Crossing the Gulf and Coming Home

Thursday, 14 November – Apalachicola to Carrabelle – 25 mi., 5269 cum mi.

Beautiful blue sky, but breezy and 50 degrees. Last night we celebrated our 44^th wedding anniversary at the Owl Café – a wonderful restaurant. After a couple of oyster bars, it was really nice to get a gourmet meal.

With the coming weather in mind, we left for Carrabelle in the late morning, hoping to make the next available Gulf crossing window. It was windy, and the waves were about 3 ft. across Apalachicola Bay.

OK for this short run to Carrabelle, but it would not be comfortable for 24 hours. The trip across the Gulf to the Tampa bay area is 170 miles and takes a trawler overnight to make it. AGLCA’s Tom Conrad publishes his Weather Musings – daily Gulf winds forecasts during looper season. A good day to cross is when the winds are 10 knots or less and in the same direction for a 24 hour period, when waves are 1-2 ft or less. He analyzes several weather sources and looks for patterns. The Moorings at Carrabelle has Buddy, who does his own predictions. Loopers wait until both Tom and Buddy agree that it’s good to go. Tom called for a good window Sunday and Monday. SeaGlide, Summer Recess, Misty Isles, Mooring Dove, and others crossed. Our intention was to cross, but Friday we discovered a leak in our starboard exhaust hose. Not able to locate a replacement hose, we had to order one, and we scheduled a repair with Dockside Marine across the river. Another crossing window was coming later in the week. Our good friend Bob Dittmar joined us, since he wanted to experience the overnight crossing. He recently passed the Coast Guard’s Captain’s exam and was recording hours toward his license. We ate more oysters, enjoyed daily breakfast at the Moorings, and waited for the next window.

 

Friday, Saturday, 21-22 November – Carrabelle to Madeira Beach – 170 mi, 5439 cum mi.

Cloudy at first, then sunny 75 degrees. Both Tom and Buddy were predicting a good crossing window Friday afternoon. We had a pot luck dinner with other loopers waiting to cross, and we formed teams of “buddy boats” who would cross together.

On Friday morning, Tom Conrad said go after noon, Buddy said go in the late afternoon, so we went. We left at 1 PM with Carol Ann and Journey (cat) down the Carrabelle River, then picked up Humbug at 2 PM near the entrance to East Pass.

None of us had crossed the Gulf before, so we were a little anxious about the trip, but we were comfortable with our boat buddies and the planned 8 mph speed. The waves were about 3 ft, but we were heading into them, so the ride was not too bad. Tom had said that we might find calmer water to the east, but we decided as a group to take the shortest path directly toward Anclote Key near Tarpon Springs. Other groups were not far from us – we could see Southern Belle and Thanks Dad! ahead of us heading to Clearwater. We saw in the distance Rickshaw and others. We spoke with Cajun and Quimby behind us. And we were occasionally in sight of Osprey who was also headed to Tarpon Springs, but through the north channel above Anclote Key. This was an overnight crossing. Fortunately, we had Bob with us, so we took 3-hr shifts. It started out as a beautiful day on the water. Blue sky, warm, and reasonably calm seas.  We saw a beautiful sunset.

At dark, the stars were all out. The moon rose, reflecting on the water - what a beautiful night! Our brave band of buddy boats communicated often, keeping each other awake and adjusting our speed and course, so we would approach the coast after the rising sun was high enough in the sky so as not to obscure the dreaded crab traps. While our buddies headed for Anclote Key and down the ICW to Dunedin and Marker 1 Marina, we steered right to Clearwater, then Indian Rocks, then Johns Pass, 

then marker 7 at the entrance to our bay where we crossed our wake.

As we approached our dock, we found friends waving and cheering and popping champagne corks. 

We celebrated crossing our wake by replacing the worn and tattered white AGLCA burghee with a new gold one, signifying that we completed the Great Loop. What a ride! 8 months, 5439 miles, 152 locks, 4081 gallons of fuel, 725 engine hours, and a lot of wonderful docktails, dinners, and hugs with newfound friends – loopers who we will remember for a long time. Thanks to all of you who made this a great and enjoyable adventure!