Our trip started out on Wednesday, January 28th. I flew into New Orleans and was picked up at the airport by Rick’s buddy Eddie who would be joining us for the trip. Eddie and I got down to the boat around 11:00am. Rick and Eddie were making last minute preparations as I hustled to complete the USCG safety inspection and do a good check of all the mechanicals before we set off. Everything looked great and by noon we were about ready to shove off. Then we got a great surprise. Ricky Mannino (Rickgoose on the forum), stopped by before we got underway. Ricky came bearing gifts of King Cakes. I wish I had taken a picture because these things were huge! All I can say is that the folks in New Orleans know how to bake. Just amazing. Thanks again Ricky for the King Cakes and for taking the time to come by and see us off.
I have been truly blessed by all the people from the MYO forum I have had the opportunity to meet through the years. Ricky Mannino and Rick Draper are just another example of the great people on the forum. Captain Mannino, although brief, it was my pleasure to get the chance to meet you. I only hope that our paths cross again in the future and I can return the kindness you shared with me, Rick and Eddie.
So the trip begins. We depart Madisonville, LA on Lake Pontchartrain just after noon. The skies are clear, the sun is out and the snow storm in the NY/Boston area is a thing of the past. We get out on the Lake and the boat turns up WOT of 2500 rpm just as it should according to spec. Rick is happy and I’m happy and we are enjoying the ride towards the Rigolets and to join up with the Gulf ICW. We are cruising at 80% load and running 27mph.
We hit a small snag just before we get off Lake Pontchartrain as a railroad bridge is closed and they are working on the bridge doing some maintenance. After a 30 minutes delay, they finally open the bridge and we join up with the ICW and start heading east. By 5:00 pm the sun is getting low in the sky and we head into Biloxi, MS and Point Cadet Marina at the Golden Nugget Casino for the night. We cover 100 miles today and take on fuel at $2.49/gallon. No gambling tonight as I learned my lesson on my last trip through Atlantic City.
We headed over to the hotel and Morton’s Steakhouse for dinner. We had a great first day on the water and Rick felt a celebratory steak dinner was in order. The food and the fellowship were just as good as the boat ride. After a fine meal, it was back to Oksana D and to call it day. We knew we had a long day ahead of us tomorrow and since my day stared at 4:30am to fly down to New Orleans, I was ready for bed.
Thursday started off perfectly. We pulled out of the marina in Biloxi at 6:30, just as soon as we could make out the channel markers. The wind was calm and we though we could have a perfect day running off-shore. The sunrise was just amazing.
We turnoff off the ICW at Horn Island Pass, headed out to sea and set a waypoint for Port St Joe, Fl some 180 miles away. The first couple of hours were okay, but the seas were starting to build. The forecast was for wind out of the SE at 8 to 13kts and seas only 2 to 3 feet. By 9:00 the seas were 4 feet and only 3 seconds apart. It was getting sloppy and we needed to slow down from our 27mph cruise to around 22mph to soften the ride.
Rick at the helm of his new Meridian 541
We pass several oil rigs out in the Gulf as we continue east and pass the entrance to Mobile Bay. Round 9:45am we hear a “thud”. All 3 of us look at each other and immediately know whatever it was could not be good. Eddie and I head off of the flybridge to find the source of the noise. As soon as we get to the cockpit we see that the dingy has come loose. Rick immediately slows down as Eddie and I try to lift the dingy back onto the swim platform. The RIB with 40hp four-stroke outboard is just too heavy and the rolling of the seas makes it impossible. Fortunately, the boat has a hydraulic swim platform. We lower the dingy and float it back on the chocks. Now we set off to try and retie the dingy so we don’t have this problem again.
We knew before we left Louisiana, that the dingy might be a problem since there were no eye-bolts on the platform. We fasten together about 10 lines and secured the dingy as best as we could. After about 10 minutes riding in the sloppy seas, we determine it is probably best to head back in-shore. We set a new waypoint for the Pensacola Inlet and start heading in.
We come through the inlet and got back on the ICW around noon. The water was flat and we enjoyed the calm and relaxed conditions. We ran the boat all the way to Panama City, FL. We covered 221 miles in 9.5 hours. The daylight was fading again and it was time to refuel. Fuel is $2.68 in Panama City. It’s nice not having to take out a second mortgage to refuel your boat these days.
As I am working on washing down the boat, Rick and Eddie are retying all the lines for the dingy. We know it will likely be rough again tomorrow and we have a long ride across the Gulf to North Redington Beach, FL. After we finish our chores for the night we head into town for dinner. We have another successful day in the books as we continue to get closer to our final destination.
Friday does not have a good start to the day. The weather forecast is for 4 to 6 foot seas with wind 15 to 20kts out of the northwest. What is even worse is that the forecast for the rest of week looks worse. So we decide that we will stick our nose out the inlet and see what the “real” conditions are. We get out the inlet at Panama City and quickly realize there is no way for us to cover the 240 miles across the Gulf to Clearwater. We immediately turn around and decide to take the boat as far as we can on the ICW and leave it until the weather cooperates for a Gulf crossing.
We take the boat all the way to Carrabelle, FL. The last stop east bound on the GICW. We arrive around noon after 101 miles and make arrangements with the marina to leave the boat for a week or until the weather cooperates for a crossing. Now comes the fun part of making travel plans back home. Unfortunately, the nearest point of transportation is in Tallahassee, about an hour and 15 minutes from the marina. So we get a car service to take us to the Tallahassee Airport where Rick and Eddie rent a car. My flight from Tallahassee to Raleigh is over $600 bucks! Just crazy. Rick suggests trying the Gainesville Airport as they will be going right past the airport on their way home. BINGO. Flight from Gainesville to Raleigh, $160 bucks! Yeah. So we take the 2+ hour drive from the Tallahassee airport to the Gainesville airport where they drop me off. We say our good-byes and they head for home while I wait for my flight.
So we have another trip in the books. This is the fifth Meridian 541 I have had the opportunity to captain. It is an impressive boat in every respect. Thanks for following along and for your patients while I got the write up completed and the pictures posted. I have some great trips already scheduled for March, April and May so stay tuned.
