Corpus Christi to Dry Tortugas then Bahamas

[SSgtPitt]

Wait, that didn't sound right.

[PortHoleDiver]

Not right for sure. We will be leaving out of Kemah.

[SSgtPitt]

Awlrighty then, we’ve done it. Given notices at both our jobs and are moving aboard in January. After a few months of additional work and boat projects we’re shoving off.
Here’s the first leg of my route from CCX to PEN. We don’t have a hard leave date so we’ll adjust as needed for weather. If there’s enough wind we’ll be good for diesel and water. I prefer not to have to pull in anywhere, but we can if necessary. I think my two adult kids are going so that’ll be nice for night watches.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by SSgtPitt

Awlrighty then, we’ve done it. Given notices at both our jobs and are moving aboard in January. After a few months of additional work and boat projects we’re shoving off.
Here’s the first leg of my route from CCX to PEN. We don’t have a hard leave date so we’ll adjust as needed for weather. If there’s enough wind we’ll be good for diesel and water. I prefer not to have to pull in anywhere, but we can if necessary. I think my two adult kids are going so that’ll be nice for night watches.

Best of wishes!

[sailjumanji]

Originally Posted by SSgtPitt

Awlrighty then, we’ve done it. Given notices at both our jobs and are moving aboard in January. After a few months of additional work and boat projects we’re shoving off.
Here’s the first leg of my route from CCX to PEN. We don’t have a hard leave date so we’ll adjust as needed for weather. If there’s enough wind we’ll be good for diesel and water. I prefer not to have to pull in anywhere, but we can if necessary. I think my two adult kids are going so that’ll be nice for night watches.

How was your route chosen? Yeah, if you have to "pull in", you've got a pretty good distance to say, Galveston. For scale, Galveston to Port Aransas is 150 nm. This time of year, seems we are getting a front coming thru about every week. Hopefully you can time it to avoid those.

We are heading to Abacos from Port Aransas in March. Did the Texas to Exumas and back trip last year. Wife's not a fan of long offshore passages, so will probably take ICW to the other side of New Orleans, then offshore hops. On the way back, swap her out for my delivery crew friends, and hop Ft Myers to Grand Isle, then GI to Port Aransas.

[SSgtPitt]

I took the Safety Fairway that’s a little further out, about 175NM was the furthest from land when we made the trip in Aug 2015. This is pretty close to the same route, just backwards and it’s almost a straight shot to where we want to go. Once we got away from the MS Delta, there was NO ONE out there. It was pretty sweet.
I’m not absolutely commited to this route, but I don’t want to do the ICW and I prefer to be further out so there’s less to run into and I need the experience working the sails, which I won’t get on the ICW.
Since we have no time commitments or a set agenda, we can leave and arrive whenever we want, weather permitting, or just putz around looking at stuff.
We still have several months before we do this, so I’m sure there will be adjustments.

[SSgtPitt]

Porthole, we’re back in Colorado. The last few “Marina Queen” items have been removed from the boat and brought home and we’re making our final few adjustments with the kids, house, vehicles etc. There’s always a hundred more little things that pop up to take away your time...and money; renewing registrations, vehicle repairs, house repairs etc.
We’re flying back 13 Nov, jobless and carless. We’re planning to leave Corpus on 27 Nov and head for Pensacola, we should be there 02 - 03 Dec.

[Knucklehead]

I left Marathon thru Riding Rocks onto Russell Beacon then into Andros.

[SSgtPitt]

We left CCTX on 26 Nov and headed straight out to sea and took the farthest Safety Fairway towards the MS Delta.
Immediatly upon exiting the bay the seas were heavier than predicted and continued to build eventually reaching 8-12’ for the next 4 days. We sailed, motor sailed and motored as conditions dictated.
We submarined the bow of the boat, had breaking waves wash through the cockpit and generally spent 4 days cold, wet and scared.
We made land fall in Grand Isle, LA, stayed for a week making repairs, recovering, waiting for better weather and enjoying the hell out of ourselves at the Sand Dollar Marina with Jimmy the dockmaster who brought us local cajun food and made sure we had whatever we needed.
Our two adult kids had enough of rough sailing and left us, we didn’t blame them.
After our repairs were done and we had a couple of days of good weather we headed up the Southwest Pass and along the way called Cyprus Cove Marina looking for a place to pull in and tie up for the night. We were told quickly “not for free”. We explained we just needed to get off the river so we didn’t get run over by all the large ships. She told us again not for free and it would be over $100 even for a few hours. This was outrageous so we asked if there were any other places that could accomodate us. We were told there were no other marinas or places where we could get off the river.
We decided to anchor out instead just above the Head of Passes on the west bank in approx 15’ of water. We made sure the area around us was clear and deep enough, set the anchor and with a 2kt current, really had a comfortable but cold night. We catnapped in the cockpit, scared of being run over but otherwise it was a great anchorage.
The next morning we pulled anchor and headed up river using current charts showing 25’ depths. Approx 10 mins later we ran aground, then again and again and again. We must have been in a horseshoe of shoaling. A shrimp boat passing by slowed and watched our circus performance....knowing what was going to happen. During all this I broke a very large part and could only turn to port. The shrimp boat “Storm Surge” Captained by Bruce threw us a line and towed us upriver for 4 hours to Venice Marina. We spent the next 10 days there making repairs, meeting some really great people and enjoying the kindness of total strangers. We learned that Venice Marina is an outstanding, low key, safe, inexpensive and very accomodating place to stay for a few days and the marina restaurant has better sea food than any place I’ve ever eaten. Cyprus Cove on the other hand lied to us which put us out in an unsafe condition which eventually led to repairs and ancillary costs of over $1500. If you’re up this way, pull into Venice Marina. They don’t get many sailboats and if you stay long enough, fresh tuna can be had for a beer and a good story.
We finally made it to Pensacola yesterday morning. It took exactly 24 hrs, which was 6 hrs less than predicted. Seas were 2-4’ mostly which was WAY better than 8-12’. It was still cold and there are a ton of things to run into when making a Gulf crossing; pilot boats, crewboats, shrimp boats, other big scary boats, oil rigs, platforms, small oil related things that are not marked or lit at night which you can run into.
We’ll stay in Pensacola till after Christmas and then continue on.