Here's a clue for anybody dumb enough to the traveling the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway today - don't. For the first time in the nearly 14 years my boat has been moored behind the house here in the Panama City area, it is aground in its slip. The ferocious north wind is blowing all the water out of the bays hereabouts, and water levels are far below even the normally low winter levels. Rich Gano Calypso (1972 Grand Banks 42) Panama City, FL

And here in Carrabelle in C-Quarters Marina (we came up yesterday to check on Sanderling) all the locals are commenting that they've never seen the river so low. At low tide this morning (about 1030) the big center-river mud bank was fully exposed, a few boats were tilting sideways, and we had about a 5-10 degree upward tilt at the bow this morning (bow-in) with the water about 14-16 inches below it's normal waterline, exposing the bow-thruster tunnel in its entirety, and all the lines were violin-string tight. Tom Conrad has advised that this time of year the water is about 2 feet below mean low in the Big Bend area. That's why we're staying put until March at the earliest. On the bright side, the sun was out in full force this morning and melted the ice which had formed overnight on the tops of the trash barrels! Fortunately, the intake thru-hull for the forward Mermaid heat pump was still underwater. <><><><><><><><><><><><>Mozilla Thunderbird<><><><><><><><><><> Bob McLeran and Judy Young Cruising the Atlantic Coast MV Sanderling Defever 41 Trawler Blog: http://mvsanderling.net/Blog Web: http://cruising.mvsanderling.net/ Currently: Eastbound on the Gulf ICW On 1/3/2014 12:56 PM, Rich wrote: > Here's a clue for anybody dumb enough to the traveling the Gulf Intracoastal > Waterway today - don't. For the first time in the nearly 14 years my boat > has been moored behind the house here in the Panama City area, it is aground > in its slip. The ferocious north wind is blowing all the water out of the > bays hereabouts, and water levels are far below even the normally low winter > levels. > > > Rich Gano > Calypso (1972 Grand Banks 42) > Panama City, FL > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > http://lists.trawlering.com/mailman/listinfo/great-loop_lists.trawlering.com > > To modify your Great-Loop subscription options (change email address, > unsubscribe, etc.) go to: http://lists.trawlering.com/mailman/options/great-loop_lists.trawlering.com >