The log of the "MAN BOAT"
(Tom Scott captures the events and experiences of our trip from Panama City to Key West, Florida. We began this trip aboard the SV "Wild Goose," which Tom soon determined should be called . . .
THE MAN BOAT
Ken's Wild
Goose is an incredible boat. It's a
1970 Morgan O/R (Ocean Racer). This
boat could withstand World War II.
Everything on this boat is massive and thick - a true Ocean Racer. After we set
our plans, both Ken and I began to make sporadic visits to the Goose to perform
maintenance that had to be done. My
part of this was to sand the bottom and install the Depth gauge, Speed Log, and
GPS. So not to bore you, here is my
abbreviated log. The first day of
the trip was scheduled for 14 May with a return day of 1 June (for me) out of
Governor's Harbour, Bahamas. Here
goes:
Friday, 11 May, Pensacola
For customs, I receive return ticket
(must have it in hand when I arrive) and am still searching for passport.
It's in one of twenty boxes I packed on my last move.
First box open, there it is right on top, the gods are with me.
Ken is late getting back from his sail
around Cape Horn and I need to go home (SC) and help Mom with some paperwork.
Panic time. I run around, get mom's papers, quickly finish loose ends at
work, pick up my new mini-dive tank setup, get a haircut and reserve rental car.
Saturday, 12 May, Pensacola to
Columbia, SC
Good trip, everybody is speeding.
I turn an 8-hour trip into 7 hours.
This is a pirate-like thing to do.
Monday, 14 May, Columbia, SC
I have this overwhelming feeling I should
be somewhere (like on a boat). Drop
papers at lawyers - Drop papers at tax accountant - research real estate person
- deal with really expensive landscaper - take mom's car to shop - file for
homestead exemption - order invisible fence for very visible dog - do deed
research at courthouse.
Tuesday, 15 May, Columbia, SC
Early shopping: Travel items from Wally
World - Life Vest on sale at K-Mart - Pick up bank papers - visit my Aunt &
cousin (Great to see them, it's one of those "slow-down" relaxing
visits). Talk to Ken - he expects
to be at the boat tomorrow. The car
shop calls. Turns out the "deally"
that locks the hubcaps on is missing and the wheels must come off to get at the
strange metal to metal sound. I
instruct them to fix it at all costs. I
inform him that I am leaving tomorrow and he agrees to get the car back to Mom.
I inform Mom that my mission is complete and I am heading back to
Pensacola tomorrow. She is not happy but she understands - she also mentions her
doctor's appointment - this is news to me.
Wednesday, 16 May, Columbia, SC
I take Mom to her doctor's appointment.
After an hour over-run in a waiting room full of people that really look
like they need to be there, I question the nurse as to why my Mom is here - I
get the blank stare I expected and it turns out she has no reason to be there -
seems some invisible person made a mistake - Heading home tomorrow.
Thursday, 17 May, Columbia SC
to Pensacola, FL
Once again, my rental car has wings and I
whisk home with all the energy of a pirate who is late for his boat.
Friday, 18 May, Pensacola, FL
Rods - Reels - Lures - Shorts - Shirts -
Tylenol - All the medicine from my 3-week old spine surgery - Film - Money from
bank. It's late, - I haul ass to
Panama City.
3:00 PM Arrive Tibbets Boat Yard and
greet Paul the Chinese owner. Paul
is too cool for words and his last name is not Tibbets.
He is really making the old Boat Yard come around.
This place will probably be a high-rise within a couple of years.
Ken comes out of the depths of the "Wild Goose" to greet me.
It is apparent he has been working hard to pull all of this together.
He informs me that we are ready to go.
My heart soars like the Jolly Roger and then takes a nosedive as he
informs me that no water is going through the engine.
He feels sure it is the impeller, he's had the problem before.
I feel confident.
The day is coming to a close, so we
decide to do dinner and tackle it first thing in the morning.
Saturday, 19 May, Panama City
(One week behind schedule)
While Capt. Ken starts impeller work I
build a outboard motor mount and a lure-hanging, steak holding, fish-cleaning
table out of scrap wood. I'm
impressed with myself. Ken gets the
impeller apart to find that it looks suspiciously good.
Sure enough we find a stopped up heat exchanger that we stab repeatedly
with a screwdriver until it gives up and begins to let water pass through it.
- we congratulate ourselves and press on.
The rest of the day is made up of trips to the hardware store for
"what-ifs".
Sunday, 20 May, PANAMA CITY DEPARTURE!
6:30 We perform our last minute walk
around and discover that the Dinghy pump is still in Destin. Ken calls his daughter and they head to our rescue.
We go to Breakfast. Kim,
Steve and Brittany arrive in PC in record time.
We get pump, they get last goodbye, and we're gone - almost.
The purr of the diesel is great as we
back out of the slip and watch the kids depart over the bridge. Ken gives a mighty blow on the horn and the bridge begins to
open. Paul is on the bridge to give
us a last goodbye before our masterful pirate voyage into the unknown.
- Suddenly the cockpit is
full of smoke. The bridge is now
closing as I run downstairs and Ken fights to get back to the dock.
Paul looks more disappointed than we do.
The flex pipe on the exhaust has
ruptured. Not serious, but can't be
repaired until Monday. I inform Ken
that on Wednesday I need to give up this pirate thing and go on a real vacation.
He begins to agree with me.
Monday, 21 May, Panama City
(Ugh!)
Ken is off early to take the flex pipe to
a guy that Paul recommends. I go
back to the scrap pile and build a cutting board for the sink, clean the floor,
rearrange the deck, clean downstairs, tie and hang the lines. - We look ready - all we need now is that pipe.
Today, the fuel dock at the Panama City Marina could be a reality.
Ken returns.
The pipe is a masterpiece. I
install the pipe and we are outta-here!
10:30 This time the bridge-operator-guy
waits a few minutes after our toot to make sure we're serious.
Yikes, we are - the bridge opens and I spy the fuel dock.
What a beautiful sight.
Lots of Diesel in tank and cans, gas for
the Dink, and we head for the pass. We
begin to tack but I fail to estimate my lack of strength due to my spine
operation. I become exhausted
quickly and we motor through the pass with the large jib doing most of the work.
The waves at the pass are 6 to 8 and the wind is rising.
I'm sick as a dog. We decide
Port St. Joe would signify that we are truly "on the road".
My exhaustion seems to be permanent.
7:30 Entering channel at Port St. Joe but
can't make the buoys add up. The
chart is beginning to look real fuzzy.
10:30PM Re-Ran buoys - nothing making
sense here.
12:30AM Where the hell are we - I plot
our position - We're at the far end of the bay - could've fooled me.
I plot us back to the mouth of the bay where our anchorage was suppose to
be.
2:30AM
Back at mouth of Bay - plotting to anchorage.
Ten feet past buoy we run aground but Ken is keen on this and after a few
pirate words he frees us almost immediately.
3:30AM Upon our second attempt to get into
our anchorage (We know we have the right buoy) we once-again run aground, and
once-again we utter a few pirate phrases and we get off.
We anchor outside the mouth of the bay and sleep restlessly as the boat
rolls like a Maytag dryer for what is left of the night.
Tuesday, 22 May, Port St. Joe
Channel
9:00AM We are up and heading to Port St.
Joe Marina to rest and repair the leaking window over the chart table.
The buoys are clear to see. The
most important ones were unlighted (Must be an oyster thing).
10:00AM Food, shower, laundry, and
pirate-like sleep. While talking to
harbour girl who wouldn't answer our radio call, she informs us that all the
buoys were renumbered last year. Ken
and I just stare at one another - we knew that.
Wednesday, 23 May, Port St. Joe
Marina
7:00AM We're afloat. The winds aren't favorable as we head Southeast.
Cape Sanblast and then Apilachicola disappear on our left as we turn
south to pick up the wind. Takes
forever to get out of the bombing range - once out, we hear loud blasts.
Who knows, maybe the gods ARE still with us.
11:00 AM
The porpoise join us at our bow and stay with us until just before
sunset. They really put on a show,
rolling, jumping, turning to look at us - maybe it's been awhile since they've
seen pirates such as this.
12:00 Midnight.
We begin two-hour watches. Depth: 34 feet.
Thursday, 24 May, In Big Water,
Depth 192 feet.
7:00AM Sailed all night seeking Tampa
landfall but progress is slow.
9:00AM GPS Fails.
I begin to troubleshoot my ingenious installation.
Can only get it to work for a few minutes at a time.
1:00PM Secondary GPS fails.
Gotta figure out how the pirates handled this.
I begin to try to think of times that I have gotten out of worse dilemmas
- suddenly I feel better, but my troubleshooting efforts are now full time.
I try to act unconcerned so as not to panic my fellow-pirate, but inside
I'm doing an oh-shit dance. I know
we are entering shipping lanes in a few hours.
It would be so rewarded to know our position during this period in our
voyage.
3:00 PM Ah-Ha! Seems the connectors are
bad on the back of Primary GPS. Slapping
it makes it blink at you, but taking it out of the holder and leaning it on its
power wire makes it work nicely. I
begin to feel a bit more pirate-like now. On
to more important things, the high tech fish lure I purchased is doing nothing
more than pissing off the fish - not even a bite. Sensing my frustration with my fishing lure my co-pirate (who
has a background in lure manufacture) fashions a real spoon out of his favorite
teaspoon. I'm impressed and launch
it with the sincere intention of a strike that will knock my sandals off.
- If I knew how to cook seaweed, we'd be catching our limit.
5:30PM Passed Tampa outer buoy.
A fix reveals we are still a long way from Tampa.
We ignore this fact and press on.
6:30PM Pass "Seahound" (38-foot
Cape Dory) headed for New Orleans. He
is waiting for a stiff SE wind (He is returning from Key West because he never
got favorable wind to the Bahamas). One
hour later (In the dark) we get his wind. As
Ken and I stand on the bow trying to get the jib down we are up ten feet, down
ten feet. With the shroud lights on
we can talk to one another with our eyes - it was something like "what in
the hell are we doing here?" Once the jib is down, we abandon shifts to negotiate the
shipping channel.
12:00 Midnight.
Very tired - unable to differentiate between buoys and big ships.
We decide to stay to the right of channel but exhaustion takes over and
the boat begins to sail sideways. Just
our luck, the boat is going left and the buoys are going right.
Ken sees mountains. I inform
him that they are ships. It's
getting real crowded out here. The
shrimp boats have so many lights on them we mistake them for moving islands.
2:30AM
One particular bouy is coming towards us faster than the others - we
decide it is a ship. Ken says it is
goin left - I say right. Capt. Ken
takes command and turns right as the ship goes to our left.
Suddenly I get that "hair on the back of your neck thing".
I ask Ken to give me his best guess about the large cloud that is behind
us. Turns out it is a very big
ship. I grab the spot light and
flash him. We heave a sigh of
relief when he flashes us back to let us know he sees us.
He moves left, we move right - all is well.
Hopelessly tired, we begin to giggle - this could be the end.
Friday, 25 May, Edmont Channel
at mouth of Tampa Bay.
4:30AM Sunrise.
Seems we have survived the Tampa Bay entrance. What a relief.
5:30AM We take the first anchorage
outside the channel and fall asleep.
9:00AM We regroup. Tampa is scratched. Turns
out the marina we were heading for by the bridge has nothing but slips and it's
still along way off. We unanimously
decide that it is the journey and not the destination - we cancel the Bahamas
and opt to pillage the West Coast to Key West.
In the tradition of the TV Show properly entitled "The Man
Show", we decide to name the Goose "The Man Boat" with the
realization that no woman will probably EVER set foot on this boat.
9:30AM Tampa behind us, around the island
and out of the south channel. We
feel that Venice will do nicely. The
Man Boat gracefully sails South.
6:30PM The Venice channel is in our
sights. It's at peak outflow so
entering is a real roller coaster ride. Our
6'2" keel grabs every current sending us reeling left and right.
Our 6.5-knot speed turns into 2 knots over ground.
We pull up to the fuel dock at the Crow's Nest and the guy who told me
earlier that I "wasn't on his list" now says "welcome, will you
be staying?" - I'm confused but he informs me that he's had cancellations.
I ask him about this list thing - amnesia sets in and he wanders off the
dock. Over his shoulder he reminds
us that we will have to be off of the fuel dock by 8:00AM so he can start
refueling fishing boats.
8:00PM Love this place, it's made for
sailboats, deep channels everywhere. Everyone
is nice, the Key West racing boats are in, the food is good and the bar is full,
but we are too tired to pillage it. Gail
and George bring batteries for the back up GPS and it's good to talk to friends
over dinner. I offer to pay for the
batteries but Gail says she would rather have a mudslide at Pensacola next time
she's up. I agree that this can be
arranged.
9:00PM It seems like a lot of people here
- suddenly I realize it's Memorial Day Weekend.
We meet two guys who sailed all night from Key West.
They tell us about how hard it is to avoid shrimp boats when you are
exhausted. One guy starts talking
about how they were so tired it seemed the shrimp boats were chasing him.
Ken and I smile at one another. We
run out of pirate stories and fall asleep with all the other sailors who are
returning from the Key West Race.
10:00
Happy Memorial Day Weekend . . . Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z
. . .
Saturday, 26 May, Venice,
Florida
7:00AM Shower and chat with other
sailors. Met 73-year old woman
sailor who loves to race. She is
very engaging - what a gal. She
informs us that her and her daughter's crew won the big silver trophy in their
J-boat. It's a beautiful boat built
for pure racing. Good tactics -
good crew - impressive win.
7:45AM Leaving the dock as instructed by
the "Dock Master with a list". Engine
temp climbing slightly, we'll check it when we get to Gaspirilla Island.
2:00PM
Achieved Boca Grande Channel. Must
be a hundred boats in front of us. Turns
out it's a Tarpon championship. Lots
of nice fishing boats with 500HP outboards hanging on the back of them.
I already know what sleep will be like tonight.
We anchor with ease just inside the mouth of Charlotte Harbour and swim -
the water is great. Check the
strainer and yes, sea grass. Clean
it out but hard to get a good seal. After
several tries it seals but water is coming from somewhere else.
Ugh, we have a busted circulation hose of the only size we didn't buy.
Apparently we left the gods at the Crow's Nest in Venice.
Knowing that a radiator hose will work, I tell Ken that if he can get me
to land, I can find a radiator hose - somewhere.
We break out the dink and head for Miller's marina at a healthy 3 mph.
The fishing guys are now returning to port at 80 mph.
If the dingy test people could only be with us now.
At break-dink speed we finally round the channel marker to Miller's and
take the shortest route to the store - we run aground.
While Capt. Ken is furiously trying to figure out what has stopped us he
is surprised to find that I am standing next to the boat in ankle-deep water.
I walk us to the store. Captain
Ken sits upright and pirate-like in an effort to save face.
Some guy on a 150 ft. yacht looks over his polished railing and chuckles.
Somehow I think this radiator hose thing could prove to be tricky. The
store closes as we walk towards it so we make faces at the window until the girl
comes out. After much begging she
sends us to Sharon in the restaurant who is a huge help.
She figures out the 4-number phone system for us and laughs when I ask
about junk cars - I immediately sense that my question is somehow absurd.
We need a plan. There is a
Discount Auto Parts Store (DAP) on the mainland but it's a good clip.
Capt. Ken wants to go in the Dink but I've had enough high adventure so I
go to the parking lot where I am confronted by a bunch of people in Lexus's who
definitely have an agenda. After
three or four tries I wave down a couple whom after some thought, seem to think
we are worthy of help. I realize
that junk cars are out of the question as Richard, our most gracious driver,
points out G.W. Bush's retreat - oh well.
Mark, the guy we called at the auto parts
place, spots me coming through the door - "You the boat guy?"
These guys are very helpful. Mark
immediately turns his ball cap around backwards as a sign that I have his full
attention. After a quick transaction, we are on our way back to Miller's
Marina.
We arrive back just in time for the
restaurant to close but to our surprise our new best friend Sharon plugs us into
a table and all the left over people come over and listen to our radiator hose
story. They are simply in awe.
Jason, our waiter, wants to join the "Man Boat" but doesn't
think he can get the time off. When
he practices saying "Are-Are" it comes out like "Awe-Awe".
It becomes obvious that he will have to stay ashore.
Grouper, Shrimp and delicious Frog Legs compliment very cold Bud Light to
make a perfect dinner.
9:50PM Yikes! - we talked about the
anchor lite but each thought the other left it on.
80 MPH boats? - We're screwed. Into
the dink, around the sandbar and into the harbour.
Suddenly the small red/green lights are upon us in seconds.
The fishing guys are "still" going home.
To put a light on our dink now would be silly and probably lessen the
adventure to some degree. We hug
the shoreline and pray these guys are still sober enough not to run aground.
The Goose is OK as we spy it's shadowy hull sitting quietly in the dark,
- lights go on immediately as we
board and we relax with a sigh of relief.
10:00PM Hose installed all is well again.
Beer - Bed - occasional severe wake - no breeze - hot.
Sunday, 27 May, Charlotte
Harbour @ Gaspirilla Island
7:00AM Strainer won't seal.
Engine overheating (Delay). Found
mysterious valve under engine, opened it. Engine
cooled down and stayed cool - good to go. Decided
to ignore strainer unless it began to talk to us.
Figured we would look at it when we get to Marco Island.
10:00AM
Small storm passes over us - the rain feels good, water spout drops off
stern. We watch as another sail
boat seems to sail towards it - it lifts.
12:00 NOON Set course for Marcos as the
coast disappeared off of our stern. 5 hours and 30 minutes of big water.
Holding 6.5 knots. GPS says we'll be there by 6:00PM.
1:30PM
All is well. Storms are all
around but keeping their distance. Jib
is giving us about a knot, engine is doing most of the work and doing it well.
Hoping to anchor before dark.
2:00PM
another attempt to fish. While
fishing on the stern I fall asleep and tumble backward headlong into the
cockpit. Awakening half way through
my fall I go stiff like a board and kick the aft stay, slicing my foot, then
creating a huge goose egg on my head as it collides with the helm.
At this point I imagine I'm dead but Capt. Ken appears at my side and the
sight of my fellow pirate comforts me. The
nerve of Capt. Ken to scoff when I bought Band-Aids.
I knew my potential.
5:00PM Anchorage at Marco Island.
Great place, lots of boats, bonfires, and tents.
These people know how to have fun. Swam
and drank wine. Cooked spaghetti
for dinner - did vodka shots, told pirate stories, compared tattoos we never
got, must have went to bed before sun came up.
Monday, 28 May, Memorial Day at
Marco Island
7:00 Everything pretty fuzzy this
morning. Missed channel going out
but recovered well. We suspect some
rival pirates must have moved the buoys while we were sleeping.
8:00AM Set course of 188º to the Keys,
sailing hard up, using motor to shorten trip, all is well. Good naps for hung-over pirates.
We bless the Autopilot on a regular basis.
8:00PM Arrived Key West, West Jetty.
Anchored out. Steady east wind - Rock and Roll. Figure we would negotiate coral-lined channel in the morning.
We're tired - we sleep.
Tuesday, 29 May, Key West, West
Jetty
5:00AM - The cruise ship
"Fascination" appears on the horizon headed our way.
It looks like a floating condo as it nears the mouth of the channel.
By the time it gets to us we are looking up at it.
6:00AM - We are moving into the channel.
The buoys are pretty straightforward.
We negotiate them with ease. Capt.
Ken makes it look easy.
8:00AM - Arrive Key West Bight, the
municipal marina. We are met by
Teri the Dock Maiden who I had talked to earlier on the phone. As always, she is great to deal with and understands our most
immediate needs and steers us to breakfast at Pepe's a great breakfast spot.
She gives us a few small things to do once we get in our slip, then
cheerfully comes over and does them for us - what a gal.
Slip 13 (Our lucky number) has good access so it's easy in - easy out. Shower and breakfast - feels so good.
12:00AM - We spend most of the day
putting the "Man Boat" back in an order that only a man can
appreciate. After a brief nap, it's
off to Mallory Square to join in the sunset party.
The usual circus is going on and everyone is in great spirits - we become
one of the crowd.
7:30PM - After the square, we try a new
restaurant on Duval. While eating a
street urchin enters posing as a patron and pretends to trip on a brick.
She hits the ground and starts screaming that she has hurt her back
because of an imperfection in the sidewalk.
The restaurant immediately begins to look for witnesses - the food wasn't
that great anyway. A slow walk home - ice cream at the Key West Ice Cream
Factory - and we turn in.
Wednesday, 30 May, Key West
Bight
6:00AM - Up early to watch the sunrise
and inventory my diving gear.
8:00AM - Rented tanks and weights.
Headed to an out-island to dive and snorkel.
While diving, found an ancient lobster trap and decide to pull it up.
To my surprise, there are two lobsters in it. Just as I get the trap into the dinghy with me I get a
terrible sinking feeling - the entire bottom of the dinghy gives way.
The lobsters realize that something is amiss and immediately begin to
seek an exit. After a brief lobster
dance, I figure the lobsters win and we escape in different directions.
Our next adventure is a wreck, only the skeleton remains. Pretty cool. Some
conch shells and dead coral are found.
4:30PM - After a great day of diving we
motor back to the harbour, turn in our rented gear, wash our gear and the boat,
clean up and head for the Seafood Market Restaurant for the lobster dinner we
have been thinking about. No
screaming street urchin tonight - the food is wonderful.
9:30PM - Once again exhausted, I inform
Capt. Ken that if he is a light weight shopper he may as well hang back
tomorrow, because I plan to over-do it. He
agrees.
Thursday, May 31st, Key West
Bight
5:00AM
- I awaken early in preparation for a full day of combat shopping.
Capt. Ken does breakfast with me, but when I head for the shops, he hangs
back to carve scrimshaw for the locals and give tours of the "Man
Boat".
7:00AM - I immediately decide to do the
shady side of Duval this morning - by 10:00 AM it's 80 degrees in the shade
already and I am looking for bars that have good A/C between shops with good
deals. After a full day of shopping
I end up in the original "Sloppy Joe's" (now named Capt. Tony's).
I like this bar better than the new Sloppy Joe's because this is where
Hemingway and Joe Kennedy "really" hung out.
- Besides, Carl Peachy plays guitar here and seems to know more Bob Dylan
songs than anyone else - I'm so easily impressed.
5:45PM - I arrive back at the boat and
find Capt. Ken passed out from a rigorous day of scrimshaw carving and Man Boat
tours. He is happy to get the skull
and crossbones bandana and Conch Republic Flag that I have purchased for him.
He dons the bandana and immediately assumes the part with a few hearty
"Are-Are's" which is pirate talk for "boy, ain't this
swell."
6:00PM
- My replacement, Tim Ball, CEO of Admark in Atlanta, arrives bearing
loot that he had pillaged on the way down from Miami.
Tim had volunteered to fill in for me on the return trip to Panama City.
He is an experienced sailor with great pirate stories.
After I brief Tim on how pissed off the fish are at me and how glad I am
to see him, we decide dinner is in order and head for Willy-Ts.
Another great meal and good music from Michael McDonald.
Over dinner, Tim assures me that he has a special relationship with the
fish in these parts and will bring them back to our way of thinking on the trip
home. Capt. Ken likes Mike's music so much he buys 2 CDs from him at
a terrifically discounted price, one of which is his "Greatest Hits".
Proving that some things aren't always what they seem, we later notice
that the title is actually "Gretta's Tits".
- and on the cover, you
guessed it, - a picture of Gretta's breasts.
Capt. Ken somehow feels secure with his purchase but feels this may not
be music for the grandchildren.
9:00PM - Back at the boat I find myself
making lists. Somehow this brings
me back to reality. A wonderful
trip has finally come to an end. It
has been the kind of trip that most of us wish we could take, - a trip with a
good friend. A trip that consists
of getting up in the morning and saying "where next?"
The knowledge that "It just doesn't get any better than this."
Knowing that of all your dreams, 95% of them have come true.
A lot of laughter, -
scream-in-your-beer laughter. Time
to reflect, just "time."
In the morning I will be taking the
rental car Tim brought down back to Miami to catch a plane back to Panama City
where I left my car.
This
smile is going to last for a long time….