Scott here. We finally left Clearwater. I understand how people visit there and never leave. It is a beautiful area! But, Bahamas, Bahamas, Bahamas!!

The weather was perfect for leaving and I am very happy for that. We had about 2′ clearance from the bow of the boat to the pier in front of us. It was tight!! Once we left, we went to the nearest gas station, Clearwater Beach Municipal Marina. Put in some fuel, we were told their pump-out is broken and where the closest one is and off we went. Fueling only took 15 minutes!!

Pump-out really wasn’t out of the way, just a pain in the butt having to stop again. That took 28 minutes! Plus, on the way there Rita noticed we lost our red round fender! Now, fenders are expensive, but we did buy this one second hand for $30, but it will cost $109 to replace it. So, Rita pulled out the trusty binoculars (she hates them) and could see the fender. Rita finished our pump our process while I dropped the dinghy and went to pick up the fender before someone else tried to claim it!! Success! Pull the dinghy back up and on our way!

We went to the outside for about 1 hour today, easy run out there, just need to keep an eye open for crab pots, which were pretty easy to see.

But, Scott, how was your plan?? Glad I asked!

Plan v ACTUAL
Start at: 8:30 am ACTUAL 7:50 AM
End at: 3:00 pm ACTUAL 2:25 PM
Total Time: 6:26 hours (5:26 travel time plus 30 min for fueling & 30 min for no wake zones) ACTUAL 6:37 HOURS
Distance: 48.9 miles 48.6 MILES

We did pretty good with the planning. We had a lot of No Wake area, but I think we made up for it on the outside. Fuel and pump-out took a little longer than expected; 43 minutes instead of 30 minutes.

We put in 82.639 gallons of diesel at $5.00 + tax per gallon for $440.79. This is pretty much our fill-up from our “crossing” or “traversing”. Engine hours of 46.3 and total miles of 194.9. That gives us 1.77 GPH burn rate and 2.36 miles per gallon.