Florida’s Panhandle to Apalachicola and then across the Gulf of Mexico to Clearwater

Brett and Colin started early Wednesday morning Nov 5 after arriving at the Palafox Pier Marina on Tuesday afternoon. They were on the water at 6:45 am, filling the fuel tanks and refreshing familiarity with the boat after 35 days away from cruising.  

To begin with, they slowly navigated out to the intercoastal waterway.  When they found the buoy markers, they brought Late Date up on plane and cruised into a westbound 10 mph wind.  They stayed on plane most of the 110 mile trip - except the narrow 20 mile channel between Destin and Panama City.  

Their day ended with docking at the Panama City Marina, where they filled the fuel tanks and washed the salt water off the exterior.  They also flushed the salt water from the engines.

To everyone's delight, the reworked propellers delivered identical fuel consumption for the first time -.  85 gallons port and 85 gallons starboard!  As an added bonus, the Mercury Smartcraft systems also showed that Late Date used 171 total gallons of fuel.  At long last, Smartcraft's fuel numbers can be trusted.

Thursday, the crew plans to head to Apalachicola pending a favorable weather report.  On Wednesday, there were 4-6 foot seas on the gulf between Apalachicola and Clearwater.  Similar results tomorrow may cause us to postpone the gulf crossing until Friday.