December 9, 10, 2015
Wednesday, Thursday
Miles Traveled 175.8
Total Miles Traveled 1728
Day 91,92
Our Gulf crossing group planned to meet at the Dog Island
R2 buoy at 3 p.m. to start our crossing to Tarpon Springs. We left the Carrabelle Moorings Marina late
morning and spent the afternoon anchored behind Dog Island exploring the beach
before our departure time.
There were a total of 8 boats starting together, but some
would branch off to other destinations as we continued our 175, mile 21 hour cruise
to Tarpon Springs. We were spaced
between ½ to 2 miles apart as we set a course Southeast across the Gulf of
Mexico. The sunset was awesome, and as
soon as the bottom of the sun hit the horizon, it went down very fast.
The Gulf conditions started out with less than one foot
waves, but as we traveled farther out into open water, they gradually increased
causing the boat to rock a sway most of the night. Our course took us from the panhandle of
Florida, across the Big Bend, to the West Coast of Florida, with our farthest
distance from land about 40 miles. We
did not have a moon, so we could only see the waves breaking across our bow, and the distant
navigation lights of our flotilla, quite a different experience for a couple of
landlocked Hoosiers. We had navigation
charts for the area, radar, and a chartplotter so we knew exactly where we were
at all times. I logged our position
every hour in the event we would lose our electronics.
We were treated to a beautiful sunrise about 25 miles
from shore.
We did encounter the dreaded crab pots, but we only had
to dodge a half dozen or so. Our
information was correct, when the sun is coming up, the glare on the water
makes it almost impossible to see the floating markers.
Part of our crossing group.
We are staying at the Turtle Cove Marina, when you are
finished boating for the day, they pick your boat up with a fork truck and
stack it on a shelf.
We had dinner with some of the boaters that crossed with
us last night.
No comments:
Post a Comment