Steinhatchee to Crystal River, FL

January 15, 2023: I finally leave Steinhatchee and venture back out onto the Gulf of Mexico for an overnight anchorage at Crystal River.

(continued from In Steinhatchee, FL)

I’m up early every morning and that last Sunday at Steinhatchee was no exception. I busied myself inside the cabin, making breakfast, tidying up, and checking the weather as the day brightened and I began noticing movement at the boats around me.

Today was the big day: it was the day we’d all be leaving Steinhatchee.

I think Pony was the first to go. Kim and Ted had about 100 nautical miles ahead of them to get all the way to Tarpon Springs. Nagui in Boundless and I texted back and forth. We were both going to Crystal River and might travel together. (I don’t think we every really established whether we would.) He was prepping to leave.

I fed my pups and took them for a last walk in Steinhatchee. Then we went back to the boat, I started the engine, and prepared to depart. I was ready before Nagui, cast off my lines, and pulled out of my slip. I proceeded at forward idle speed until I saw Boundless pull out. Then I gave it a little more throttle and headed out.

It was 7:45 AM and the sun was barely up.

The Cruise

The crabbers were already out along the river and into the Gulf. I watched them maneuver their flat bottomed boats from one buoy to the next while pelicans and other birds gathered behind them, looking for handouts. It was fascinating. These guys had it down to a science. I wondered how many traps they could work in a day and how long they were out on the water.

This crab boat worked the area just outside the channel as I was leaving Steinhatchee.

Once we left the channel, I had plotted the shortest course I could that would keep me out of shallow water. I had no desire to go all the way out into the Gulf into what most folks would consider “deep” water. I didn’t need to; my boat’s draft was only 2.5 feet. On my chart plotter, that meant staying in a “medium blue” shaded area. The light blue was shallow and close to shore and the dark blue was deep and much farther out into the Gulf.

Nagui had apparently plotted a course to keep him in that deeper Gulf water. So did just about everyone else. So when I made the turn to the south at the end of the channel everyone else behind me — and even Pony, way out in front of me — continued westbound.

That’s when I realized that I would not be traveling with Boundless, although our courses would be parallel about 3 miles apart.

My notes say the boat was rocked by swells in all directions. I honestly don’t remember it being very bad, but I knew it would be worse farther out. I could almost see the whitecaps out there. By 8:30 AM, I had set the RPM to 2500 and was getting 8 to 10 knots of speed in following seas.

I used the Go To feature of my autopilot to point the boat in various directions southbound, working my way around the shallower water close in. There were crab traps, but not many for most of the way and they were always in a pattern that made them easy to spot when you spotted any of them in a row. The ride was boring, which I guess is good.

At about 10:45 AM, three hours after departure, Nebo showed me to be 26 nautical miles from my starting point. The water had definitely calmed down and it was a smoother ride. My 2500 RPM got me a steady 9 knots of speed with a horrendous fuel burn of 1.1 nautical miles per gallon. Ouch.

Twenty minutes later, the water was dead calm. I increased power to 2800 RPM to get 13 knots and 1.4 nautical miles per gallon. That was pretty damn good.

I continued mostly at that speed for the rest of the trip. Boundless faded into the distance behind me, still much farther out into the Gulf. I wondered whether Nagui was still in rough water out there.

Arriving at Crystal River

I reached the channel markers for the entrance to Crystal River after weaving my way through another area full of crab traps. Once in the channel, the crab traps stopped. I followed it in at a much slower speed and then slowed down to a minimum wake speed — about 1200 RPM and 5 knots is what I shoot for — on seeing a bunch of confusing speed limit signs. It would take me a while to figure these out, but in some areas, it was minimum wake everywhere and in other areas, it was minimum wake outside the channel. The reason: manatees.

Crystal River is known for its winter manatee population. Up the river, past the town is where freshwater springs come out of the ground. The manatees apparently love fresh water and they congregate around there in the winter months. (Or maybe all year around? I’m not sure how they might travel.)

So I followed the channel at various slow speeds, making my way toward the town about six miles in. This part of the trip took about an hour. The tide was mostly out so staying in the channel was important. It was easy enough. The ride was very pleasant — like boating through a park. There were lots of birds and areas thick with mangroves.

Finally, I got to town and the anchorage I was looking for: Kings Bay. Like everyone else, I’d tried to get a slip at the only marina in town but it was full. The anchorage looked pretty full, too. But I made my way in among the anchored boats and crab traps. The water depth was just 5 feet (at low tide) where I dropped my anchor just north of a little island. I only had to put out about 25 feet of chain. Putting out more put me in risk of drifting into a crab trap buoy or other boat. There was very little current and no wind.

It was 3:15 PM. I’d been at the helm for 7 1/2 hours.

Here’s my Nebo log for January 15, 2023. Download a PDF log file with more info. Track Do It Now on Nebo.

At the Anchorage

My pups were not happy to see me take out their green fake grass mat again and put it on the back deck. I debated launching the dinghy, putting on its motor, and taking them into town where there was supposed to be a dinghy dock, but it was late in the day and I still didn’t have the dinghy set up dialed in to make it a smooth trip. Worse yet, I’d be leaving first thing in the morning and didn’t want to spend the time then to get everything stowed. I would have just rowed them over to the island, but it was apparently some sort of nature preserve; buoys in the water warned people to stay clear. So they’d have to rough it.

I relaxed for a while and made some dinner. It was pleasant and calm at the anchorage, despite the other boats around me. I had a sneaking suspicion that most of them were empty.

Boundless showed up right around sunset. Maybe a little later. I remember the light not being very good and being worried about Nagui finding a place to drop anchor. He eventually found a spot just west of me. Seeing his anchor light reminded me to turn mine on.

Two boats west of me at Kings Bay just after sunset. Boundless is the boat on the left. I’m pretty sure the bright star is Venus and the dimmer one above it might be Jupiter.

I had a peaceful night and slept very well.