Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Changed plans

Oct 12th - Panama City to Spectre Island

We awoke this morning to pea soup fog. It was so thick I could not even see Microship from the beach 50 yards away, while taking Duke for his walk. I had started the engines to allow them to warm up, so I was able to follow the sound back.

There is a cold front due to pass through the area tomorrow night. The winds forecast during the day tomorrow, preceding the front, are supposed to be in excess of 30 knots. So this is going to be a long day in order to make it all the way back to a good protected anchorage west of Ft Walton Beach. We skipped breakfast for now and got underway immediately. The anchor was up and we were heading out by 0645.

I had the radar running, and the automatic fog horn going. I did not expect to have to worry about boat traffic this early. But no sooner had we turned NW to head out of our anchorage I picked up a slow moving boat coming straight at us. He was a little over a mile away, and only going 4.1 knots, so I had some time before it became an issue. I figured he would see me on his radar and we would both adjust course. As he got closer I altered course to starboard, and expected him to do the same. He changed course so that he was heading directly at me again!  I altered back to port, and he did the same. What the heck is going on here??  We were now down to 1/2 mile and my radar started to alarm about an imminent collision in less than 5 minutes. I slowed to idle speed, and tried to figure out what the other boat was going to do. He just kept on coming. I called on the radio and got no response. At 1/4 mile I started blowing our big triple trumpet air horns. You can hear these things a mile away. I know this guy could hear them in the absolute silence of the morning. As the distance dropped to 1/8 mile I made a 90 degree turn to starboard, and goosed the engines to put a little distance between us. Just as our radar blips merged on the screen I saw a sailboat appear out of the fog, less than 100' away. No radar, and apparently no radio. Or it was turned off. But the guy was oblivious. What was he doing running in this kind of fog with no radar??  I stepped out of the pilothouse to say something to him but he just waved as he faded back into the fog. That sure got my adrenalin going!

After giving it some thought, I had decided not to run offshore today. Not due to the fog, but rather due to our fuel issue. The forecast was for calm seas, but even the slightest rolling motion was going to stir up the water in the main tanks. I really did not feel like having to battle that all day, so opted for the inside run. It would take us longer, but worth it to not have to worry about changing filter elements all day.

As we approached the main part of St Andrew Bay I saw an AIS target on the radar and chart plotter. It was labeled as the Sea Fighter. I figured it was some Navy ship, but then remembered they typically don't run AIS. As we got closer, and fog started lifting, I could see the ship. It was a Navy vessel, and a very unusual one. The first of its kind, apparently, and experimental. It is labeled as FSF-1, or Fast Sea Frame. You can see pictures and read more about the Sea Fighter here. Really cool looking vessel, capable of doing 50 knots!

As were getting ready to pass under the Hathaway Bridge and enter West Bay we were hailed on the radio. There were two trawlers overtaking me and wanted to pass on my starboard side. I slowed down to allow them to pass. One was a Grand Banks 42, and the other I did not recognize the make. Both were out of Punta Gorda, FL. We had a short chat on the radio and found they are doing sort of the reverse of our trip. There were going from Punta Gorda to Pensacola for a month, then back home. They were doing a bit over 8 knots, and I was jealous. While Microship can run that fast, I don't feel like burning the extra fuel. At 6.5-7 knots I burn no more than 3.5 GPH, but at 8 knots I burn 5-6 GPH. Not worth it for the extra knot or so, IMHO. In any case, both boats were headed for the yacht club in Ft. Walton to ride out the cold front there.

So we putt-putted our way west. The wind definitely was picking up. It got too windy to run from the fly bridge, so we went down to the pilothouse. Just like we like it, it was an uneventful trip. At least, that is, until we neared Destin around 1600.

This is my worst nightmare. Florida boaters on a weekend. I had hoped since it was late in the boating season, and the wind was really kicking up, that it would not be too bad. Boy, was I wrong. As we neared Destin there were hordes of smaller go-fast boats, jet skis, pontoon boats, etc. These are bad enough, as I have to keep an eye on them since they will turn in front of you with no warning. But the problem boats are the big sport fishermen and Sea Ray type boats. These guys throw huge wakes, and and have no compunction of blasting by you at full speed. And they did just that! One huge Sea Ray was running at top speed and coming straight at me. I tried hailing him on the radio to request a slow pass, but got no response. I then resorted to blowing the air horns, still no response. As he blasted down my port side less than 50' away he waved!!!  It took all my willpower not to respond with the single finger gesture. Anyway, I was preoccupied with trying to get turned into the wake in an attempt to minimize the effect. I was only partially successful since he had passed to close.

Once we made it into the ICW at Ft Walton Beach, we entered a very short NO WAKE ZONE. It ended just past the municipal docks. Since we had more trash to dispose of I decided to make a quick stop at the municipal docks. Since most of the boats were ignoring the no wake zone I did not want to moor at the dock and have our boat bashing against the pilings. So we just pulled out of the main channel and dropped anchor, and I took the dink in to the dock. I was back aboard in less than 5 minutes and we were back underway. As we were leaving the Ft Walton area I looked ahead and saw a huge motor yacht running at high speed toward us. Then, amazingly, he slowed down for some smaller boats and ran a no wake speed. I was proud of him. Then, just as he was approaching us, he started to ramp up his speed! Yikes!!  I quickly hailed him on the radio and requested he slow down. Even more amazingly, he replied, and complied!  I think I may have used up all my good luck on this pass!

From there it was only about 30 minutes to our anchorage at Spectre Island. The wind was really kicking up now. As we pulled into the anchorage there was only one other boat anchored here, a 40' sailboat. We had to pass pretty close by them to get to our desired spot, and saw they had three young children aboard, probably ranging from 8-12 years old. We got the hook down, let out 7:1 scope in preparation for the projected winds, and settled in for the evening. Unfortunately, there were still a few local weekenders out, and we had to tolerate boats pulling skiers and tubes blasting up and down both sides of the boat. But it was only an hour until sunset, and then they all went home.

Tacos and beer for dinner, a special treat!

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