Wrecks & Hurricanes

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 persistent cold has broken.

In our journey, it has been quite apparent that recent storms have left their mark along this coastline. As recently as 4months ago, just days after we made the offer to buy Navigator, Hurricane Helene formed off the Yucatan. We watched with interest (not our boat yet, but still hoping nothing would happend) as Helene intensified and moved toward the Panhandle of Florida. For a while, Gulf Shores, where Navigator lay, was with in the possible hurricane cone and a small left turn could have brought they eye over Gulf Shores.

Helene was one of the stongest hurricanes in years (Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 140 mph) and fortunately made landfall in a realatively lighlty populated area of the Panhandle. Because of it's path up the Florida coast, Helene brought massive storm surge along long streches - 8 ft in Tampa and 15 ft in the Big Bend. And as we all remember, torrential rains from Helene resulted in over 200 deaths in the Southeastern US, most notably in North Carolina.

Barely a week later, on October 6th, Milton formed in the western Gulf of Mexico and started moving east across the Gulf. For a while Milton was an even stronger, Category 5 hurricane with 180 mph winds. Milton made landfall near Siesta Key (just south of Tampa Bay) on October 10th with sustained winds of 120 mph.

As our thoughts when aquiring Navigator involved sailing back to Maine - we knew that we would have to bring her through the areas where Helene and Milton caused thier devastation. The AGLCA immedeately started advising Looper's to delay crossing into these areas to allow people a chance to recover from the worst of the damage. Cruising on a boat means being dependent on shore based services, marinas in particular, for a place to tie up and get food, water, fuel and to pump out. Unsurprisingly, marinas are susceptible to hurricane winds and the storm surge. As the water level rises above normal, docks rip themselves apart and float away, dragging boats along with them. Services, like electric power, water lines and fuel sytems get torn apart. Service buildings are flooded or blown down. Rarely is it a simple clean up process. Rather, it is rebuilding from scratch. Even in January, three plus months after these hurricanes hit, the affected towns along a large stretch of coastline were still facing challenges.

Moving across the Panhandle of Florida we began to notice the affect right away. Near Destin, we noticed a number of boats beached along the Intercoastal - some up in the trees above the banks.

In Panama City the marina we stayed at was down to about 1/4 of thier slips and was without pump out services. In Apalachicola we were able to get a spot along a dock for the night, but no restrooms, no water, no fuel available. Tarpon Springs, where we spent two nights after the crossing, they had restored docks and rebuilt the restrooms, but had no pump out facilities and their office was a temporary trailer.

On the 15th we moved down the intercoastal 40 miles through the Clearwater area. We realized we were seeing a fair number of boats grounded or in the trees. Alot of private docks knocked about, debris along the shoreline, windows boarded up, roofs with tiles missing or tarps streched over themtwisted out of shape or missing decks. And even homes with shingls missing, boarded up or just not looking right. At the Gulfport City Marina we had managed to get a mooring reservation for 2 nights. We had called and were told they had no slips. They told us they had been hit hard by Milton - several feet of storm surge thru the entire complex - and were only able to offer services to resident boats - no transients. After a bit of back and forth, they graciously offered us a mooring.

On the passage we did see evidence of storm damage. Docks - even a boat or two sitting beached along the shore line. But when we entered Boca Ciega Bay and approached the Gulfport mooring field we were shocked by what we saw. Liz pointed to a strange object in the water and wondered what it was. Looking, I realized it was a mooring ball with a bow pulpit just sticking above the water - a bow pulpit of a boat that had sunk stern first.

Then we saw what looked like a very strange center console boat tied to a different mooring. As the image resolved itself in my brain I realized it was not a center console - but in fact the fly bridge of a 50 foot boat that was sitting on the bottom - only the fly bridge visible.

Navigating the mooring field was interesting.....

There were other boats scattered along the shoreline and in the woods along the shore. Gulfport had been hit hard.

From Longboat Key just north of Siesta Key (which is where Milton made landfall) down to Venice, we came across the most concentrated evidence of Milton. Boats scattered all over the place: