Preparing for the Journey

December 20, 2024

People are wondering what we are going to do with a boat in Alabama - perhaps wondering if we have gone crazy!  Buying a boat located so far away wasn't planned.   In fact even buying a boat wasn't planned.   But we loved the Helmsman Pilothouse "Twilight" which we saw in Ottawa in August - and we stumbled upon her sister ship in Gulf Shores and well, it just all fell in place.   

Buying a boat that is 1,600 miles away does present some challenges.  We worried about hurricanes (Helene & Milton both made landfall not far away).  We thought about having the boat trucked back to New England.   But our immediate reaction was: why put Navigator on a truck and ship it to Maine - only to put it away for the winter?  Why not keep her in the warmer Gulf weather?   And in fact, knowing that Navigator had already done the Great Loop twice, we knew she was capable of sailing from Alabama back to Maine if we wanted to.   

So that became the inital, albiet not very detailed, plan.  We also knew that Bill and Molly were planning to take Salty Paws to Florida in January, so that seemed plausible that we might connect with them and cruise together for a while in the Keys.  And as it has developed Jess & Mike have the idea to join us there!

It wasn't really until after the closing and we had returned to Maine that I was able to spend the kind of time necessary to rough out the distances from Gulf Shores to Maine and to build a working plan at least getting us to the Keys.  After doing the math, the first realization is that while it may be only 1,600 miles by vehicle from Gulfshores to Maine it is more like 3,000 miles by water!   The second realization is that even meeting Salty Paws in the Keys means moving Navigator 700 miles!   We are going to be doing some cruising!

Much of this travel will be in the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW).  The Intercoastal Waterway consist of natural inlets, saltwater rivers, bays, and sounds, as well as man made canals connected together extending from Texas to Massachusetts.  The ICW primarily follows the lagoons between the barrier islands on the ocean side and the salt marshes and bayou's that form the mainland side.   On whole, this forms a very protected waterway, but in some cases, you are still forced to make an offshore crossing where no lagoon or canals exist.   

The 700 miles moving from Gulf Shores to the Keys looks like this:  

The first 200 miles of our journey from Gulf Shores to Carabelle Florida are inside the protected Intercoastal.   But getting from Apalachacola to Tarpon Springs requires an open water crossing of 150 miles.  That will require a favorable weather window and about 16 hours of travel time at Navigator speed.   And as it will undoubtedly involve an overnight passage it will require keeping watch on watch - in other words someone alert at the helm at all times with someone on the ready to help if anything arises.   We will have an experienced sailor [and esteemed friend] Otto, skipper of Vega, joining us for that crossing!   

After that there is another long stretch  inside ICW chanels from Tarpons Springs past St. Petersburg, Tampa Bay, Sarasota, Sanibel Island to Ft Myers.  All densely populated and full of marinas and services.   The 175 mile strech south from there to Marathon Key involves hops along the coast starting with Napels, Marco Island then through the Ten Thousand Islands and Everglades National Park.   

We plan to start moving right after the holidays.   Since Navigator has Automatic Identification System (AIS) on board you should be able to follow us.   AIS is like the transponder on aircraft.   It emits a signal giving your position, course and speed so that other vessels know who is out there - even if visibility is limited.   Various Apps - like Marine Traffic - will allow you to follow us.   Just search for "Navigator".