Author: Steve

Captain’s Log – Tue 5/27/25

Three months to the day since we departed on our epic retirement cruise to the Bahamas, we arrived safely back in our home slip at St Pete Yacht Club in Pass-a-Grille. All totaled up, we sailed 1495nm. Well almost safely, after all that I scratched the boat pulling into my barnacle crusted dock. 🙁

Other than being a bit hot, we had a perfect passage home. The dock master at Venice stocked us up with ice, the wind blew us right off the dock and we were on our way. We motor sailed until shortly after lunch when the sea breeze filled in enough to give us a perfect broad reach home. As we neared Tampa Bay, we picked up an escort from some playful dolphins. We sailed all the way in through the Pass-a-Grille channel relishing every last second of our final sail.

We saw our friends on another sailboat who were in the Bahamas as well coming in about an hour or so behind us. They had to cut their trip short due to an injury so we stuck around to help the dock since I figured they would be short handed and the current was ripping out.

Mahalo to my friend Art who gave us a lift home. We now have to “move” back in to our house, get the boat cleaned up and maintenance completed for the two weekend cruises we have planned in June, the first weekend in June actually. A busy week ahead for sure. I think I’m working harder since I retired!

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Captain’s Log – Mon 5/26/25

We waited out some early morning thunderstorms at Useppa Island, then alternately sailed or motor-sailed as the wind required. Due to the storm delay, we arrived at Venice Yacht Club just as the Memorial Day BBQ was wrapping up so we missed it. We jumped in the pool to cool off with some boat drinks and met some fellow sailors. The sv April was on their way back from the Bone Island Regatta making it the third crew we encountered from the race. Super nice people. We also chatted with a sport fishing crew that had been running between Key West and the Dry Tortugas. They’re planning a trip to the Bahamas so we shared our experiences. Over the years as we met people who had gone to the Bahama, it was very motivating for my dream to hear their stories. Hopefully we can now contribute some encouragement and excitement to other people’s dreams.

While we waited out the storm, I installed a temporary alternator low power mode bypass to use in the extremely hot weather. I’ll make that a permanent switch before our next warm weather trip. That kept the engine temperature at a safe operating level while we were motor-sailing at 1800rpm. I think we could probably run at our cruise rpm of 2200-2300 but I haven’t pushed it yet as we’ve been able to at least motor sail.

We had our final dinner at the Crow’s Nest in Venice, a short walk from the club. We traditionally head over to Pop’s Tiki Bar, but we opted for AC, prime rib and a bottle of Josh Cab reserve to celebrate our trip. As we sipped we talked about our favorite places and highlights of the grand adventure.

Tomorrow we are heading home, should be in Pass-a-Grille 5:00 somewhere!

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Captain’s Log – 5/25/25

After hitting the incredible and free breakfast buffet we left the Pink Shell Resort (with some walking bacon🙂) headed for Useppa Island to anchor for the evening. All the marinas were booked for the holiday weekend.

We were able to sail most of the way there, until the wind died early afternoon. Our batteries were topped off from being plugged in at the marina so no issue with the alternator overheating the engine today.

Useppa Island is a beautiful private island. We’ve been invited there a few times over the years and docked there. We anchored just off Useppa, directly across from Cabbage Key.

The current heatwave is no joke. We deployed our shade tarps to attempt to keep the boat cooler. And we made frozen Miami Vice drinks to cool us down.

The Feels Like temperature was over 100. I’m not gonna lie, the heat was getting to me. The plan was to head over to Cabbage Key for dinner but it was simply too hot to launch the dinghy. Need to minimize exertion in this kind of heat. We opted to grill steaks instead. The cabin temperature dipped just below 90 after sunset. We ran the inverter to power the big fan all night long. The boat cooled down to a sticky 85 by morning.

We’ve made the decision to push the rest of the way home Tuesday. We’ll go into Venice tomorrow where I found a slip so we can run the AC again. Then we’ll push the rest of the way Tuesday, a long day in the heat for sure, but we’ll be home to the refuge of our AC.

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