To Port Saint Joe and Clearwater

Port Saint Joe to Flordia's West Coast

We spent several days in Port St. Joe.  The marina there is the nicest we have seen so far, and the customer service was excellent.  We used the marina tricycles to get to the grocery store, which was only about 2 blocks away. 

Everyone in the town was nice.  We did a lot of laundry, and took care of some of the projects we needed to complete.  We went to Radio Shack to look for a gift for Emily's birthday, and the owner tried to sell us the store.  He was very insistant that it would be a great deal and Port St. Joe would be a great place to live.  The pressure got to the point we had to leave.  Then we waited for what we thought was the perfect weather window. 

On the 18th we left at about 8, for a 200 mile trip across the gulf.  The weather was perfect, a north wind at 5-10 and a forecast to stay that way, or drift  slightly to the east.  The autopilot failed, so we were going to have to hand steer the boat across the gulf.

By nightfall the wind had shifted to due east, and picked up to about 15-20 knots, Michelle came down with an illness, and I was getting tired.  Hannah stepped up and took the wheel and drove for three hours while I slept.  That is quite a way to learn to sail, darkness and seas on the nose.  The night continued to get worse as the seas grew.  At daybreak it was tough, we had limited sleep and the seas were really choppy 5'at the upper end.  It did not appear we were going to make Clearwater, we looked at heading further South so that the wind direction would help us rather than hurt us.  So we cracked off, and got the boat up to about 7 knots.  After a prayer from Michelle, the wind shifted back to the north, and we were headed to Clearwater again.  We made it by about 4pm, 6-8 hours longer than we had planned.  We settled in, and had a good nights sleep. 

Clearwater beach was very nice, we were about two blocks from Peir 60 which is a really nice area.  The marina accomidations were marginal, and the most expensive so far.  We went to the sundown show, and saw a couple of street performers. 

The water is so clear that it is hard to see where the beach ends and the water begins. I spent part of the day trying to diagnose the auto pilot issue, along with an oil leak from the diesel.  With possible solutions to both problems we set out for the Treasure Island Yacht and Tennis Club, where another cruising family is located.