May 7-8, 2003 - departed Cortez for Venice, Florida (not the other one). We could not find an anchorage or marina in Venice to stay and talked our way into a private retirement community, south of Venice. They were real nice and would not take any $$ because we were not suppose to be there. We got up at the crack of dawn and left quietly, unnoticed. Annie sent them a thank you after she returned to Mobile. Headed out for Fort Myers with Annie at the helm. By now she was a seasoned veteran, at least I thought so. We were transiting Lemon Bay when the channel took a 30 degree turn to the right and we went straight, into 3 feet of water (Papillon draws 4 feet), we did not fit real well. (Click here to see map of grounding).Call to TOW BUS and after about half an hour we were underway to the right this time. Arrived in Fort Myers and dropped the hook in the Caloosahatchee River by the Cape Coral Bridge. |
May 2, 2003 - departed for Clearwater with Ralph at the helm. Entering the channel for the pass into the Gulf, good ole Ralphie cut her a little short and we found the bottom. (Click here to see map of grounding).Tow BUS was called and pulled us off and after a 2 hour delay we were finally in the Gulf and on our way. Had a good crossing, winds were not as predicted, go figure, and we motorsailed (main and iron genoa) all the way to clearwater. Arrived at Clearwater at 1230 and pulled into the city marina. |
Adventures of SV Papillon & her crew |
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During the month of May we made our Gulf Crossing from Apalachicola, FL to Clearwater, FL. From there Annie and I journeyed down the West Coast of Florida to Fort Myers. Annie departed for Mobile at Fort Myers and I continued across Lake Okeechobee and up the East Coast of Florida to Jacksonville. |
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May 1, 2003 - decided to head for Apalachicola via the intercostal waterway rather than leave out for Clearwater from Panama City. Our reasoning was to give Annie an opportunity to operate the autopilot and navigation systems so she would be familiar with them for her watch. In Aplatch we tied the boat up behind the "No Tell Motel" and had a few toddies and dinner at the River View . |
May 2, 2003 - departed for Clearwater with Ralph at the helm. Entering the channel for the pass into the Gulf, good ole Ralphie cut her a little short and we found the bottom. (Click here to see map of grounding).Tow BUS was called and pulled us off and after a 2 hour delay we were finally in the Gulf and on our way. Had a good crossing, winds were not as predicted, go figure, and we motorsailed (main and iron genoa) all the way to clearwater. Arrived at Clearwater at 1230 and pulled into the city marina. |
Apalachicola River |
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Crossing Crew in Clearwater See Crew Page for Bio's |
May 3-6, 2003 - spent several days in Clearwater resting up from the overnight run. Ralph left us (abandoned ship) and went to visit his brother in Orlando. I really appreciated his help and the company for the 8 days we were together. Good luck buddy. When we pulled into the Marina we parked next to "Laura" a 30 sailboat out of Pascagoula, MS., the world is truly getting smaller. One of the highlights of Clearwater was the Pirate Ship that went out 3 or 4 times a day. We were treated to "Who, Who, Who let the dawgs out" each time they came back in. |
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May 6, 2003 - departed Clearwater for somewhere south of here. Winds forcast should have given us a good sail to Tampa. As all sailors know the winds were on our nose. We motorsailed to Tampa in choppy rough conditions, entered Tampa Bay and went down the inside to Cortez, where we anchored off of the Longboat pass bridge. |
May 7-8, 2003 - departed Cortez for Venice, Florida (not the other one). We could not find an anchorage or marina in Venice to stay and talked our way into a private retirement community, south of Venice. They were real nice and would not take any $$ because we were not suppose to be there. We got up at the crack of dawn and left quietly, unnoticed. Annie sent them a thank you after she returned to Mobile. Headed out for Fort Myers with Annie at the helm. By now she was a seasoned veteran, at least I thought so. We were transiting Lemon Bay when the channel took a 30 degree turn to the right and we went straight, into 3 feet of water (Papillon draws 4 feet), we did not fit real well. (Click here to see map of grounding).Call to TOW BUS and after about half an hour we were underway to the right this time. Arrived in Fort Myers and dropped the hook in the Caloosahatchee River by the Cape Coral Bridge. |
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May 9-12, 2003 - motored down the Caloosahatchee River to the Orange River where we tied up along side Gretchen, a 37' Irwin, the home of Mike and Lynn. We were located in Hansen's Marina which by Mike's accounts has quite a history. It was once owned by Ford, Edison and Firestone (the other guy). It was originally used as a boat yard to build gambling boats, paddle wheelers and later converted to building Liberty ships during WWII. He pointed to the mangrove island, off our bow and said, it is actually a graveyard of old liberty ships and paddle wheelers. Some of the structures in the boat yard date back to the civil war. The owner does not tear them down because he is prevented from building new buildings by our environmentalists. |
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This is what Ruby thinks about all of it. |
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Venice, FL |
