Day 1

Gulf of Mexico

We really are going to leave.   Neither one of us could sleep, so we got up early and cast the lines off at 4:30 a.m.    We welcomed Glen and Barb (Wave Dancer) and Jay and Barbara (Jupiter's Smile) in hand with cameras so early in the morning.   They helped us cast our lines off and took pictures as we departed the Kemah Boardwalk.

There was not very much wind, 8-10 knots, so we motor sailed and made good time.   We went 100 miles out to the Flower Gardens and took a left.   After a while, the wind kicked up, it started raining and the seas started building.  We battled 25 - 35 knot winds that evening and during the night.   The waves were hitting us on the beam, so it was not pleasant at all.   We both stayed in the cockpit with life vests on, tethered to the binnacle. 

During the storm, a working boat hailed us on the radio.   When we came back to him, he said he saw us out there and wanted to make sure we were OK......Sonny replied quicker than I would have.   He said, "yes, it is rough, but we are fine".

The Tecnautic autopilot has performed great on the whole trip.  We are so very thankful.....to Otto.   The storm would have been a bear without an autopilot and our full enclosure to keep us (somewhat) dry.

We had left our dorade scoops facing the bow, and after the storm, we realized water had come in and our bed in the v-berth was somewhat damp.

Our stomachs are still trying to adapt to the rocking of the waves, so food did not sound good at all.   We snacked and drank water, as we could.    We ate almost a whole bag of Gingersnap cookies, for seasickness.    We would only go below for what was absolutely necessary, and get back in the cockpit as soon as possible.

Day 2

Gulf of Mexico

We took turns on watches all night while the other one slept.   Boy, a little sleep made a big difference.

Day 3

Gulf of Mexico

Kay downloaded the weather fax for the next 72 hours on the ham radio.   We appear to still have good weather.

Today is a day that I am so thankful for the sturdiness of our boat, how well she handled the storm, getting to actually play with so many of the things you equipped your boat with, such as, how amazing the radar works when you are out, you can watch and keep track of other boats and ships within 36 nautical miles. 

Having a good GPS tied into the chart-plotter, that is connected to your autopilot, so you literally have to set the chartplotter to where you want to go and the autopilot will guide you there.   The autopilot will guide you  either by the heading, the direction of the wind, or by navigation.

Lynda Hall's (Parrot Head) words of wisdom on crossing the Gulf, is "just get across there.   Don't practice your sailing skills, northers come through about every two days in December, so just get across as quick as possible.   Crank up the motor and go".

So, we have motored quite a bit, when there was not enough wind to keep us going.   5 knots or the rough waves made it slow sailing.....more like skiing down the slopes.    We are thankful our motor has performed very well.

And, I am still amazed, we can send and receive email while in the middle of the Gulf through a side-band radio.    Of course, it is not a DSL connection, but we can communicate, as long as you can go down below.

Day 4

Gulf of Mexico

Around 10 a.m., the wind clocked around to the nose, so we had to motor all day.

This morning was the first time we have seen a dolphin in the Gulf of Mexico, we saw our first school of flying fish, and we caught our first fish while trolling.   It was a beautiful colored Dorado, about 24-28" and will be our dinner soon.

We go all day without seeing maybe one or two ships.   We came within a mile of one of them this morning.   So, our radar and our watches are very important.  

All systems on the boat are performing very good.   Thankfully, we have not experienced any problems at all.  But, Valentina is covered with salt.   A gentle rain shower would be refreshing.

I think we will watch a DVD movie tonight and have popcorn.

It is about 1900' feet deep where we are now and the Dry Tortugas is 296 miles in front of us (where the wind is blowing from), Kemah is 457 miles behind us, and Mobile, AL is to our left about 255 miles, and the Yucatan is to our right 275 miles.

At 3:44 p.m. we are located at:

N26 08.721

W88 06.721

The wind is on our nose, so to keep from motoring and using all of our diesel, we need  anything but NE winds......

Sailing (and motoring) On.

Day 5

Gulf of Mexico

We are running low on diesel, so, we are trying to sail as much as possible, but, of course, the wind is right on the nose. We do have 10 extra gallons we can pour in when we need to, but, we are wanting to conserve as much as possible.

The way it is going, we expect to be there in two more days.

Day 6

Gulf of Mexico

We have had multiple storms with seas no lower than 5' and as high as 15' and winds never under 17 and as high as 35. It was not comfortable, and we certainly do not want to cross the Gulf of Mexico every day, but, we are making it through. The water is very pretty and blue. Today has been a very good sail. The storms come at evening, so we both stay up during them and try to nap during the day, so, we are pooped.

Valentina has done great, and Sonny and I are doing real well. Our maximum sailing speed has been 9.5 in the current, and our average is 6.3. We love our autopilot. This trip would have been unbearable without it.

We had planned to go to the Dry Tortugas, but the wind has been right on the nose. So, this morning early, we decided to go with the wind and sail, to conserve our diesel. It looks like we are coming out pretty close to the western side of Florida near the Keys. We are planning to just go to Key West instead of the Dry Tortugas, because the Dry Tortugas is only a national park and does not have provisions for fuel and water. We estimate that we have about 15 gallons of diesel left, so, we can motor when we get closer,

Our boat is covered with salt, so, we are thinking of getting a slip, so we can wash her good and clean below. Due to the rough seas, we only go below when we absolutely need to. Our stomachs are still churning from the bucking horse we have been riding the past few days.

But, we can see a light at the end of the tunnel and hopefully, planning landfall hopefully tomorrow afternoon at Key West. We will rest and clean the boat there for a week or two in the Florida Keys. Rest sounds very good, at this point.

Our present location is:

N 25 35.618

W 84 05.444

We are still sailing east, hopefully to calmer waters around Tiger Key on the west side of Florida. We will then tack south to Key West, hopefully with a north wind.

We have gone 701 nautical miles since we left Kemah last Saturday.

Late Thursday Night While on Watch

On Thursday, we had a very good sailing day. We had a south wind, consistent 20 mph with 4-6' seas, so we were heading east towards the Florida west coast.

Then, about dark, I saw lightning in the distance. So, once again, we prepared for yet another storm. One thing for sure, we can get the boat secure for a storm, in seconds, with all the practice we have done this week. We figured out over the 6 days out, we have been caught in 4 storms. When we saw the direction the lightning was headed, we tacked and headed back towards the Dry Tortugas, as the wind changed to the north. It was a light show, for sure.

We even put out our "elephant ears" for lightning. (Elephant ears are battery cable leads on one end clamped to your standing rigging, with a chain clamped on the other end. You drop the chain in the water for grounding for lightning). Our surveyor told us about it when we recently had the boat surveyed, and our neighbor, Glen, said, "Sure, I have some". So, Sonny made some and we tried them. Not sure how successful they were, but, we did not get struck.

That is a scary feeling when you see such a lightning show and you are the only boat you have seen all day. All day yesterday, as we were sailing, we only saw two ships. One was early in the morning and the other was a shrimper yesterday afternoon. There is absolutely no activity on our VHF radio, it is so quiet.

Some have questioned us about going to Miami....our position report was wrong......we did not go to Miami, we are still hanging out in the Gulf. We will be soooo ready to get out of this place. Not sure I want to come back here anytime soon. Too many storms and choppy seas coming at you from every direction. It really is like a washing machine, and you are inside...

After the lightning storm and rain last night, we are ready for an anchor, so the Dry Tortugas is the closest place.....so we are going there for rest. We are very tired. The night time storms are taking it's toll on us. Right now.....we are 21 nmiles from the Dry Tortugas, so I will write, to stay awake while on watch.

It has been really good to hear from all of you. It has been hard to send updates sometimes. When we send through the side band radio, we have to turn off the autopilot and chart plotter. Sonny said there is some stray "RF" and it interferes with them. So, needless to say, we will have to have that checked out. Also, with the motion of the boat, writing and connecting down below is hard, so I have not responded back very well. My stomach starts rolling real quick. So, the accuracy and content of the updates may not have been very good.

We get the weather fax each morning. Sometimes it is clear and you can read it, and sometimes it is not.

We submitted this log to the Taletales Magazine and it was published in the February, 2006 magazine.  We prefer the calmer seas, and not so-exciting times rather than articles in magazines.