A Bridge

Saturday.  01/28/12

Temperature:  48 degrees.  Windy.  At least it is sunny!  Terri is anxious to go on the Triton.  Of course, the weather conditions aren't exactly ideal, but hey, if someone wants to go on the boat, I'm game!

My goal today was to get us into the Ochlockonee Bay.  That is hard to spell.  The Bay is one port to the West from Panacea.  In theory, it shouldn't be difficult to get over there.  Its not like it is far away.  We depart the dock around 10:30 a.m.  I don't even bother getting any bait.  I don't really have any plans to fish. 

We head out the Rock Landing channel.  I make it to the last channel marker.  If you have read any of my previous blogs, you know that the last marker is the end of my safety zone.  I watch the markers pass me by.  I know that I have to go SW some before I turn W because there is a shallow shoal between Panacea and Ochlockonee Bay.  So I head SW.  Oh my god!  I have never seen some many crab traps.  It is like a frickin land mine field.  These things are everywhere and if your prop hits them, your day ends badly - every time.  So we go slow and successfuly navigate through them.  Mental note:  Next time, go SE out of the Panacea channel for awhile before I turn SW to avoid all these traps on my starboard side.

It isn't hard to find the first channel markers heading into the Bay.  But man, are they confusing as you head in!  I was warned that they were confusing but I figured how hard can "Red Right Returning" be?  Hard!  I have no idea what these damn markers are doing.  Some go the left, some to the right.  Some are missing.  Some are turned sideways.  Wow.  So I do what I always do, I go slow.  Halfway into the bay, we almost run aground.  It is as close as I have been to stranding this boat on an oyster bed.  I really don't want to get out of this damn boat and push it off in this cold weather.  I trim up the motor, hit reverse and get off the bed.  These channel markers suck!  We finally reach the bridge and I go very fast through it.  Sounds dumb, but going under a bridge very fast in a boat is kind of thrilling.  I can't say I have ever done it.

We stay in the bay awhile and decide to have lunch at Angelo's on the Bay, but I can't find an easy place to dock the boat.  There appears to be a channel behind the restaurant, but the approach looks dicey.  I call Rock Landing on my VHF, change to 18 and get their opinion.  They don't have a good one.  After my recent episode with the oyster bed, I decide not to attempt it.  So once again, I am either a chickenshit Captain or a very smart, conservative Captain.  I'm still not sure which.

We head out of the Ochlockonee channel, head SE and return back to the Rock Landing channel.  Meanwhile, I am learning a great deal about Waypoints, Trails and Routes on my Lowrance GPS cause I'm messing with it all the time.  I am getting better at it, but still not completely confident with it.  Also, the compass on the boat doesn't seem to be working correctly.  I thought I knew how to read a compass, but perhaps not.  Do compasses go bad?  Doesn't seem very likely.

Terri and I return to the Rock Landing dock after a couple of hours. Yes, of course I hit the damn dock during the turn-around.  We have a nice lunch at Posey's on the water and call it a day.  Nice day all in all and I made it into and out of the Bay without assistance.  My confidence is improving - a little bit at a time. 

The FWC officer waved at me today.  I must be making progress.

It was fun to explore today with Terri.

Captain Paul