So we really thought we were going to be traveling south this week, but after overhearing some folks talk about making "the run" up to the Crystal River/Springs area we looked at the forecast weather/seas and decided that going "the other way" (if you didn't figure it out the blog title is "loopers" spelled backwards) maybe wasn't such a bad idea. Hey we're laid back loopers, maybe we can get credit for "crossing our wake" early!
We had really troubled over our decision to do the Gulf Crossing in one big go. We were lucky to have the timing of Ray and Jean being with us and the weather window to do the whole enchilada at one time, but the down side was that we would have to forego our hope of re/exploring the spring fed rivers of Florida's Big Bend: the Suwannee (a trip we had done by houseboat years earlier), Homosassa, Cedar Key and the Crystal River.
With the motors/fuel/autopilot and AIS now working again, the 50+ mile daylight offshore run would be a good shakedown cruise to make sure all the systems are finally back the way they should be.
It's a good day to travel, seas are calm and the temps/winds are pleasant and mild. As we turn into the river channel for the 9 mile run up to town and our marina, we're welcomed by several pods of dolphin playing in the boat wake. You can tell they're doing it for fun.
Because the Crystal River is fed from several rivers/springs it's constant 72 degree temperature makes it a regular hangout for manatees (hoping we'll get to see some, but of course we don't). Farther into the channel the undeveloped wildlife is serene. We find our way to Pete's Pier, a "rustic" marina in the heart of town.
On the way back we again experience some fuel starving issues with the starboard motor and it stalls out about 2 hours into the 6 hour cruise back to Tarpon Springs. We do the usual of run on the port motor for awhile and try to figure out what to do; go slower on one engine and get back near dark or stop in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico and hopefully find/fix the problem and have the ability to get back in daylight.
After some troubling, we decide to stop and see if we can fix the problem. The seas aren't too rough and so crawling around in the hot engine room will not be too tricky. The primary culprit in the past has been some kind of gel clogging the intake tube of the tank. The quick fix is disconnecting the fuel line and blowing the debris clear with a bicycle air pump. This is only a temporary fix though as the offending piece is just pushed back into the 150 gallon tank to cause havoc sometime later. Still it's a quick check and if it's the problem we can be moving again (at least until the next time it happens) in less than an hour. The real fix requires taking the mattress out of the 2nd cabin and removing an access hatch above the fuel tanks, then removing the fuel tank intake tube and hopefully finding and removing the offending gel clog. This is more of a half day job and exposes potentially explosive gas fumes into the boat. Not something to do in the open rolling seas with hot motors.
Yea it turns out to be a clog (that's good news?) and we're moving again!! We make it back to Anclote Key to anchor for the night and have a good afternoon relaxing.
That night the winds and tides/currents change. Because we've anchored in the inlet channel (and because as it turns out I didn't do a very good job making sure the anchor was firmly set, the anchor drags and we end up in shallow water grounded on the sand at 2 am. "Luckily"(?) it's easy to push the 20,000 lb boat off the sands and get the motors started to get us into deeper water. The good news in all of this was thanks to setting the GPS/chartplotter alarms for shallow/deep water and anchor drag, we got an alarm in the middle of the night and were able to react to the problems in time! Ahh, the best lessons.................
Not a very dramatic scene, but drifting in the open Gulf of Mexico to clear the fuel lines is a memory that will stick if it happens to you!
Another one of those pictures that tell a thousand stories................ point 005 is where we anchored. The "trail of breadcrumbs" showed where we drifted as the tides and winds changed and the anchor dragged.