Citizens of Steinhatchee?

Nice downwind sail from Crystal River to Cedar Key. Dropped anchor off Atsena Otie Key near where we last anchored here before the winter. Later in the afternoon we were accidentally beached by changing wind and low tide over a spit of sand that wasn’t there during our last visit. No problem though, we used the opportunity to clean the bottom. Kedged off around midnight and re-anchored. A rather uncomfortable night with choppy conditions and little protection.

Early morning sun reflecting off the Crystal River channel markers

Shrimp boat returning to Crystal River after a night out working

Beached at Atsena Otie Key off Cedar Key

We departed Cedar Key at daybreak on a stiff south easterly. A little rough but achieved good cruising speed. Nice nature sights too – a huge manta ray got airborne near the boat soon followed by a good sized loggerhead surfacing right in front of us. With a clean bottom and good wind we made good time to Horseshoe Beach. The entrance to Horseshoe Beach is long and well marked with very shallow areas on either side. There were lots of shorebirds on the spoil islands that dot the way in. There is very little space to anchor once inside and the holding is poor in very soft, very smelly, muck. The forecast was for light wind so we dropped a second anchor and stayed overnight.

Sunrise at Horseshoe Beach anchorage

Departing Horseshoe Beach. A shrimp boat is returning down the channel

The channel is quite narrow!

Birds and guano on the spoil islands along the Horseshoe Beach channel.

Birds perched on a channel marker.

Left again at first light on a good southerly breeze. A beautiful morning and a fast run up the coast to Steinhatchee. We had planned to cross Apalachee Bay overnight but a lively storm system was approaching from the west so we decided to hang out at Steinhatchee until it passed. Dog Island just east of Carrabelle was our next destination.

Sea Hag Marina on the Steinhatchee River

Steinhatchee (from Esteen Hatchee - meaning people's river in Seminole) is a great place for sailboats. There is a deep, well marked, channel leading into the river and a nice sheltered anchorage with excellent holding less than a mile upriver. We anchored and planned to head over to the Sea Hag Marina the next day for showers, fuel, and water but when we called they told us the rate was only 50c/foot so we went right over and booked 2 nights! A nice marina with wonderful staff and a store with just about anything you could need for your boat. There is also a good grocery store nearby. The only downside here is that the no- see-ums are second only to the Everglades! Bad news for people like us who prefer to avoid using DEET.

Steinhatchee anchorage. 

Sea Hag's boat storage

Refreshed and restocked after two nights at Sea Hag we headed out as early as we could to try to make the crossing before nightfall. Learned a good lesson while departing the dock in a strong current! The current was from behind but also pushing us onto the dock. I thought I could get enough forward speed to steer away but not! I realized this was not going to work and hit reverse. We managed to recover without hitting anything and backed out like we should have done in the first place! The wind was calm and we motored out with the current keeping the speed up. Shortly after rounding the last marker and setting heading the engine made a brief tappit noise and shut down. Obviously something mechanical had failed and our choice now was to, either continue under sail and try to make Apalachicola for repairs, or turn back against wind and current to Steinhatchee. Turning back seemed the safer option and we decided that Seatow sailed better to windward and gave them a call. They towed us back to Sea Hag. It turned out that the engine had had a fairly catastrophic mechanical failure, unusual for a good quality engine. A bit disappointing with this new Yamaha having less than 20 hrs of run time.

Local cool dude going to work

Steinhatchee River

Delicious raisin cake and a sweet potato cooked in the solar oven. Temp at 230!

As this was now a warranty issue it had to go through a Yamaha dealer. Not so easy from Steinhatchee. Firstly our phone did not work here and neither did our mobile internet device. Sea Hag however, was extremely helpful. They diagnosed the problem (paid of course) and supplied photos, made several phone calls on our behalf, and let us use their telephone whenever we needed to get things going with Yamaha. The nearest dealer, Big Bend Marine, was about 35 miles away and they were no help at all. They said they would not even look at it for 5 weeks! Next we got on to Yamaha customer service who put us in contact with Cedar Key Marina. Just happens to be where we bought the engine and they are now dealing with it. A long story short, 2 weeks have passed and we are still at Sea Hag Marina waiting for Yamaha to return our repaired engine.

Broken Yamaha engine

Next - Comment on Yamaha service quality..... I hope I like them!

Crystal River for the winter!

We departed Hudson after 10+ days of waiting for the small craft advisory to be lifted. We spent the next night anchored out off Homosassa before heading to Crystal River. There is a nice little sheltered cove just inside the Crystal River mouth behind Shell Island where we spent the night.

Power Station at the mouth of the Crystal River

Sunset off Shell Island, Crystal River

Heading further up the river the next day to Kings Bay we found a spot in 4’ of water with good holding. The surroundings are just too beautiful with great wildlife. There are lots of birds such as ospreys, spoonbills, wood storks, ibis, pelicans, bald eagles, sandhill cranes, pileated woodpeckers, grebes, anhingas, and ducks. There are also hundreds of manatees in the bay and several raccoons on nearby Buzzard Island.

Pelican

Manatee coming over to eat some algae on our boat

The gentle manatee still has barnacle from spending the summer at sea

Two days later we set off for the Withlacoochee River which is only 6 miles up the coast in a straight line but 17 miles by boat. Two long canals dredged for the power station are in between the Crystal River and Withlacoochee River and run several miles out to sea. They have substantial spoil areas and the first safe gap is about 5 miles out. The Withlacoochee River mouth is accessed via a narrow well marked channel. We anchored about a half mile up the river in a small bay with good holding and nice surroundings. Many shrimp boats came by just at dark and returned in the early morning.

Shrimp boats on the Withlacoochee

At sunrise we departed for Cedar Key. We had a great sail, arrived in the early afternoon and dropped anchor behind Dog Island. We tied up at the dock the next day to stock up with food water and gas.

Dolphins playing near our boat off  Dog Island, Cedar Key

Sunset at Cedar Key

Cedar Key

Cedar Key from Atsena Otie Key

 Our plan was to cross Appalachee Bay overnight to Alligator Point. Our engine decided it had had enough and to make a long story short it was cheaper to buy a new one. 

Waiting for our new engine

Pelicans at Cedar Key

A few days later and $2000 poorer we were once again ready to go but now the weather had turned bad. Day after day strong winds blew from the west with back to back small craft advisories. The winter fronts were coming too frequently and after many days of waiting we decided to take a break for the winter.

White pelicans heading south for the wnter

We headed back to Kings Bay in Crystal River to our previous spot. A local marina, Pete’s Pier (really nice owners and staff), gave us a good deal on a place to dock our dinghy and take showers.

The warm water of Kings Bay gives off steam on a cold morning

Mom and baby manatee

We have really enjoyed our time in Crystal River but it is time to move on. 

Next – Cedar Key, Appalachee Bay, and on to the Panhandle. 

Punta Gorda to Hudson via the ICW

We ended up staying in Punta Gorda way longer than planned for various reasons. Thunderstorms/hurricane Erika headed our way and looked for sure like we were going to get some of it, which we did in the end, but only rain and some more thunderstorms. Then the bridge at Boca Grande was closed for several weeks! The alternative was a 30 mile sail in the Gulf of Mexico around the bridge. And we had several stops planned for the ICW and chose to wait. Back to Cayo Costa followed by a stop at Boca Grande, a small but interesting and very small town. Boca Grande has a sheltered anchorage and public dock.

Public dock at Boca Grande

Next a stop at Don Pedro State Park for some fossil shark tooth hunting, the entrance is narrow  and shallow but a nice dock with free day use. The beach is nice and we found a few small shark teeth. For the night we sailed to a nearby BAIL suggested anchorage which we rejected due to too little swing room, poor holding and a bit deep. We chose a more exposed area which was shallow (4’) with good holding.

Don Pedro beach has shells!

Don Pedro

A few days of bad weather was forecast so we looked for a more sheltered place to wait it out, a mooring field in Englewood near Chadwick Cove Marina was just right, especially because it was free! Four days later we moved on and did several long days up the ICW to make up some time with overnights wherever we felt OK with regard to weather, depth, currents, etc.

We sailed through 16 opening bridges in total between Boca Grande and Tarpon Springs. Some interesting sights we saw along the way…8 manatees migrating in a small group, Tampa Skyway Bridge with freighters and a cruise ship in the channel, Venice main canal and the beautiful houses along the shoreline, Caladesi Island State Park, and many groups of migrating birds from tiny shorebirds to storks.

A Florida holiday shack

Locals off Caledesi Island

Caledesi Island Marina, $6 for day use

View from Anclote Key

Heading north from Anclote Key we ran into a cold front with strong northeasterly winds and small craft advisories. We decided to head into Hudson to sit it out.

Port Hudson Marina

Fort Myers to Punta Gorda

We loaded up 8 days worth of food and water and set off on the next leg of the adventure to Panama City. A brisk westerly made a choppy sea at first until we passed under the Sanibel Bridge. We stopped for the night at Ding Darling Wildlife Reserve on the west side of Sanibel. A great anchorage and a peaceful night with only a dolphin blowing to break the silence. Roseate spoonbills, herons and ibis were feeding until after dark along the mangroves.

Ding Darling, spoonbills

Day 2 we sailed to Captiva, a pretty island but not friendly to visiting sailboats. They charge high prices for docking and won't even let you take a shower without paying for a whole day. Even after buying fuel they wanted us to leave the dock right away.

Day 3 was a 10 mile trip to Pelican Bay on Cayo Costa. A sheltered anchorage and a beautiful island. We saw manatees, dolphins, an alligator, a hammerhead shark, several snakes, a raccoon, and plenty of birds including a bald eagle. We ended up spending 4 days here.

Sunrise at Cayo Costa

Beautiful Cayo Costa

Racoon

A nice coachwhip snake

We decided at this point to explore Charlotte Harbor instead of continuing up the ICW. First stop was Burnt Store Marina. A nice marina but enclosed by buildings so not much of a breeze on a very hot day! Friendly staff though and nice restrooms and a very reasonable rate.

Burnt Store Marina

We left early hoping to catch the easterly night breeze but no wind so had a day of motoring to Punta Gorda and the Laishley Marina mooring field. This marina has the friendliest staff so far a super sailors lounge and restroom. The other residents in the marina have also been very helpful in sharing their knowledge of the area and also sharing interesting sailing stories.

A rainbow over Punta Gorda

A windy day at the mooring field

Punta Gorda was severely damaged by a hurricane 10 years ago and many of the buildings and much of the infrastructure is new. It is unique in that they have kept out all fast food chains. It has a bit of a Disney look about it.

The nice long floating day dock at Laishley Park Marina

We are getting ready to depart again. Looks like the wind will be good for Monday morning.

Next: Cayo Costa (again), Boca Grand, Don Pedro State Park........