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| Wand'rin Star at St. Pete Marina loaded with provisions, extra fuel, water and all systems go. |
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| A quick pic of the Crew, myself, Chief Mate John Furlinger and Second Mate Maureen Stotland |
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| Wand'rin Star and Crew secure on G Dock Corpus Christi Marina |
The Magical Mystery Tour - The Gulf of Mexico
We departed St. Pete Municipal Marina NB dock at 1330 on Wed. May 8 and sailed 867 Nautical Miles arriving at G dock Corpus Christi Marina Wed May 15th at 1730 hours, a full day ahead of schedule.Today is May 26th, and I just now have a moment to begin to write the blog detailing this Magical Mystery Tour of the Gulf of Mexico. It will take a few post to complete the story and blog the course over the Seven Days. Wand'rin Star exceeded my expectations and confirmed that she is fully capable of safe and comfortable ocean passage making. As with any passsage the learning curve continues and truly points to the importance of the competence of the crew. I got lucky. John Furlinger's life long career at sea was a major plus especially with his ability to communicate with all types of ocean going commercial vessels in their language. We received immediate respect from those vessels that were most likely to complicate the trip. When confronted with our only storm his "Pass the Salt" demeanor provided the proper mind set to Sail on. Maureen Stotland provide much more than just a women's touch. Her career in the male dominated world of the Navy fit right in with a couple of guys who of course are going to be a bit salty in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. Her previous Odyssey on her first trip across the Gulf was no Cake Walk so she took on her Watch duties with a determination that went beyond my expectations for sure. There was very little that she needed from John or myself to deal with her watch, in fact she had some of the fastest sails during her watch on the 0330 to 0700 hours when John and I were soundly asleep!
The upcoming post will detail the log as well as provide some insight to some comments from each of us. There are some people who have the ocean in their blood, I am one of them. Every moment was euphoric for me, I have to admit I got happy emotional several times and the farther we were offshore the better it got as for as I am concerned. It is not cool to see the Captain of the vessel swell up, so I of course made every effort to hide my incredible moments of happy tears. Who would want to see tears in the eyes of a Captain who is supposed to be responsible for your life at Sea, Not ME.
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