We didn’t make it to the Withlacoochee until after dark. The channel into the river is a series of S curves so we tried to anchor, but the bottom of the bay was all rocks and the anchor wouldn’t hold. So we took a deep breath and started into the channel. It was pitch black out by then and I was perched over the bow with a flashlight looking out for crab pots (if you hit them the lines can wind around your propellers) and trying to find the channel markers. Dolphins were continuously jumping underneath me, which would have been incredible if I wasn’t so nervous. Instead it scared the crap out of me. Amazingly, we made it all the way to the mouth of the river and didn’t hit anything.
Then we were called on the radio by a barge coming out of the river who told us he needed the entire channel and we had to get out of it. Dave told the captain what our draft was and asked him where it was deep enough for us to get out of the channel. The Captain said “anywhere”. So we moved out of the channel and waited for the barge to come. After about ½ hour and no barge Dave called the captain several times to ask him if he was coming but we received no response. So we moved back into the channel and waited some more. Finally we could see the barge lights headed our way so we moved back out of the channel and waited for him to pass. But then the barge stopped. It looked like it was stuck. Dave tried to call the captain again, and again received no response. Then the tide started to go out. Despite Dave’s best efforts and after much hideous grinding and clanging of the propellers and hull against rocks we had to accept that we were grounded. After an interlude of panic we called Tow Boat US.
The gentleman Dave spoke to said he had heard our entire conversation with the barge captain, and a boat would be out to get us in a few hours (we had to wait for the tide to rise and lift us). So we went to bed and much to our surprise immediately fell asleep. It had been a long day. A knock on the boat woke us at around 1:30 am. Captain Mike came on board and went to the engine room with Dave to assess the damage. No water was coming in through the shafts and the wheel still turned, both good signs. Mike told us to go back and get some sleep, he and his team would check the outside of the boat and knock again around 3:30 am when the water would be rising and they could start to pull us off.
Tow Boat US gently eased us off the bottom (apparently the back end of the boat was sticking way up) and towed us out of the channel. Dave started up the generator and engine while we were being towed, they didn’t overheat and it seemed to be running okay, another good sign. Tow Boat US took us to an area where the anchor would hold and we waited there for daylight. We started up the engines again and started to head to Tarpon Springs, however shortly after Dave brought the boat to a normal running speed the engines started to overheat. Dave shut the boat down again and called our buddies at Tow Boat US.
Mike, Bob and Doug called a marina in Crystal River (another river in the area) that had a Travel lift to see if they could haul us out and then towed us to a spot nearer to the mouth of the river where we could anchor and wait for the tide to rise. The marina was deep enough for us, but the channel to it has shallow spots so we could only go in at high tide, around 5:00.
At first we weren’t too happy about having to wait around all day, but it turned out to be a good thing. It was a beautiful day, the water was smooth and incredibly calming. So at 11 am we had a couple of drinks and took a nap.
The guys came back at 5:00 as promised and towed us up the river to the marina. It was actually an incredibly beautiful sunset cruise (using the glass half full philosophy). Thank God we had unlimited towing insurance!
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