Cruising -Team Rogers

Day 52 Saturday 9/15

That’s us on the end! And yes, we get up in the dark, alarm set at 6 am. For the last four days we have  piloted our boat for around 12 hours a day.  Our daughter asked what we did all day. Well, mostly watching the world from the sea or waterway.  Secondly, we check radar for weather updates, wind apps for wave heights and of course wind velocity.We check tide schedules and try to fit in at the best times! We plot charts and replo tand replot depending on bridge wait times, etc.

Today we made lemonade out of lemons.....our plan was to leave Marina Jacks in Sarasota and make it as far as we could and close enough to get into our ft Myers beach marina in time for the game on Sunday. We were on the GIWW admiring the scenery and waiting for another bridge opening when the bridge operator asked us if we knew about the waterway being closed for a rowing regatta just south of where we were.  Well no, we didn’t and really how can they do that?...

He instructed us the nearest pass out to gulf and told us which pass we could get in.
So, back in the gulf we went...

Here’s the lemonade part, we bee lined it (for us that’s 6-7 mph) out and headed south. We’re not going back in until we get to Ft Myers.  TONIGHT, instead of tomorrow.  It’ll be a 13 hour day and we hope we’re in before dark😨. We added the jib to our motor power and got up to 8.9 mph.

Now, for the meaning of the title!  We would never, ever have been able to do this as smoothly (knock on wood) as we did without Beth and Dave Rogers Blog. Where as I titled silly little sayings, Beth titled her posts geographically.  I could follow what to do on each leg of the journey!!  And we did!  Their blog is cruising-teamrogers.blogspot.com.  Their coinciding journey runs from Oct of 2016 until May of 2017.  THANK YOU DAVE AND BETH!

A pic and a video. I give up on captions. One pic is one of the cute bridges in the GIWW, a video of my dolphin playing with us and one of Mark between 2 mega yachts at our last marina!

Videos that work? And more pics!

Not enough exercise!

In the storm!

First day on the gulf!

This is my kind of gulf and dolphins too!

We got to sail!

And I’m watching the Vikings Win!

Can you guess morning or evening?

Pics from the previous post

We found a Tiki Bar after our beach walk!

That’s what hit us

Walked to the beach to see waves day before storm.

Perdido group mainly checking on storm status (or heads bowed in prayer😉)

Out in the storm

Blow, Blow, Blow your boat, violently on the dock.....

Day 47 Monday 8/10

It’s been 8 days since my last blog and so much to tell.  I’m going to blog two posts so they don’t get so lengthy.  First of all, we DID get a direct hit from Gordon!  I learned a new phrase from my friends at Perdido,  “East is the Beast”, which applies to the fierceness of hurricanes.  Envision the counter clockwise spiraling of a storm and you can see if you’re on the east side/right side you get hammered the most!
We were on the east side.   Everyone on the docks double tied lines, every which way, strapped or removed biminies(autocorrect changed it to bikinis which Mark wanted me to tell ya all) and closely watched any tide fluctuations. Our neighbors came out in the storm to help us retie, since we were rubbing on the piling. We all came out fine! Part of me wanted it to be 5 mph stronger so I could say “I was in my boat during a hurricane!  (Picture/video on next post)

Miraculously we were on our way 2 days later.  Next stop was Destin, Florida. Then on to Panama City. First day on Gulf was a little bumpy and we hurried taking turns to use the bathroom due to neither of us wanting to be in the rocking cabin that long. Not much was eaten that day.  Seas apparently only 2 feet and we both agreed we didn’t really enjoy it.

Next two days on Gulf were exceptional! Calm seas, dolphins, sea turtles, jelly fish migrations and a lone crab. (Have never seen a crab swimming on top of the water let alone 3miles out to sea.) We reluctantly pulled back in to GIWW in Port St Joe, because of needing places to anchor within reasonable distances. We went pretty far that day (Saturday) because my mission was to dock somewhere on Sunday to find a place with the NFL package so I could watch the Vikings!

Mission accomplished!  It did cost us $$$$ to get a ride to the next town but it was worth it!

We were driven back to Carabelle where our air conditioned boat was waiting for us! Carabelle is  where some boaters launch out of to make an overnight crossing of the gulf to Tarpon Springs. (181 miles). Not us.  We are hop scotching our way down and boy is it a long drive in and out to every port. Today We had a beautiful/ shorter day on Gulf where we dodged two rain systems and sort of got a close pic of a dolphin. Tonight we are anchored in St Mark’s River.  Just saw our first alligator swim by. Geez!

Tomorrow we’ll be traveling about 75 miles to Steinhatchee.  Maybe only 5 days after that, but again, who’s counting😉

Title Meaning, already explained!

Where the wind blows..nobody goes

Day39 Sunday 9/2

We are now at Perdido Key RV and Marina in where else, Perdido Key, Pensacola, Florida. We left Turner Marine on Friday morning, crossed Mobile Bay in around 4 hours.  Mark got to motor sail some by letting out the jib.  Wind gusts, along with choppiness made it a little exciting!  We lucked out by beating the line of weather.. Must go faster...is what Mark got tired of hearing.

Sunset at Turner Marine

Made it into the protection of the barrier islands and into the GIWW (Gulf Intracoastal Water Way) in early afternoon and felt familiar/comfortable in seeing land on both sides.  Reminded us of the rivers except for the greener waters and occasional dolphin sightings. Some money here..

Cruised into Ingraham Bayou off the water way for a relaxing evening on the hook (anchored).  Warm again so separated we were.  (Yoda speak)I woke up first as a cool mist of wetness filtered down my way. Realized it was raining with our hatches open! Apparently it was a light rain that had been going on for awhile so I hadn’t heard it.  Well, besides the difficulty of getting Mark out of his REM cycle of sleeping to help, spent quite a long time mopping up!

Woke up on Saturday morning and realized our planned course of sailing had to be amended when we found out that the Gulf was under small craft warnings. Mark looked on our Windfinder app and realized we wouldn’t be able to go out until Thursday.  Ergo, the morning was spent figuring out where we would be staying (of course it’s also a holiday extended weekend).

Pulled up anchor and began our route only to see some scary skies off starboard center. See pic

Well, we thought we might be able to beat this, and we almost did, but didn’t . Hopefully the video works, but, what happened was zero visibility, a middle section of canvas not completely waterproofed and side rain, wind, and choppy water.  I’m laughing now but it was scary because we couldn’t see any boats coming at us.  Mark couldn’t watch chart plotter(had to watch for boats) so I had the charts up on iPad in companionway yelling, port, port, starboard, buoy!, etc.  I kept us in the channel and luck or God kept us clear of vessels.  

Here’s a pic if the video won’t work...zoom in to see concern on Marks face!

Meaning of Title?  Even though we thought we could go out on Thursday..there is another wind possible if that tropical depression becomes hurricane Gordon.. stay tuned.

Two,too and to. And 35/7=5

Day 31 Wednesday 8/29

Spent 4 nights at Dog River Marina doing stuff like getting emergency beacons and charts of the gulf coast of Florida. Also, included Mark getting the mast ready to be “stepped”. Today it went up and it is an obscene height in my opinion!  See pic ....we are now next door at Turner Marine and will spend two more nights so Mark can put all he stuff (boom, etc.) back on.

Talked Mark into going to restaurant on Sunday due to the fact that I could hear music from across the river!  Fun place with pretty good food and a live band.  We even got to dance a West Coast Swing.  Of course, again we were the first ones but then some people got up!  A son of a band member was wandering around waiting for his daddy and the first song after their first break was Mustang Sally and that darling 7 year old took the place of the adult drummer and was awesome!

Thinking of school with my title so here goes.  Two water moccasins are too many to see!  No lie, thank goodness Mark was paying attention because when he went back to the mast prepping area after lunch he literally almost stumbled over it.  He tried to shush it away but unlike non venomous snakes this one curled up as if to strike.  So, Mark bashed it with a longer board and then cut its head off with a shovel....

As for the math problem, you probably got it...35 days divided by 7 (days in a week) =5 weeks!

But again, who’s counting 😉

Mobile and Manhattan

What’s on the other side of the lock

Day 31 I think,  Saturday, 8/25/18

Wow, so much to say but will try to keep it short.  We are now anchored at Dog River Marina which is half way down Mobile Bay. We will stay here 2 nights then move to Turner Marine on Monday to have our mast put up again. We will probably stay there two nights also while Mark preps the mast, etc. I am just happy that I get to sleep in air conditioning for 4 nights!!

Turner Marine is where our mast is but they closed up at 4pm today, Saturday, and won’t open up until 8 am on Monday!  Ergo, we are next door where they are open every day! The marina guy, Eddie, is awesome and procured us a covered slip where as I write i am looking at a torrential rain on boats that are NOT in a covered slip. 🤣


Yesterday was a 10 1/2 hour day to our anchorage.  We realized that when we know we are going to anchor we just keeep motoring until the sun is closer to the horizon! Less time to sweat!  We actually get noticeably giddy when we know we will be hooking up to power to run our AC.

There are many interesting sights on the river.  We can see by the landscapes that we are moving south.  Today in the bay we had loads of dolphins which of course are hard to capture on a phone camera.  We also motored right by a water moccasin floating in the river a few days back.  We had never seen one and it was scary gross.  So long, and just looked at us as we drove by.  Mark wanted to turn around and get a pic but I said no, I could only imagine it lunging toward us,etc.

Now we are done with river ways and need to be concerned with tides!  We are beginning a new chapter to our adventure, traversing the Gulf of Mexico.

Now to the meaning of the title....We are in  Mobile and enjoying our celebratory Manhattans!

Now to the pics, (hopefully)

White sand hills.

Add caption

Aqui Estamos

Day 29 August 23, Thursday

Pretty cool creek to anchor in

Okay, I am breathing deeply because I just accidentally deleted stuff and could not retrieve!

The above pic is one of the cool but slightly scary anchorages we have found to cstay the night. There are lots of little streams and coves to find when there isn’t a marina nearby. See pic of Mark enjoying pool time in a marina.

We are now at Bobbys Fish Camp on the lower Tombigbee River. This is the last place to fuel up before hitting Mobile Bay.  They are also famous for their catfish dinners and by far the best hush puppies I’ve ever eaten.

An after dinner rock

Here We Are

Before I lose this again, wanted to mention the meaning of the title!  Aqui Estamos means Here We Are which of course is the name of our boat also the blue dot on the above google earth clip and related to what we do every morning! We are learning Spanish from a CD collection. Wish us well!

Now maybe I’ll be able to post more pics...

Oranges, Onions and Limes. Oh my!

Day 25 in the books!

On day 23 (8/17, Friday) we ended up slipping into Bay Springs Marina at 3:30 which gave us a little time to socialize with the local marina population. What a nice crew! After showering we feasted on a Mexican dinner utilizing our first canned meat dinner!  Not bad!  The Marina’s address states New Site, Miss. but we’re to,d it was only the size of a four way stop.

Day 24 was annoying in that we were hoping to go thru 4 locks and travel down to a free dock called Blue Bluffs looking up at, you guessed it, the blue bluffs.  Our first lock was near so when we asked permission to lock thru. We thought we’d get it right away!  But, the lock master (and believe me they are the masters of our current universe) told us we had to wait for this tow behind us.  Well we could barely see the tow because it was so far away and we felt we could have been locked thru but no, we had to wait.  2 hours actually before we could get in.  Then, the next lock was only 5 miles so we thought maybe we could pass and get in first but again  no. This lockmaster was at least nice and apologetic because not only did we wait for the tow right by us but we had to wait for a northbound one also. (Almost 3 hours wait time).  We limped in to our next marina after only traveling 18 miles!

However, I was treated to a Pizza Hut dinner and a trip to WALMART! (Date night)

Holding on

Pushing us off

**see pics of my duties at each lock.  1. I have to lasso a bollard (a big metal thing that floats with us up or down). 2. I have to hold on to it.  3. When instructed by my Captain, I unlasso and shove us off. (Who needs but exercises?)

I’ve lassoed the bollard

Now to the meaning of the title...I read how to store food for optimal times. Citrus needs to be wrapped individually in foil. Keep the onions away from the potatoes, as well as isolating the apples.  Buy bananas and tomatoes in degrees of ripeness and store some away in dark places! Hang them to prevent bruising. See pic!

PS.. day 25 was great, 4 locks breezed thru and 59 miles traversed! Out of Miss. tomorrow and into Alabama!

There they are!

Follow the Yellow Creek River.....

Day 23

We have now entered the Tenn-Tom at 10:30 am on our 23rd day. We have 253 miles and 10 locks to navigate  on our way down to Mobile, Alabama, and have motored through the Mississippi, Ohio, Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers. We are now at the corner of Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama (the states)

The Tenn- Tom is a man made waterway connecting the Tennessee River with the Tombigbee/Black Warrior Rivers, taking 13 years to complete.

....and then on to the Florida panhandle.  If we average 50 miles a day and a 3 day layover at the marina where our mast is that’s approximately 8 more days until we’re a sailboat again. But who’s counting😉

Now to the meaning of the title... We’re on on the Yellow Creek River which is our Yellow Brick Road on the way to find our way home.

Enough said....

What goes down must go up. What?

Days 19-22 (8/13-8/22)

Day 19. Arrived at Green Turtle Bay Marina on BarkleyLake, which is really the Cumberland River all damned up! After provisioning our boat with all the necessary “to dos” like fuel, water, etc. we pulled in to plan the rest of our afternoon.  Decided to use courtesy van to go into the charming little town of Grand Rivers, Ky to provision our fresh food supplies. then, into the pool, then to the showers.  We dressed up to go into the yacht club’s dining facility, then a leisurely walk down the sailboat docks.  There must be a Hunter Boat facility around these parts because two thirds of the sailboats here are Hunters! (Like ours) http://www.greenturtlebay.com/Marina/GTB-Main-Harbor-Marina.aspx

Days 20 & 21

Left late morning and then after going thru a short canal to the Tennessee River we were totally surprised and pleased to spend two days traveling through this damned up Lake (The Kentucky, even though it’s on the Tennessee River). We only had to go straight!  Mark used the auto pilot for most of the way as he worked on his own story of our trip.  Plus, the water was no longer a muddy brown but a pleasant color that reminded me that we were heading to the ocean. See pic...

Notice the Green Water

We anchored in a small cove off a nature preserve the first night then pulled into the Mermaid Marina the next. (No amenities here)  We are in Tennessee (the state).

Day 22 (August 16) we pulled into Pickwick Landing State Park after a 12 hour run.  The current was a stronger one against us down at this part (goodbye beautiful lake - hello beautiful landscapes) but still very pleasant. Some scenes along the way were not pleasant to look at.  See pic of the Stars and Bars. Not use to seeing any display like this up north although my first sighting was on a big pleasure craft up in Alton, Illinois. Had to turn my back away due to me wanting to rip it down!!

Like it

Don’t like it

Now to the meaning of the title...On the Mississippi the locks brought us down to a lower level of the rivers. Now, they are bring us up!  50’ feet at a time. Strange.