Waiting for favorable offshore weather can drive you crazy. Even the kinder, gentler northbound run in the spring (as opposed to the southbound run in late fall, invariably a bear) can have you sitting in port for weeks. Of course it's tempting just to sail and hope for the best. In time experience...

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I enter Biscayne Bay via the Cape Florida Channel on the faintest of winds. Then an entire month passes as I shuttle back and forth between Key Biscayne and Dinner Key, all the while looking for a weather window to head offshore for the Chesapeake Bay, or Beaufort ... I'll even take Fernandina Beach....

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The first segment from Key West back to Biscayne Bay has you steering ENE, which frequently means that either one is going to slog into the prevailing easterlies, or wait for a southerly slant. Being gaff rigged and engineless, I opt for the latter. But that does mean some waiting, and as the weather...

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One month and one week was the nine-hundred mile loop I sailed from Key West, to Panama City, to Boca Grande, and back. My mini-mid-winter odyssey. It was certainly better from an educational standpoint than laying at anchor in the Keys all winter while waiting for warmer weather to head back north....

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Still lots to see of Boca Grande and Charlotte Harbor, but the winter cold fronts are coming through fast and furious. Which means that tourism has to yield to the exigencies of finding safe anchoring ahead of severe weather. SUPPORT HOW TO SAIL OCEANS ON PATREON: https://patreon.com/user?u=12372934 HOW...

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I finally enter Charlotte Harbor, four days out of Panama City, FL, owing perhaps more to the flooding current than whatever wind there was. But an afternoon sea breeze works up to propel me to the anchorage off of Boca Grande Marina. Boca Grande is certainly scenic, although the nearest Publix supermarket...

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I'm off to a glorious start from Panama City, bound for Boca Grande and Charlotte Harbor, romping down the Gulf with fair northerly winds. But in total defiance of the weather maps, the winds just south of Port St. Joe shift southeast--dead on the nose--so I find myself tacking and barely making any...

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I find my way ashore to St. Andrews State Park, where I can land the dinghy, dump trash, take on water, and ride my bicycle to the Publix. So that's a win, even though it cost me $4 to get back into the park. Anyway, there's a window to head back south to Fort Meyers, and I'm going to take it as the...

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After provisioning and exploring Watson Bayou, I make my way to the highly recommended Shell Island anchorage. It does not disappoint. However, the weekly frontal passages bring not only brisk northerlies, as they do everywhere in Florida during the winter, but bitter cold with overnight temperatures...

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I slowly approach the Gulf Coast. Light winds prevail. Even with the white sandy beaches and tall buildings in sight, I see almost no signs of life other than a few small powerboats. Nothing on AIS. Can't see any sailboat masts. Did some apocalypse just occur? Once inside St. Andrews Bay the winds...

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I depart the buzzing and booming city of Key West, northbound for Panama City, Florida. After a mild frontal passage, which puts me through the usual sail drills, conditions quickly moderate. Wind and seas diminish over the next few days, making for slow but comfortable sailing. SUPPORT HOW TO SAIL...

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After a period of active weather, the weather maps are clear for the next week. Fair winds for northbound passaging are indicated, so I decide to push off for Panama City, FL. Besides my visit to Galveston, TX, in 2002, I have yet to cruise the Gulf Coast. SUPPORT HOW TO SAIL OCEANS ON PATREON: https://patreon.com/user?u=12372934 HOW...

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