Across the Gulf to Florida
Gulf of Mexico
Log Entry by Program Manager Tatiana Dalton
Saturday, November 5, 2022
2106
After two great days in Mobile, we mustered at 0830 this morning. We had expected to get underway right then in the morning, but Capt. Flansburg decided to delay our departure by a few hours to give the wind a chance to die down. We were already anticipating a rocky trip given that our dear Denis Sullivan, built to sail as a three-masted schooner, is currently mastless and without the stability that masts and sails provide.
So we spent the morning cleaning the whole ship—soles (floors), bowls (toilets), breakfast dishes, all of it. We also sea-stowed everything that might shift around or fall over underway—box fans, galley supplies left out on counters, and loose shoes and personal effects in the living compartments.
After 1200 lunch, we mustered again to discuss the voyage plan. This is a 400-nautical mile journey from Mobile to Port Manatee, Florida. The current plan is to hug the coast about halfway, then spring directly across the last stretch from Port Joseph Bay to Tampa Bay, where we’ll stop first at Port Manatee. We’ll adjust this plan as needed to stay out of any weather that will make for an unpleasant sea state, continuing to stay close to the coast for as long as we need to.
We also reviewed our updated Station Bill, a list of each crew member’s roles and responsibilities the in the event of an emergency situation. Any student who’s been aboard with us overnight will be familiar with this practice—we revise and review the Station Bill whenever a crew member joins or leaves the ship, including student crew. It’s important that every job is covered, from steering the ship to fetching medical supplies.
After our muster, Capt. Flansburg stood the crew down for a brief rest, during which crew members took naps or went to town for ice cream. At 1430, we got underway and left Mobile behind.
But not right away—it took us several hours to make our way out of Mobile Bay and into the Gulf of Mexico. Our afternoon was a peaceful ride past military supply vessels, the U.S.S. Alabama, dry dock spaces bigger than I’ve ever seen before, and container ships many times our size (one of which had a basketball hoop installed on deck!). We also saw a whole lot of pelicans perched on docklines, channel markers, and anything else they could find.
The Mobile Bay highlight was passing by a towboat with a friendly captain aboard—Captain Hill, who joined us as our river pilot during our trip from Chicago to Mobile. He honked his horn at us in greeting, and Aurora blew on a conch shell in response.
Around dinner time, we turned out of Mobile Bay and into the Gulf. As Adam and I finished up washing the dinner dishes, the sea state picked up and we discovered which things in the galley had not been properly sea stowed that morning. We spent the night rolling from side to side in the dark—a very different experience from our quiet river journey.
