Navigator Adventures

  Friday January 31st 2:30pm We made it to the Keys!  Just dropped anchor off Johnston Key, between Marathon Key and Key West, having made the 47 mile crossing from Cape Sable in Everglades National Park.  Three months ago we started talking about the Keys as a possible destination.   Two months ago  I started putting together a travel itinerary - beginning to envision how long might it take.    My first 'hard' itinerary (with stopping points, miles between, and estimated days brought us to Marathon Key on January 30th - traveling an estimated 759 miles.    We have arrived within a day of the original itinerary having brought Navigator  735 miles. We fought through some adversity (the weather primarily along with a couple of breakdowns).  We learned something new about the boat almost every day.  We adjusted the plan where it made sense, taking advantage of a weather window - and Otto's availability - to make the crossing....

January 27th - 30th We spent 3 nights in Marco Island enjoying the change in weather.   For the first time since leaving Maine we had 3 straight days of sunshine and temperatures in the 70's.    Shorts, tee shirts and sun glasses were suddenly pulled out of the closet. From Marco Island we again headed south with the immediate goal of the Ten Thousand Islands and Everglades National Park.   The character of the Gulf coast changes dramatically south of Marco.   No more barrier islands.   No more Intercoastal waterway.   Ponce de Leon Bay has a ragged coast of mangrove swamps and tiny little island where the Everglades flow into the sea.   Yes, little known fact:  the Everglades (that amorphous swamp filling south central Florida) is essentially a very wide river and all that swamp land drains south, then west out into the Gulf between Marco Island and the Keys.    We spent the first night at a lovely lit...

 Jan 25th Today we are on Marco Island in Smokehouse Bay at a delightful Marina.  We traveled 630 miles in just 3 weeks since leaving Gulf Shores Alabama, making stops in places like Panama City, Apalachicola, Tarpons Springs, St Petersburg, and Venice.   The weather has been a factor.   In Alabama and the Pan Handle of Florida we had morning temperatures in the 30's - frost on the deck twice.   It has been incesantly windy - delaying our start, challenging us on the crossing and adding wind chill to the daily analysis - and it has been overcast or rainy.   We had New England fog two mornings - and both day fog persisted until noon.  I have worn shorts just once - and by 2 pm I was back in long pants.  Here in Marco Island this morning we awoke to completely blue skys - a first - with temps in the high 40's - and the promise of 70 today.   The forecast for the next week inclues mid to high 70's.   Maybe this...

 " The Crossing" is what anybody cruising from New Orleans, LA or Mobile, AL needs to do in order to get to Tampa Bay - the gateway to southern Florida.  The crossing is how boaters negotiate the "Big Bend" of Florida and involves cutting straight across 150 miles of open water  from Dog Island to N Anclote Island.  Boaters are forced to crossing because there is the the gap Intercoastal Waterway that forces any boat out into the Gulf of Mexico.   During the crossing a vessel is 40 - 50 miles from shore for about 10 hours.   For obvious reasons, the crossing becomes a focus of cruising boats on this journey.   Moving along the protected Intercoastal offers a multitude of options for stopping, finding a marina or at anchor in realative security.   Starting the crossing has none of those exit strategies.   Once you start, you are committed to the open ocean.   If it gets rough, you're only option is to press o...

  January 11, 2025   En Route to Apalachacola On Wednesday, our second day of moving, we covered 70 miles from Hurlburt AFB to Panama City.    We got a great start despite the brisk morning (34F), undeway by 7 am.   Coffee and yogurt breakfast while underway.  Crossing Choctawhatchee Bay on auto pilot we saw a number of F-22's out of Elgin AFB.    The connection between Choctawhatchee Bay and West Bay near Panama City is a dug canal.  Beautiful rock cuts (well 1- 3 million year old sand is as close to 'rock' as you get in this part of Florida) exposed along the edges.   Liz commented that this was sure to be 'eagle country', and sure enough we saw two eagles watching from the trees.    During the heat of the day (low 50's) I piloted the boat from the fly bridge.   What a great vantage point to see the canal.  The new chart plotter makes driving the boat from the fly bridge a joy! We had thought abo...

  Tuesday January 7th, 2025 -   Santa Rosa Sound, near Fort Walden, Florida With the holidays behind us Liz and I flew from Portland back to Gulf Shores Alabama on  January 4th.   The first order of business was meeing the guys from Coastal Riggers (who installed the new electronics system) and accepting their work.   So within hours of arriving we were out on the Portage Creek section of the Gulf Intercoastal doing circles and zig zags to calibrate the compass and autopilot and check everything out.   Gary and Kenny did a great job.   I am really happy we decided to go ahead with this improvement.   Navigator again has a state of the art navigation system. Sunday was supply day.   A trip to Costco, Rouses & Publix for groceries.  Gulf Shores kind of feels like a second home to us.   We had hoped to leave Gulf Shores and start moving east on Monday but gale force winds were predicted....