Welcome to Alabama

I thought I would have my first mate Jeff write up the blog tonight.


"We finally left Panama City at 9:55 this morning after 2 false starts with coolant alarms again. Help arrived quickly and we left for Mobile.  The Gulf was beautiful and flat which is the good news.
After about 15 minutes the fog greeted us and decided to accompany us for about the next hour. By the way, Keith really hates fog!  A good radar system and quickly activating the fog signals and we came out of it just fine.  We ran 190 miles today and the rest of the ride was beautiful blue water.  We arrived at the Grand Mariner Marina in Mobile Ala. The boat ran flawlessly at 30.5 MPH.  We begin the river run early tomorrow hoping to make Demopolis."


Thanks Jeff for the write up tonight.


 Here are a few pictures I took during the day.


After the first "false start" this morning, Jeff and I had a cup of coffee while we waited for the mechanic to arrive and help with the coolant problem.


A pirate ship as we came out of the Panama City Inlet this morning around 10:00am.


About 2 miles outside the inlet, we were greeted by fog.... I HATE fog! Visibility was about 100 yards.


Beautiful calm waters in the Gulf of Mexico today.


I have no idea what this was, but it was big!


Lighthouse at the entrance to Mobile Bay


That is one big Confederate flag on the back of that boat.


Jeff enjoyed the cell service being tied up tonight at Grand Mariner Marina

Coolant & Coast Guard

A pretty good day on the water. We left this morning at 7:00. Wind was east at 12kts and the seas were about 3 feet. It was not too bad as the waves were on the quartering stern for the most part. We turned out of Clearwater and set a waypoint near Port St Joe, 191 miles away. We had our sights set on Panama City as a final destination. We set the autopilot and watched the miles and hours go by.

All was well until we had a few alarms go off during the day. We continued to get a low coolant alarm. We had a gasket on the outboard side of the starboard engine that was leaking. Not much we could do, but continue to top off the coolant while underway. We would slow the boat down, turn off the stb engine, Jeff would drive while I went down in the engine room and add a gallon of coolant. We had to do this 3 times today, but it got us to Panama City without any issues. We had the local Man dealer meet us at the marina about an hour or so after we arrived. As I type this, they are in the engine room replacing the leaking gasket, cleaning up the coolant that leaked out and they hope to have us on our way in the morning. I can't begin to thank these guys enough for going out of their way to help us.

We also had a bit of excitement on our voyage of 244 miles to Panama City today. As we rounded St Vincent Island, which is between Apalachicola and Port St Joe, we heard a distress call on the vhf. A sailboat had run aground and was afraid of capsizing. The sailboat Navi contacted us and we stopped to try and lend assistance. Unfortunately, the water was too shallow for us to approach. So we simply stayed close by until the Coast Guard arrived. The Coast Guard sent a helicopter to pick up the stranded sailor. There was real terror in the sailors voice as he repeated back to the Coast Guard that he would need to get in the water for the rescue swimmer to help hoist him up. However, in all the stress and turmoil, the sailor asked if he could take a fishing pole that his dead father had given to him years ago. He said it was more valuable to him than the boat. The Coast Guard told him to bring it.

The Coast Guard, to their credit, got him. It was a weird feeling to see the helicopter fly off while the boat, stranded on the sandbar was left abandoned. It was also strange for us to drive off with the boat just sitting there. We hope that Tow BoatUS or Sea Tow was able to salvage the boat for the owner.

A valuable lesson on several levels. Double check your charts and make sure all of your safety gear is in order and operable. The sailboat tried to fire his flare as we passed, but it did not go off. The charts clearly show the shoal and low water. Not sure what he was thinking as he tried to cross the bar.

Happy Easter

A short day today. We ran up from Marco Island, FL to Clearwater. Total distance today was only 163 miles. We departed this morning at 7:00am and arrive in Clearwater just before 1:30pm. Clearwater Beach was crazy with people for Easter Sunday. The beaches were packed as we ran up the coast today. Seas offshore were just a bit bumpy to start the day; around 3 to 4 feet. However, with an east wind we were able to run up against the beach which smoothed the water out considerably. "Long & Large was "christened today by Dan. He had salt spray all over her from top to bottom. We gave her a good bath once we got in.

A funny thing happened today during the trip. I went down to use the head and bring up a bottle of water and a snack for Dan. Well with the seas a bit bumpy while I was below, the salon door slammed shut and jammed. I was down in the cabin about 10 minutes trying to do everything I knew how to open the door to no avail. I thought about trying to go out one of the hatches, but with the seas and water coming over the boat, I knew that was going to cause a real mess. I then tried calling Dan on my cell phone and texting him as well. But with the open flybridge and the noise from the engines, wind and water, he couldn't hear it. Finally, I remembered I had a handheld VHF radio in my cabin. I called Dan on the radio from the cabin and asked him to stop the boat and come down to see if he could try the door from the outside. After about a 10 minute ordeal, we finally got the door open. Glad this happened off shore and it was easy to just stop the boat. It could have been more challenging if it happened on the ICW or a narrow channel. Once we got in to the marina, we took apart the door lock, sprayed it with WD-40 and she is all fixed and as good as new.

Not too many pictures today. Jeff Harris jumped on board tonight after Dan left to head back to IL. I am looking forward to the journey ahead.

50 foot Viking from Miami to Grafton, IL

There are some things that you just cannot make up. I picked up a 50-foot Viking in Miami yesterday named "Long & Large". The new owner Dan will be renaming the boat as soon as he docks it in Grafton, IL about 40 or so miles north of St Louis. The new name will be "Son of a Son". Try hailing "Long & Large" on the radio a few times. You tend to get quite a response.

Anyway, Dan I departed Miami this morning. We had a late start as we needed to top off the fuel tanks which required over 500 gallons. Once we topped off the tanks, we headed out Government Cut, turned south toward the Keys and made our way to Channel Five just south of Islamorada. Once through the cut we would head back north toward Marco Island.

The boat performed flawlessly today. She cruised at over 32 mph (27kts) with a pair of 820hp MAN diesels. She burned about 55 gph and we achieve .56 mpg. We covered 200 miles today from Miami to Marco. Tomorrow we will continue north up the west coast of Florida to Clearwater where Dan will unfortunately have to get off and fly home so he can return to work on Monday. Jeff Harris, a MYO member and 408 owner, agreed to help me on this trip up to St Louis. I am looking forward to having Jeff on board during the trip and I know we will have a great time. Dan is hopeful that work responsibilities will easy up next week and he hopes he can jump back on board with me and Jeff at some point late next week.

Here are a few pictures of the boat in Miami yesterday and some taken today on the run up from Miami to Marco.








Dan at the helm of his new boat with Miami in the background.


Miami skyline.


Tied up in Marco Island




A happy day for Dan. The first run on his new boat was a huge success. The beer was cold and the prime rib was medium rare with a great view of the water as we watched the final four.

New Home Sweet Home

We finished up the trip today. We ran up the ICW from Cabbage Key to Regatta Pointe Marina in Palmetto, FL after another 82 miles. It was just a perfect day on the water. It is certainly much better than the cold weather we left in Virginia. I met Gene and Julie for drinks and dinner at the marina last night.  It could not have been a better start to their new home on the water. Thanks for following along. I fly out tomorrow to Miami to pick up the next boat.


Sunrise at Cabbage Key

Crossing Lake Okeechobee

The weather in Florida has been just ideal. Sunny and mid-70's all week. We had a great run from Stuart over to Cabbage Key on the west coast of Florida via the St Lucie Canal. A big shout out to Cruz for telling me about this place. I have passed Cabbage Key probably a dozen times and never thought twice about stopping. Once we cross Lake Okeechobee we arrived in Ft Myers around 3:00. We topped off with fuel but thought it was a little early to stop for the day. Cabbage Key was just the right distance and took us 2 hour further down the waterway. We pulled in a 5:00pm after another 161 miles and 9 1/2 hours on the water. The boat continues to run great and this day was a real pleasure aboard Julie Said Yes. The Lake was calm and there wasn't too much traffic on the water. We will finish up our voyage tomorrow in Bradenton.






Coming into the St Lucie Lock around 8:00am




Air boat on the rim of Lake Okeechobee


A few big boats on the St Lucie Canal


We saw this "house" just outside of Ft Myers.


All tied up in Cabbage Key

No Guts; No Glory

We had another fun filled, action packed day on the water. We pulled out of St Augustine this morning a few minutes before 7:00am. The forecast off-shore was great so we thought we would try our luck running down the coast instead of dealing with all the no wake Manatee zones that plague the east coast of Florida. Once outside the inlet, the run down to Cape Canaveral was great. Seas were maybe 2 feet and for the most part it was very calm.

We rounded Cape Canaveral right at 11:00am and set the next waypoint for the St Lucie Inlet at Stuart, our destination for the night. We knew the fuel would be close, but I made the calculations at least 20 times last night and knew we "should" have enough fuel. Well, as they say, "no guts, no glory". The vessel view kept telling us we were going to run out of fuel before Stuart. And according to vessel view, we did run out of fuel. We ran out of fuel about 10 miles short of the Inlet and 25 miles short of the marina.

We kept the throttle down and making our way to the inlet. Based on how well the boat was running all week and all the fuel calculations we did, we had to have more fuel than the gauges were telling us. The manual gauges were pegged on "E" and vessel view was giving us a fuel warning. We took a picture of the vessel view and the GPS. The worst that could happen is that we would need to call Sea Tow or BoatUS. The good news, we did make it all the way to Sunset Bay Marina tonight on the St Lucie Canal and we are all set to run across Lake Okeechobee in the morning. The usable fuel on this boat according to the manuals is 332 gallons. We put 311 gallons on board when we got in. That first beer never tasted so good.


The new galley faucet installed.


The old galley faucet we took out.


Coming out of the St Augustine Inlet this morning at 7:00am


Sunrise was around 7:20 this morning




A cruise ship coming into Port Canaveral


These ships are massive out on the water


12 miles to the Inlet...


Vessel view say we won't make it.


This picture is sitting at the Roosevelt Bridge waiting for the opening to get to the marina and fuel dock on the other side.


We did make it.