The Crossing

     As discussed in a previous blog, there are many suggestions of how to safely cross from the panhandle of Florida to the west coast of Florida. At trawler speed most people will make a night crossing, leaving in the afternoon to travel the 150 miles so that they can arrive at daylight on the other side,  enabling them to see and avoid the numerous crab pots. I hate traveling at night. My imagination contrives all kinds of things that could be just under the water that we might hit and sink the boat. On top of that, with no definite horizon to focus on,  mal de mer sets in quickly and I am pretty much bedridden trying to hold my cookies down.
     Running at top speed didn't appear to be an option for two reasons.  One, I didn't want to travel a further 90 miles north to Steinhatchee, since it would add another 2 days to the trip and I would miss this weather window. Two,  I really didn't want to push the motors that hard for that long. I have babied this boat since the day I got her and I just don't like traveling that fast.
     I came up with a plan. If we left before daylight, we would have only a few hours of darkness and would be able to see not only what is in the water but when and where any storms were threatening. Pushing the boat a little to a 10 knot cruise, we would be across in about 15 hours.
     We were up and off the dock by 4:30 a.m. and passing by the Clearwater entrance marker by 5:00.  The waves were less than 2 feet and  only a moderate ocean swell which did increase when the 10 to 15 knot wind was on our nose but we passed by Dog Island just as it was getting dark. Beth met us at our assigned dock and we were securely tied up by 8:30p.m.
      We watched on our weather XM as storms passed behind and ahead of us, and laughed as we saw the one waiting over Apalachicola Bay move on out towards Tallahassee about an hour before we got to Dog Island.  The ride over was no doubt tolerable for most, but I remained supine in the lazy-boy chair or on the bed for most of the trip, relieving Mike at the helm when he needed a break. Hiring him was a good move.  He is used to being out in heavy weather and high seas and sea-sickness is just not a problem for him.
     My apologies to all who were following this part of the journey... I did not know that SPOT, the signal that shows our boat position at all times, automatically shuts down after 24 hours.  Since I did not shut it off the night before we left it looks as though Doc's Holiday went out into the Gulf Of Mexico and just disappears @ 1005AM! Beth was especially upset since she was following a storm that looked like it passed over us when spot stopped working! It wasn't until we were almost all the way across that I discovered the problem and got SPOT working again.  I guess that explains the 140 hits on the blog for that crossing.....sorry...but .....I'm BACK!!
     
     p.s. Beth and the dogs were still grinning when we arrived!