A Lovely Cruise Up the Steinhatchee River

We made the trip from Carrabelle to Steinhatchee (stein rhymes with bean) on Sunday. Happily, it was uneventful...fear of unruly waves, crab pots and low depths dispelled...From the marker at East Pass to the waypoint in Deadman's Bay, 62 nm, Chip keyed in the coordinates and our autopilot did the rest. Eight hours later we were 'right on the money'! The crab pots didn't appear until we were just a few miles from the channel. We approached at high tide and never had less than 7' below the keel. We ended up spending an extra day in Steinhatchee, a combination of less than ideal traveling weather plus the fact that it was a Monday and we were working on office business--we thought it best to stay where we knew we had reliable cell and internet service. We caught up with all work related emails, updates and correspondences as well as laundry and housekeeping...I even made homemade soup...then late in the afternoon we went for a ride in the dinghy all the way the Steinhatchee River~past all the fishing cabins and vacation cottages...up up up the river to a quiet sanctuary where moss hung from ancient trees and palms gently curved away from the winds. We saw an Opossum, that I know we startled, as well as the usual array of feathered friends. The stillness of the water gave us a wonderful opportunity to photograph the shadows and reflections around us. The sky was bluer in the water! (click on photo for enlargement) Sunlight peeped through the cypress, and danced on the leaves...and the nearly full moon smiled down on us all the while. It was a peaceful communion, lost somewhere between heaven and earth...to be a part of such tranquility was a luxury.

On Tuesday; an early alarm, one last check of tides and weather and we set course for the Cross Florida Barge Canal. At low tide the Steinhatchee inlet is not as forgiving, so stay right down the middle. Even so, we never had less than 1.5' below the keel...anyone drafting up to 5' would be fine in any tide...there were a lot larger boats up the river than ours. We had another long day ahead out on the gulf...alot more crab pots on this leg. We made it to the barge canal to anchor before dark...possibly our last anchorage of the loop. We have had some of our most enjoyable evenings at anchor. Tuesday was no exception. Steaks on the grill, a good movie, dolphins jumping around the boat, a beautiful sunset.

We are spending the last day of 2009 in Tarpon Springs. We arrived last night. The city docks are terrible, but the location cannot be beat...right on the main street downtown, walking distance to all the Greek restaurants! Entering Anclote River, it didn't take us long to know, "We're back in civilization"! Crazy boaters darted all around us, bouncing Ithaka about more than any seas had in the last few days! More on Tarpon Springs in my next post...trust me, there are a lot of surprises on the way!

*to see the movie about the Steinhatchee cruise, please log onto our YOUTUBE channel.