured we shoved off from the dock at C-Quarters Marina in Carabelle where we had spent the last three nights.  

Saying goodbye to Carabelle and C-Quarters Marina 

And out into the bay headed towards 'East Pass' of Dog Island where we would enter into the Gulf

There was a small chop on the water as we exited the channels from Carabelle and into the area protected by the barrier islands.   The sun was high by now since it was almost 10am.  As we came through 'East Pass' and into the Gulf the chop at first changed to rolling swells for the first couple of miles when we were still close to the islands and shore.  Fairly quickly, the wave heights and action picked up quite a bit.  Within a half an hour or so we were into 3-4' waves (even though all sites said they would only be 2's 😕😠).  Renee quickly donned her life vest with the PLB (personal locator beacon) attached to it.  We knew that the boat would handle the waves just fine; The question was how well Erik and Renee would do!  About every 5th or 6th wave would splash a good amount of water up onto the flybridge soaking us and everything around us and leaving a sticky, gritty film of salt behind.  We know now what the term 'Salt' is about and both have determined that generally speaking we like the water and feel of 'River Life' better than 'Salt Life'.   Committed and comfortable with how we were progressing we continued on towards our set coordinates form marker 3 buoy out of east pass towards Steinhatchee.   We played around a bit with our speed and trim tabs and settled in on a speed of about 10-11 mph.   It was going to be a long and tiring ride today.   There were not many photographs taken for the next 3-4 hours because it was challenging at best to even hold something with the jarring of the waves let alone take a picture.   As well, we had our phones secured and partially covered to avoid getting wet from the continual salt water spray.  

The salty, wet floor of the flybridge was very slippery which made exiting down to the lower cabin challenging at best with the motion of the boat.  Very slowly and carefully hanging onto the rails at all time it was possible, but largely we stayed up top and in our seats for the first several hours.  Fortunately, as the forecasts had predicted as we progressed into the afternoon the wave heights and winds decreased some and the ride became MUCH more bearable.   By about 1pm the waves had mostly stopped splashing up onto the bridge (except for an occasional surprise attack!) and we were eventually able to pick up our pace to about 15 mph.   After a couple hours at that speed, and when we had land in site again we decided to stop for a bit to have Erik try his hand at catching a red snapper, or whatever else might bite on the bait.  Very quickly after dropping the line to the bottom he got a bit and was able to bring in a fish.  We are really not sure what it was, but it was not very large so we released it back to grow big and strong! 

Look at the size of that beast!  

I think we will throw this one back

After a brief stent of fishing we motored on towards our destination for the day.  We realized that we had not made a reservation for a slip.  We had a phone signal and called Sea Hag and Good Times marinas (really the only two marina in Steinhatchee) only to find out that both had no available transient slips.   No big deal; we had spent the past 6 nights in a marina between Apalachicola and Carabelle so it was time to save some $$ and anchor out anyhow.   It was about 5:30 pm by the time that we made our way into the channel and found a suitable spot to drop the hook.  We were hot, tired, and covered in salt.  

Our anchorage for the night in Steinhatchee

We warmed up some leftover pork roast that we had grilled the night before for dinner.  After enjoying another beautiful sunset while relaxing in the zero gravity chairs on the bow we were both exhausted.   Quick cool showers aboard were in order to bring body temps down and rinse off the layer of grime.  After the sun had set the temperatures came down nicely and with a fan in the bow hatch it was a very comfortable, and much needed, evening and night of rest. 

Happy to be across

Yep....sunsets are pretty from this side of the Gulf as well

6/13 Beaches, Lighthouses, Museums, Grouper, Blood Red Sunsets and Math Exams

What would the day be without a sunrise picture?

Today was the first day in many with NO RAIN!  The skies were partly cloudy and the temperatures were in the very comfortable mid eighties.  Most of the morning was spent with Renee continuing to study for the mid term exam in one of her online classes.  While she got smart Erik caught up on a few blog posts that we had fallen behind on.  

Shortly afternoon we got on our bikes and went out to explore some sites.  The first stop was about a mile and a half up the road which was a nice easy ride with the only real hill being the bridge over the river.  After that it was a leisurely peddle along the shoreline with beach to the Camp Gordon Johnston WWII Museum.  It was a very well done museum with tons of history on WWII and specifically the part that the Carebelle area played in the training.  We had not realized (neither of us being huge history buffs) that many ships were sunk on and just off the Florida coasts by German U boats during the war.  It was interesting to see the photographs of how large a military presence there was all along the forgotten coast.  Most of those military compounds are totally gone now and you would never know it without seeing the historical photos.  We did encounter a couple of areas while cruising east along the coast where our Navionics actually gave us warnings about potential for un exploded bombs under the water!  We chose not to snorkel in these areas...lol. 

Diorama of troops practicing on the shores of Carabelle for the storming of Normandy 

Exhibit of a typical soldiers belongings

bombs, grenades and other weapons

A room set up to show what the soldiers quarters would have looked like

From the museum we rode another mile or so up the road to the Crooked River Lighthouse.  The original lighthouse/s were built on Dog Island (just of the coast from current location) in 1873 but over an approximately 22 year period the lighthouse was destroyed 3 times by hurricanes.   In 1895 they headed mother natures desires and finally built the one that is standing today a hundred yards or so on shore.  It was in continuous operation until 1995 when it was decommissioned by the Coast Guard.  Shortly after that time plans were made for tearing it down but a group was formed to save it and it now is back to an operational lighthouse.   The climb up to the top was 103 steps of a spiral staircase.   The last 12 or so were incredibly narrow and a bit freaky to go up to the exterior.  The views from the top were excellent.  You could see for many miles out over the gulf as well as back into densely wooded areas mainland Florida.  While in the museum/gift shop we were asked where we were from.  This led to a conversation on our Looping and an older lady chimed in immediately when she overheard us.  She was absolutely ecstatic to talk to us about the Loop since her and her late husband had done parts of it and had dreamed and planned of completing it one day until he passed.  This made us grateful that we are afforded the opportunity to do these adventures while we are still young and reasonably healthy.

Crooked River Lighthouse.  We forgot to take a better picture from back a bit

View straight down from the top after climbing the steps 

View from the top looking out on the bay and Gulf 

From the top looking back to mainland 

Panoramic 

103 steps up a lighthouse and a bike ride will make you hot!  So, our next stop was just back down the road to the public beach.   We had worn our swimsuits and had packed our snorkel gear in a small backpack.   We wanted to try it out since we had not yet utilized it and we are REALLY hoping to do more of it when we get to Steinhatchee and Crystal River.   We are told that area has beautiful waters to snorkel, manatees are plentiful AND scallop season opens on Saturday....Yum!   Erik is intent that he will be grilling up ocean fresh scallops on the back of the boat this weekend.   The water at Carabelle beach was not particularly ideal for snorkeling as it was a bit murky.  We could really only see about one foot in front of our faces.  Part of this may be because of the stormy, rainy weather recently.   However, we did have a good time with it and did verify that the masks worked very well. 

Afterwards we took a stroll down the beach and engaged in a conversation with a couple of guys who were from Kentucky and were fishing from the beach.  They were not having very good luck today but were excited to tell us about the catfish, several large stingray and SHARKS that they had caught over the past few days.   Good thing that we did our snorkeling before we found out about the sharks....probably just babies though and no great whites.

At Carabelle Beach.  The areas between the two islands if you look closely is 'East Pass' where we will exit out of the bay tomorrow and into the Gulf

The Beach

We rode back to the boat and up to the marinas shower house where we cleaned up and headed on foot back down the road a half mile or so to 'The Fishermans Wife' restaurant.   We had heard good things about  this place on the Looper forums that we follow.   It was very tasty!  Renee went with the Philly Steak Wrap while Erik indulged again in seafood; blackened grouper.  The hush puppies were amazing.  Erik did, yet again, talk Renee into trying a bite of the grouper.  She was not a fan. 

Back to the marina and boat Renee was right back at studying hard in preparation for her 7 pm proctored, online mid term exam.  Erik went up to the large deck and sat in rocking chairs chatting it up with the locals and watching them bring in the days yield of fish; red snapper, grouper, flounder, and a few other misc types.  Since no one is allowed in the room/boat while Renee was taking her exam Erik did laundry while waiting for her to complete it.  Over an hour later Renee emerged stating that she was having issues with the computer program and was not able to open a data file that was needed.   She tried on Erik's computer but that also did not work.   She was VERY frustrated because she had specifically scheduled it for this evening in order to have it done prior to our planned departure to cross the Gulf tomorrow.   Ugh.... after some time of emailing back and forth with the professor and the proctoring service at about 9:30 pm she managed to get what was needed up and running.

Beautiful red sunset this evening 

Screw it....if i cannot take my exam I will at least enjoy the scenery!

AGLCA ready to cruise off into the sunset....
or maybe the sunrise tomorrow

So here Erik sits on the aft deck, unable to go inside to get another cup of coffee, blogging about today's activities at 11 pm.   Hoping that Renee is done soon and that she does well on the exam in what she says is the most difficult, confusing class she has taken yet.  Erik keeps reminding her that C's get degrees!    

Well, she's not done so I may as well keep writing...lol.  Plus I forgot to mention our neighbors.  This is truly a small world we live in.  Back in Apalachicola we met David and Chris aboard 'Breath First' a 25 foot Ranger Tug.   They both quit there jobs to do the loop stating that "we can always get another job when we get done".   Must be nice....our mortgage company, fuel bills and savings (or lack thereof) tell us that would not be a good plan for us.  The small world part comes in because after some conversation and looking at their boat closer we noticed that their boat is out of Lorraine Ohio!   Actually, the boat is registered out of Lorraine but they had a house (sold it to start looping) and jobs in Dover Ohio, practically  just up the river systems from us.   They started their loop and have taken almost the identical paths that we have.  They also started on the Ohio and made their way down the rivers taking the 'side trips' up the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers just like we did last year.   They had left Apalachicola the day before us to make there way here to Carabelle but we caught back up to them a couple day ago and we have since been docked right next to them.  Very nice folks living their dream.  We were a bit jealous to find out that they get almost 5 miles to the gallon of diesel fuel while cruising along at a leisurely 7 knot speed.   Unfortunately our current life situation and schedule is not conducive to that kind of cruising....yet!

David and Chris aboard 'Breath First' 

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6/12 Lazy Days When the Skies Are Gray

I know that no one will believe this but, Erik awoke early and sat on the aft deck drinking his coffee and smoking his smokes.  It was again a rainy morning with the wind blowing.  The weather dissuaded most of the local fishermen from venturing out for day three of red snapper season. However, there were a couple of die hard crews who were at the docks early filling their tanks with fuel and live wells with ice to keep the days catch fresh.
We took advantage of the not so nice weather and stayed aboard Aquaholic for the morning and a good part of the afternoon, Renee working on her mathematics class work and Erik catching up on some email and work related things.  Mid afternoon we were both tired of sitting and decided to walk down into town.  As stated earlier, Carabelle is a MUCH smaller, quiet fishing town.  There are a handful of shops and restaurants along with a couple of pretty cool museums.  We caroused around in one of the museums which highlighted the history of hurricanes in the forgotten coast.   It also had a large array of maps spanning hundreds of years.   From there we went into the 'History of Carabelle Museum' where a very friendly woman greeted us and told us some of her favorite stories.  The people here, as with all of the places we have stopped thus far, are friendly and eager to share about their town.

Welcome to Carabelle

Just like the people in the river towns that we have traversed the past couple of years, these communities in the Panhandle of Fla are also very proud and like to recognize the Servicemen and Servicewomen who have defended our country

Carabelle has been known (and is in Ripley's Believe it or Not and The Guinness Book of World Records as being the town with the smallest police station in the world

This replica of the phone booth sized police center is located near the town center

The original police station is now located in the History of Carabelle Museum

Picture came out kind of dark but this oil painting of the cities history was pretty impressive and told some stories

On our way into town to explore we had stopped at the Post Office where a package with several items Renee had ordered from Amazon a couple of days ago were delivered and waiting for us.  The pics below include the improvements that we received. 

A new flag pole/mast now displays our 'Marinette' pendant flag on the flybridge

A cell phone holder now graces the helm on the flybridge.  We have found it challenging at times to hold a device displaying navigation charts while on bouncy seas

Bouncy seas have also claimed our coffee and drinks on a couple of occasions.  The drink holders we had were inadequate and also often had our cold drinks perched in the hot sunlight.   These new ones are mounted lower where there is typically shade and also have holders we can snug to multiple sizes of drink containers

And...MOST IMPORTANTLY a new coffee thermos!  This time one without the glass lining 

After our walk downtown we came back to the boat and partook in nap time.  All of this stress and hard work really can take it out of us 😉

Rested up we decided to venture out on another walk the other direction to see what else the area had.  We walked down the street and through a couple other local marinas.  Just down the river we went over a walk bridge that connected to a large set of docks owned by The Moorings Marina that had been damaged badly by Hurricane Micheal.  There are A LOT of docks throughout the area still that are in disrepair.   Marina owners tell us that the workers that put the new pilings in and repair the docks are in very high demand and there are not very many of them.   

Set of docks that are closed until repairs can be made

A very large covered porch at our marina has a bunch of these colorful rocking chairs to chill in

And who doesn't like a nice porch swing!

View from our flybridge looking down river towards the opening to the Gulf

View looking up river....waiting for another nice sunset! 

And there it is!