To Cross or Not to Cross

In our travels Anna and I have experienced so many wonderful things, we have made great friends and seen some wonderful towns, but what we cherish most is our increased knowledge and experience at sea. With the departure of Ed, Anna and I found ourselves focusing on one thing and one thing only, our need to get ourselves across the gulf. Over the past seven months we have broken our trip down into hurdles. Our first hurdle were the locks on the Erie Canal, next came the rocks of Georgians Bay, the high seas of Lake Michigan, the challenges of the currents and barge traffic on the rivers and now, the crossing. Ever since Anna and I started researching the Great Loop, we have been keeping our ear tuned to any advice regarding strategies for crossing the gulf. For those of you not familiar big bend of Florida let me fill you in. The Gulf Coast Intracoastal Water Way stops in Carrabelle, Florida and resumes in Tarpon Springs. The expanse between these two points is referred to as the Big Bend. The waters in this area are shallow and in most cases unnavigable by a boat drawing more than three feet. Blue like most looper boats draws 3.5 feet sitting still and tends to draw about four when under way due to the squatting effect of the stern. This fact rules out a possibility of making small jumps from inlet to inlet around the Bend. Once this fact is acknowledged one quickly realizes that the only option is a long open span of water that must be crossed in order to continue down the west coast of Florida. Having boated on Nantucket, the concept of being out of sight of land is not foreign to us, every time we traveled to the mainland or vineyard by boat there would be portions of the trip where we could not see land. To others that have never been off shore this can be a very intimidating factor and rightfully so. Crossing 180 miles of open water is nothing to take lightly and Anna and I were taking no chances. In my mind, I looked at the crossing as having two outcomes, either we would love it or it would be a stain in our memories. I was going to do everything in my power to make it a good experience. So let the research begin. There are many options to consider, how fast can we travel, how many hours of light is there in a day and what will the winds and tides be. Right off the bat Anna and I decided that it was not economically feasible to run Blue at more than 8 knots across the gulf. Sure we can run her at 12, but our our fuel curve would leave us arriving with less than a third reserve and an even lighter wallet, we both agreed this was not a good idea. So traveling at an economic 7.5 knots we now know we have two options, the shortest distance across the gulf is from Carrabelle to the Stienhatchee River. This can be done in a daylight, but it leaves you in an area where you have no choice but to travel back out in the gulf in order to make it to Tarpon Springs. With weather windows seeming to get less and less frequent as the winter closes in we ruled this out. We had no desire to be stuck for 10 or so days in a small town with no facilities waiting to make our way down the rest of the gulf, so we would go with option two. Option two has it's own problems, the distance from Carrabelle to Clearwater just south of Tarpon Springs is about 180 miles. Due to the crab pots blanketing the west coast of Florida like a mine field we know that we must arrive 15 miles off shore of Clearwater in daylight. With a estimated travel time of 22 hours from dock to dock we decided to leave at noon run through the night and arrive at the crab pot line shortly after 8 in the morning. With our plan and course plotted all Anna and I needed was 36 hours of good weather. The wait was awful, every morning I would get up and check the wind and gulf wave model reports. We constantly told ourselves not to get impatient, the weather will open up if we just wait. With the window on the horizon Anna and I made our jump from the beautiful town of Apalachicola to our staging point at C-Quarters Marine in Carrabelle. Once in Carrabelle we readied the boat for high seas did our engine checks, safety gear checks and forwarded our sail plan to our parents. Looking back, I feel we went a bit overboard on our preparations, but both of us agreed if we over prepare we would not be surprised. On the morning of our departure it looked as if the gulf was still going to be much rougher than we had hoped. A long discussion was had between Anna and I and it was decided that we would both put on our seasick patches and go for it. The wind was forcasted to die that night, and if we waited, we might miss the window. So with our friends on Monkey Girl and Crawdad right behind us we pushed off. As expected the first five hours were a bit rocky, with 5 foot swells on our beam we made way across the gulf, but like clockwork the wind died as forcasted and the sea became as flat as a board. With the sun setting on the gulf and a beautiful full moon rising on opposite horizon we thanked the gods of the sea for letting us cross on such a beautiful night. Anna and I took shifts at the helm and enjoyed listening to the radio communications of about 13 other looper boats all crossing the gulf that night. Not a one of us neglected to give thanks for such a wonderful night. Anna and I saw more stars than we had ever seen before in the crystal clear night sky. When the sun crested on the eastern horizon in the morning we pulled into Clearwater tied up and crashed in our bunk. Crossing the gulf is an experience Anna and I will never forget. A year ago who would have thought that the two of us could work together so well. From plotting our course to piloting Blue across the gulf, Anna and I worked as a team and shared the helm, it was without question the best boating we have ever done in our lives. After a good sleep Anna and I awoke to a beautiful Thanksgiving Day. We gathered for a pot luck thanksgiving dinner by the pool at the marina with Bill, Laura of Monkey Girl and Jim and Gloria of Crawdad we, truly gave thanks.

A beautiful sunrise in Apalachicola

These Pelicans are everywhere and they are very intense as they dive like bombers into the water.

This sign was our dock greeting in Apalachicola. Are they kidding?

Good old Blue getting ready for her crossing.

Water Street Inn all decorated for Christmas. Before Thanksgiving??

Um guys, what the heck is going on?

Buzzards were all around us in Carrabelle. Is this a bad sign for our travels ahead?

First buzzards and now we and the other boats are stuck in the mud. This one was kind enough to have his low water alarm on all night.

On Crawdad little BooBoo is ready for the crossing

Not a place to be cuffed and stuffed for the night. I wonder what the Nantucket Police think of this station.

One of the last markers we saw as we headed out for our Gulf crossing. Please let the wind die as forcasted.

I have to admit I am a bit on edge.

Sunset on the Gulf. What will the darkness bring?

Anna wonders, Is he studying the chart or sleeping?

Thank you!! The moon finally rose up and brought us some light. In the middle of the night I was just exhausted and staring out off the bow when a dolphin jumped 15 feet in front of the bow. It scared the crap out of me and had the effect of ten cups of coffee. I think it did it on purpose.

Land HOOOOO. Nothing better than the sign of Clearwater on the horizon.

A Looper Thanksgiving

Just think. All this delicious food was produced in three boat galleys

We took the free trolley to Tarpon Springs

This one is for you Lou!

Sponges after they have been brought to shore

This spongeman had just brought his catch to shore

We are still dreaming of the delicious Greek food we got in this restaurant! Yummy spinach pie

We hooked up with our friends Dan and Natalie in St Petersberg. It was great to reconnect with high school friends. Thank you for a delicious meal Dan and Natalie. It was great seeing you.

Charlotte is an incredible kid. We really enjoyed spending the time with her. She can't wait till her baby sister arrives. We got a real kick out of watching her play with Mobey on Blue.