Crystal River to White City, FL

Total Miles Traveled 2679

It was quite a long run from Crystal River to Steinhatchee, a little over ninety miles; we had great seas crossing the Gulf, but hundreds of crab pots.  When we arrived, we found “0 Regrets” at the dock.  We have met Barry several times, the first time near our home port at Grand Rivers, KY, then when on the loop at Demopolis, Al.  As we were coming up the west coast of Florida this spring, he met us at Punta Blanca Island, and today he passed by our anchorage on the way to White City.  I’m sure we’ll meet again before reaching our home port.

We left Steinhatchee at daybreak and had a full moon setting in the west as we followed the channel to the Gulf.

We arrived at Carrabelle just before closing, allowing us to top off our fuel tanks with $2.10/ gal diesel fuel.  Carrabelle is one of our favorite stops; everything you need is a short walk from the boat including fresh seafood and great people.  

After taking a day off, we continued on to Apalachicola, Fl, Friday the 14^th which is known for its thirty miles of shallow oyster paradise.  We stayed at the City Dock and visited several shops and art studios, then topped the afternoon off with oysters at the Hole in the Wall oyster bar.

Crossing Apalachicola Bay

Well, it was Saturday and we really like to stay put on the weekends but decided to travel 17 mi to an anchorage at Searcy Creek, about 3 miles from White City, Fl.

As we were dropping the anchor, we noticed we were not alone.

This anchorage is an oxbow just off the waterway and is a popular spot for the local fisherman.  We saw several come and go as we observed them from our fly bridge.  We notice one guy had a pretty good fish on his line so I decided to take a picture of his catch.  His buddy on the boat did not seem to be excited and continued fishing while his partner fought to get the fish in.  Just as he brought the fish close to the boat “Bang”, he pulled a pistol and shot the fish!  Needless to say, we were not ready for that.

Today I noticed this turtle with his head stuck way out, not sure what he was doing?

Oh, I see now….

This is a peaceful place to anchor, I’m sure we’ll stop here again.

Tarpon Springs to Crystal River, Fl

Total Miles Traveled 2457

We left Tarpon Springs April 8^th and only traveled a few miles to anchor at Anclote Key.  The distance to Crystal River from this anchorage is over 70 miles so we wanted to get an early start crossing the Gulf without the delays of coming down the river from Tarpon Springs. 

After traveling an hour or so, there appeared to be a wall of fog on the horizon, we had to deal with fog when we came down in December.  It turned out to be smoke, maybe burning off sugar cane, we are about 5 miles from shore when I took these pictures.

Most of our cruise to Crystal River was about 10 miles off shore and I didn’t see more than 20 feet of water, most of it was 10-15 feet deep.

As we entered Crystal River we passed the Crystal River Generating Station.  The complex contains a single nuclear power plant, while sharing the site with four fossil fuel power plants. The nuclear facility is currently being decommissioned after operating 33 years until shutdown in 2009. 

After an hour journey up the river, we arrived at Pete’s Pier, catering more to the fishing community than cruisers.

Crystal River is at the heart of the Nature Coast of Florida.  The city is situated around Kings Bay, which is spring-fed and so keeps a constant 72 deg F temperature year round.  A cluster of 50 springs designated as a first-magnitude system feeds Kings Bay.  A first-magnitude system discharges 100 cubic feet or more of water per second, which equals about 64 million gallons of water per day.  Because of this discharge amount, the Crystal River Springs group is the second largest springs group in Florida.  Kings Bay can be home to over 400 Manatees during the winter when the water temperature in the Gulf of Mexico cools, and is the only place in the United States where people can legally interact with them in their natural conditions.

We spent the entire day putting around in the dinghy exploring Kings Bay and all of the canals surrounding the bay…..and we saw a few Manatees.

The ducks are not real; they are being used to mark a cable to keep boats out of a protected area.

My “Best Mate” on the lookout for wildlife.

Oooh, she spotted a dandy!

A great day in the life of dinghy owners, we purchased and installed a hydrofoil for our 6 hp outboard while at Tarpon Springs.  We had a chance to check it out for the first time today and it worked great!  Ninety five percent of our dinghy rides are at idle, exploring the areas we visit.  Sometimes we get a few miles away and it would be nice to get up and go!  Until now, when I gave it full throttle, the dinghy would just squat in the water and push water instead of getting up on plane.  The hydrofoil gave us just enough lift to make it happen.  Life is good : }

Punta Blanca Island to Tarpon Springs, FL

Total Miles Traveled 2380

We left Punta Blanca Island early Sunday March 26^th with the idea of getting across Charlotte Harbor with calm waters.  We usually try to avoid traveling on the weekend as the waterways either get congested with boat traffic, or the big sport fisher boats rocking our world.  A big portion of the GICW is slow, no wake, between Charlotte Harbor and Sarasota. 

We passed through Venice, FL which had a pretty cool mural on one of the buildings. 

As we passed Venice Inlet, we found the party island with boats coming and going in all directions.

We try to time the bridge openings so we don’t have to hold our position in the current, wind, and while avoiding other boaters……….I knew there was a reason we didn’t travel on the weekend.

Another early start to our day Monday March 27^th, this time we wanted to get across Tampa Bay and into the marina at St Petersburg with calm waters.  It was a great day for cruising as we approached the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

This was our first visit to St Petersburg; the marina is a short walk to downtown with several shops, restaurants, and art galleries.  We were also within walking distance of the Salvador Dali Museum which houses the largest collection of Dali’s works outside of Europe.

Salvador Dali was a prominent Spanish surrealist painter born in Figueres, Catalonia, Spain.  Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920’s, and is best known for its visual artworks and writings.  Artist painted unnerving, illogical scenes with photographic precision, created strange creatures from everyday objects and developed painting techniques that allowed the unconscious to express itself. 

We had the option to take a guided tour or receive a complementary set of headphones for a self-guided tour; we opted for the guided tour.  Our tour guide was very informative and explained the history of Dali’s works and the intricate details and meanings behind the objects in the artwork. 

We continued north Thursday March 29^th to an anchorage at Redington Shores, we stopped here in the winter; it’s a great place to anchor and has a great restaurant.  On March 30^th we worked our way up the GICW passing Clearwater, and a close encounter with pirates.

We arrived at the Tarpon Springs City Marina and will stay here waiting for a weather window to cross the “Big Bend” of Florida.  The Intracoastal Waterway stops here, and resumes when we cross the Gulf of Mexico to Carrabelle Florida.   We are planning at least three days to cross to the panhandle.

This was a busy place Saturday and Sunday with an arts and crafts show.

This sponge boat came in with a huge load of sponges.  Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the U.S. and is known as the sponge capital of the world.

North Palm Beach to Punta Blanca Island, FL

Total Miles Traveled 2232

We left the North Palm Beach Marina and traveled less than a mile to anchor for a few days in a nice quiet spot off of the ICW.  After being in the Bahamas for a month, we needed to catch up on paperwork and a few maintenance tasks.

As we continued north, we passed the Jupiter Inlet Light, first lit in 1860.  The tower is 105 feet above the water and can be seen for 25 nautical miles.

We passed through the St Lucie lock at Stuart and stopped at the River Forest Yacht Center along the Okeechobee Waterway.  We left the boat there for a little over a week while we drove to Cocoa to visit family and friends, then flew to Indianapolis for a follow up doctor appointment (which resulted in a clean bill of healthJ).

The weather was kind to us as we continued west crossing Lake Okeechobee, the largest freshwater lake in the state of Florida, and the seventh largest freshwater lake in the United States.  Its maximum length is 36 miles long and 29 miles wide with a surface area of 734 square miles.  This is a huge body of water, with an average depth of less than 9 feet and a maximum depth of 12 feet.  A windy day can make this crossing very uncomfortable.  There are two marked navigational channels to follow, one cutting across a portion of the lake, and another channel, known as the Rim Route gives some protection from the open water.   When traveling east in January, we took the lake route and planned to take the Rim Route on the way back.  An emergency repair to a bridge on the Rim Route was not going to be completed until March 31^st so we took the lake route coming back.

After crossing the lake we stopped at Clewiston Florida, the location of Roland Martins Marina. Roland Martin is a professional sport fisherman and is the host of “Fishing with Roland Martin” on the NBCSN television channel.  Roland Martin was the first professional bass fisherman to be inducted into all three Halls of Fame (IGFE Hall of Fame, Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame, and the Professional Bass Fishing Hall of Fame).

To enter the marina, we had to pass through the Clewiston Lock; the lock is normally open unless the lake level rises to a point that could cause flooding.  The marina is mainly designed to accommodate fishing boats, but a long dock, along a narrow canal is provided for larger boats.

The only problem with the long dock is we have to back out from the dock and pass between the rock shoreline and other boats tied to the dock.  Backing up a narrow channel is not my favorite mode of operation……but we made it without any issues.

We continued on the waterway then passed through two locks on our way to La Belle, Florida.

The La Belle City dock provides boat slips, power, and water without a fee.  This is a good stop to provision and to visit local restaurants.  It’s also a good place to hang out for the weekend to avoid weekend boat traffic on the waterway.

We left La Belle and stopped about 9 miles from Ft Myers to visit our friends David and Barbara Dolye from “Miss My Money”.  They have a house along the waterway with a dock, so we stopped for a great visit and spent the night at their dock.  The next morning we continued on to Ft Myers a calm sunny day without a cloud in the sky.  The smell of grapefruit was in the air as we passed a few groves along the waterway.

We approached a railroad bridge located a few miles from Ft Myers and after passing through, noticed what we thought was fog, but instead was smoke.  This area of Florida has been very dry and several fires have plagued this area over the last few months.  We’re not sure if this was a control burn or not, but it defiantly engulfed the city and waterway.

We reached the city marina just after the smoke cleared, and met our friends Merrill and Jan from Terre Haute, for lunch.  We had a great visit, and topped the afternoon off with ice cream at “Scoops on First”.  Our plan was to leave Ft Myers early the next morning and head to our favorite anchorage at Punta Blanca Island, but when we woke up, we were surrounded by fog.

After a couple of hours or so, the fog lifted and we were on our way.  We arrived at Punta Blanca Island with our fingers crossed that no other boats would be anchored here.  Luckily we have the whole place to ourselves.  This is a small anchorage, room for two or three boats; we anchored here in January and saw a huge crocodile, a sea otter, Manatee’s, and Dolphins.

We haven’t seen the crocodile yet, but saw a shark, dolphins, a Manatee and her cub, and the Ospreys we watched in January now have little ones in the nest.  What an awesome place to anchor……we are on day 4.