Dog Island to Apalachicola and rejoining the ICW

The trip was only 27 miles but an uncomfortably choppy sea made the day feel long. We headed to Scipio Creek Marina to get showers, do laundry, and top up our food and water. Strong wind made it difficult to enter the marina and we ended up backing in and throwing lines to people on the dock. Scipio Creek is a small but nice and friendly marina. Apalachicola is an interesting town with lots of arts and crafts. There are many restored old houses from the early 1800s.

Scipio Creek Marina, low key but nice

Laughing gull

Shrimp Trawlers in Apalachicola

Looking for a snack

More shrimp boats in Apalachicola

Next: Sailing our Seawind 24 on the final leg of this trip to Panama City, FL........

Yamaha, Steinhatchee to Dog Island

Yamaha replaced the block and cylinder of the engine including parts and labor, but would not pay the cost of returning the engine to us. Cedar Key Marina said we could pick it up from them (as per the warranty), 75 miles away! One of their employees volunteered to bring it to us for $100. So we now have a working engine after 3 weeks and $600 in incurred costs including slip, initial Sea Hag workshop costs, and engine transport to and from the Yamaha dealer.

We departed Steinhatchee again at first light on a nice NE breeze sailing at 6 kts. Around midday the wind dropped completely and we started motoring with 40 miles left to Dog Island. We completed the “new” engine break in.

We had a couple of wonderful nature sights. Another big ray jumped clear of the water and a large pod of dolphins escorted us in the smooth water for a long time. The dolphins love swimming between the hulls near the bow. At times there were 5 of them between the hulls with more on either side.

We managed to reach the east end of Dog Island just at last light and dropped anchor. Not a bad anchorage but a little exposed. The next morning we re-positioned to the west end of the island which is a fantastic anchorage, good holding and nice clear water. Good protection from the SW, S and E. We took the boat into the shallows and gave her bottom a good clean. Just as we finished a ray swam by. Dog Island west end has a bird sanctuary on the spit with many shorebirds and nesting sites.

Sunrise at the Dog Island west anchorage

Stilt houses on Dog Island

Clear water, beautiful shells

Anchored off Dog Island

Old dock timbers

Shorebird nesting area

Next; Dog Island to Apalachicola.............

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.