The Crossing

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Our biggest challenge so far lies before us.  We must travel 175 miles from Carrabelle in the Florida panhandle to Clearwater on Florida's west coast.  We will be 45 - 50 miles offshore.  With calm seas, we can travel 9 mph, so the crossing will take 20+ hours.  Rougher seas may slow us and lengthen our travel time to as long as 22 hours; hopefully no longer!  Ideally we need to be able to see most clearly leaving port in Carrabelle and arriving in Clearwater, hence we will depart in daylight and arrive the next day, also in daylight.


Two other boats are also in Carrabelle waiting to cross and we are all conferring on the various weather forecasts.  One boat, another "looper" (boat cruising the Great Loop route) has a weather service subscription and is getting daily updates on the best time to leave.  His forecast is not significantly different from the forecasts we are seeing.  We expected the winds and seas to lay down this morning but at 2 pm, the wind is still blowing 20+ knots.  Finally by 3 pm, the winds start to lay and by 5 pm, we decide we need to leave lest the wind pick back up Monday as some models predict.

So off we go, crossing St. George Sound.  So far, so good with flat seas, although the Sound is quite sheltered.

Now in the open Gulf, the "farewell buoy" is visible behind us.  This is the last buoy we will see before Clearwater.  We touch base with the other boats heading out before we lose our cell phone signal and the VHF radio is out of range. Seas still look pretty good with 1' - 2' waves.

Sunset!  Soon we will be in total darkness.  Seas are now 2' - 3', which is still a comfortable ride for our heavy boat with stabilizers.  No word from the other 2 boats.  One went east to try to find calmer seas, and will go into Tarpon Springs, up the coast from Clearwater.  The other boat goes much faster than we do and will leave early tomorrow morning.

By 7:30 pm the last light fades and we are left with the most spectacular view of the stars I can recall seeing.  The Milky Way is visible as a dense disk of stars, stretching horizon to horizon.  The only light, our running light on the top arch, reflects the radar slowly turning overhead, reassuring it will see any boats in our path. 




Monday, October 24, 2016

Now the challenge is to stay awake.  Robert and I are alternating 4 hour shifts, trying to get a little sleep when not on duty.  Watch the radar, check the gauges (engine temp, oil pressure, battery charge, generator gauges), check the engine room, adjust our course ...  Our course is held by the autopilot, but we need to tweak it occasionally to stay on course.  Music on our satellite radio helps.  By midnight, the seas have built to 3' - 4' with occasional 5' waves.  It's getting pretty rock-and-rolly but we are still able to cruise at our maximum 8 knots.  We cannot see the waves, only feel their effect.  Boka is doing very well, considering this is her first overnight passage.

About 2:30 am, I notice a small dot of light on the horizon.  Is it some kind of ship?  Lighted buoy not on the charts?  I know I'm tired; am I hallucinating?  Soon it is crescent shaped, very bright.  Finally I realize it is the moon rising!  Woo hoo!  Light!  But only 30% visible, so not much help seeing anything, but welcome just the same.

Finally, 6:30 am and a soft glow is visible in the east.  

The seas are still rough, but the worst is over since the time goes so much more quickly when we can see.

Not much to photograph, so the sunrise is really welcome.

Time for coffee and an early breakfast.  Seas are calming, too.

Once the sun has fully risen, Boka is back on duty, watching for porpoise.  Don't tell her dogs don't have a long attention span.  She stared intently at the water for hours, watching for her buddies.  

Condos on Clearwater Beach come slowly into view.  Suddenly, we start seeing small floats marking submerged crab traps - really don't want to run over them!  It's hard to see the floats with the sun's glare on the water. 


We are now fully awake and watching intently for the next group of traps.  There must be hundreds!  We run a zig-zag course, dodging crab traps, for what seems like hours.  Finally we are through them and contact our marina for a slip assignment.







Exhausted, almost exactly 20 hours after leaving the dock at Carrabelle, we are tied up in the Clearwater Harbor Marina.  A BIG accomplishment is behind us!  We will stay here one week to rest, clean the boat, sight-see in this area and re-provision for our next leg down the west Florida coast.