Shear Terror on a Rainy Day!

It was only raining lightly when we left our slip and headed for the ICW channel. The forecast was for light rain only in the morning. And it was warmer but without the radiant sun to warm the bridge up it was still cold. We had to put the electric heater on the bridge and run the generator. I stayed on the bridge until the arm of my wool sweater was soaked...I didn't realize I was getting so wet but should have remembered that the only dry place on the bridge in the rain is the Captain's seat.

Leaving Panama City, palm trees but no sunshine!

It rained off and on all morning....sometimes fairly hard and the isinglass had to be wiped more than once in order to see where we were going. Then the Forecast changed to a full day of rain!....really happened too late to return so we kept going toward where we had wanted to anchor......passing this sail boat, “Fair Ketch” on the way.

Even the shrimp boats seemed to be moving toward shore instead of being in the Gulf today.

Some parts of Wetappo Creek (part of the ICW) had trash all along the sides.  Perhaps it had been pushed down from smaller streams beside our waterway by the rain... had to go around a lot of it including a few snags.... things like logs that are buried in the mud or attached to the bottom of the channel that can do serious damage.

We passed a few fishing boats and then two loopers who had chosen to pull off at White City which seemed to only be a small  pier where maybe two boats could tie up.

The Captain ordered potato soup for lunch and with the generator going I could heat it up.  Lunch was done and we were coming out of a narrow creek into a lake. All seemed good... I went below to warm up and dry off.  It was a sleepy afternoon.....I was sitting in the salon when a loud crash came.. TWICE!  I prayed aloud... I knew it was bad....I ran up to the bridge.... The Captain was IN the channel when we hit something!  He idled the engines immediately, then I took the wheel while he went down into the engine room to check for damage.  All the while I was thinking what should I take with me if we are taking on water and have to get into the dinghy?! The Rule is you take nothing but your life jacket and GET OFF THE BOAT!  There was no apparent damage in the engine room...no holes punctured...then he powered up one engine slightly noticing that the prop on that side was pushing us through the water...then he did same with other engine and that prop also was pushing us through the water.

Back down inside the boat he took the mattress off our berth and checked for leaks near the fuel tanks and rudder shafts .. some small leakage from the port rudder stuffing box but that had recently been repaired and he knew it only needed tightening... this was normal. Whew....no leaks.......yet....

Then he ran up the engines...just what he thought we were not getting full thrust with the props.... we were slowed down because of the damage....... Then while I took over the helm with the speed up to near normal he went down again to check the prop shafts while they were running.... and when he did this he dropped the heavy lid to the engine room and I felt the vibration on the bridge....scary!  But I realized what the noise was.....the Captain said he saw nothing wrong with the shafts...nothing appeared bent.

All places that can haul a boat out of the water are behind us! That is why everyone we know that needed work was getting it done prior to this portion of the Loop.  Nothing ahead until Florida's west coast but that would mean crossing the Gulf with damaged props!  We called a marina... and managed to limp in just before he closed his little dock.  He was also nice enough to find us a diver who can go down in the water and change our props. Thankfully, we do have replacement props on board.   He will come in the morning.

Walter called the coast guard number and has left a message about the snags IN the channel.... we are concerned for boats coming behind us! No one has called us back yet...We believe it was MORE than a “snag” … more like a concrete slab, the way it sounded and it had to be big enough to hit all 4 blades of at least one prop as the Captain says the prop is still nearly in balance!

We are at a little pier where there is only room for 2 or 3 boats......”Any Port in a Storm” whether the storm is weather or damaged caused by unseen things?   Yes!   Praise God!