Carrabelle to Tarpon Springs (150 miles on the Gulf)

November 30 - December 1, 2001 - Carrabelle to Tarpon Springs (150 miles on the Gulf)

Well, we did it. We made the final decision and steeled away from Carrabelle at 11:15 p.m. to journey across the Gulf of Mexico to Tarpon Springs, about 150 miles away. Hopefully we didn't awaken too many fellow boaters along the sleepy dock as we started our diesel engines. My stomach is doing flip flops again. Our blue full moon is hiding from us, making our journey through the markers more difficult; some of them are lighted, but still hard to see if the lights don't hit them just right. The Gulf is very rolly, with 3 to 5 foot swells to ride through. If one was prone to being sea sick - this is the time. Luckily, we aren't one of them! Leaving at night makes me nervous, but we didn't have any choice if we want to arrive in Tarpon Springs in the daylight. It is a long, tiresome night, with John, Bill and myself taking turns catching catnaps to survive until daybreak. The water is still rolling us and the moon isn't showing its face very often, so it is dark and long. The good news is that the sea isn't building. Somewhere about 7:00 a.m.morning arrived with a dense patch of fog. I woke up and John was at the helm and Bill was sleeping. John said he wasn't sure what to do as he thought a boat on the radar nearby, so he asked me to wake Bill up, so we would have more eyes. We never saw the boat, but we didn't hit him either. The fog lasted about an hour and the sun came out a little after 8:00. The seas are a little flatter now, and I doubt if this body of water ever really gets any smoother. It actually looks a lot like Lake Michigan. We've eaten, rested, check charts, and eaten again all during the crossing. It's lunchtime now and John has washed the boat already and is sunning his body a little, before having his burger for lunch.

We should arrive in about 2 hours by the time we get through the channel markers to Tarpon. We hope to be all set by 3:00. All in all, we all agree, we are glad we did the crossing last night even though we were dubious. It turned out to be about as good as it can get. I don't think I'll make a habit of traveling at night though. We are seeing a lot of fishing boats scattered along. So far we only saw 1 dolphin swimming along next to us. Bill ran for his camera and he disappeared under the boat, never to be seen again. The water is turning quite blue now, more like I thought it would be.

Boy, these markers coming in this port are hard to follow. So glad its daylight. While carefully picking our way through them we are being passed by all kinds of boats going at full speed and sending up big wakes. Wow, at home and all along the rivers, we always slowed way down for other boats as a courtesy. John says - not so in Florida. Faster is better. Look out. Welcome to Florida. A new learning experience every day.

Just as advertised we were docked by 3:00, despite a strong wind to hinder Captain Bill's expertise, right downtown. I can't wait to shower and scope out this little "tourist trap" Greek sponge town.

A little later. We did go to town and were pleasantly surprised. There are many little shops and some of them are real nice. We walked all around and went back to the boat for a very simple little dinner and all went to bed by 8:00 We'll so more shopping tomorrow when we are rested up. For the record, the trip took 16 hours from beginning to end.