Saturday November 29-Sunday November 30 – Carrabelle to Tarpon Springs

Awake to sunshine and nice day.  The winds have shifted which is good.  It is hurry up and wait – which is hard.  No one says much, but we just sit in the rockers and enjoy the sun and quiet for a while. The boat’s fuel tank has been topped up with 130 gal of diesel at the great price of $ 3.30 per gal. A pump out and all our maintenance checks are completed. It is 181 miles from dock to dock in Tarpon Springs. The thing is that you want to arrive when it is light so you can see the crab pots that cover the waters down on the western coast of Florida. We depart at 12:30 for the East Pass, which we have to get around to enter into the Gulf. We are greeted by a pod of dolphins as we exit Carrabelle and head for the Gulf. At our cruising speed of 8 miles per hour we will be crossing the Gulf for 22 hours so it was an overnight crossing. It is a little bumpy with some bigger rollers thrown in. We departed Carrabelle with 5 other boats. As the day progressed we were joined by approximately 10 more boats that had also been waiting for a weather window to cross. Some of the boats had been waiting for almost 2 weeks to get a good weather report to cross. Not everyone travels at the same speed so different groups would run together. We had discussed with Dovekie, Simpatico, Sweetwater, and Dickey Do to travel together. We were headed to Tarpon Springs while some boats headed to Clearwater or Bradenton.  As we entered the Gulf we were anxious and ready to begin our adventure and also apprehensive as to not knowing what to expect for the next 20 hours.  

The afternoon was uneventful and the sunset was gorgeous. As the sun set the half-moon illuminated the water as we crossed.  The water was our only scenery as was the dotted lights of the other boats which were traveling with us.  Tom slept from 1900 until about 2230.  The waters were calm.  At 2130, after much discussion, we all decided to slow down to 6.5 knots as to not arrive too early, and in the dark, in the area of the crab pots.  Tom took the helm at 2300 and would stay there the rest of the trip.   At about one a.m. the moon set and it was incredibly dark with thousands of stars showing in the sky. We checked in with each other by radio to make sure everyone was awake and doing ok. As the sun rose we were 20 miles west to Tarpon Springs preparing to make our turn to head east as soon as we could see any crab pots. Luckily, the crab pots were not a problem.  We were far off shore and even as we headed east, we finally encountered them in 37 feet of water.   They were easy to see and our two sets of eyes kept us safe.  To enter Tarpon Springs, we had to follow the channel markers as there was no direct route in because of the shallow water.  Shallow water will be our nemesis on the west side of the gulf.  We entered the Anclote River as the tide was going down.  The river also has shallow spots so we were relived to get to the dock safely and in time before the water was too low.   Sweetwater, Simpatico and Greeks Folly all arrived safely after 22 hours, had a quick lunch and all promptly took a nap.  We all agreed we were ready to get off the gulf and even off the boat – at least for a while.

Navigating as the sun sets. Preparing for the dark.

Sunset on the Gulf