Friday and Saturday, December 3 and 4, 2010

Sunset on the Gulf - Friday December 3, 2010

Sunrise on the Gulf - Saturday December 4, 2010

WE DID IT! 

We all met with Buddy at The Moorings Marina at 09:00 Friday morning.  His advise was to leave as soon as possible and go at a fairly fast speed the first half of the trip and then slow down so we could plan on reaching the other side by day light to watch for crab pods.  I spent the rest of the morning putting everything down and covered things up that could possibly break in rough waters.

Originally there was 6 of us crossing together but 2 of the faster boats; Q's End and Finally, left about 06:30 in the morning because the weather was nicer than expected.  I got a phone call right before we left Carrabelle from Negotiator and they were almost in East Pass so we met up with them and there were 5 boats doing the night crossing; Dream Fever, High Spirits, Kim Jo III, Negotiator, and The Old Grouch.  Every one in our group was going to Clearwater Municipal Marina so we changed our plan and went there also.  We left at 11:00 and our speed was between 8 and 9 knots to begin with.  We all checked in with each other on the hour for safety.  We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful crossing.  We saw a lot of dolphins in the day light and the night was very dark; all you could see were the lights of our fellow  loopers out there in the darkness and it was a very comforting site.  Also, the radar was really helpful.  We took shifts during the night; 2 hours on and 2 hours off.  Not having auto pilot made it a little harder to keep the boat on course especially when the wind picked up later during the night but we did just fine.  Only problem we had was getting across too early and having to wait for day light before going into Clearwater.  We got across by 03:00 and had to wait until about 06:30 before heading for shore.  By then the swells were about 3 to 4 feet and we were rocking and rolling pretty good.  When we finally went in to Clearwater there were so many crab pods  it looked likea mine field.  It was very stressful going through them.  It sure was a good feeling to finally get into the marina at 09:30.  I didn't think I was very tired so I got everything put back in place on the boat.  I made the mistake of turning TV on and sat on the couch, fell asleep, and next think I knew 2 and 1/2 hours had gone by and Keith was asleep on the bed.  After some sleep and a shower we went for a walk around Clearwater Beach and had dinner at "Crabby Bill's Seafood" restaurant.  It was a good night.

CO's comments:  The CO is outside redoing bumpers and lines and will comment on the next post.