Florida: Carrabelle (Day 4 - Preparing to Cross the Gulf of Mexico)

Day 157
No Travel Today

Every once in a while boat chores just have to be done. Today was one of those days where it could not be put off any longer. While I cleaned the galley and the salon, I defrosted the fridge. Afterwards, I tackled the second state room which has turned into the catch-all storage area. I managed to dig through the mess to get some items stowed in better places and the rest more organized.

While I did my inside chores, Clark refreshed the zinc on the hull. Zincs are critical to defend against corrosion on the boat in salt water. While in the fresh waters of the lakes and river system, the zincs lose their effectiveness. As we are now back in salt water, we needed to spruce them up a bit to protect the boat. This project was a classic example of the work taking two minutes and the prepare and cleanup taking twenty. We had to drop the dinghy in the water off the stern to reach the zinc on the hull. Then we had to pull it back on and secure it.

After we completed our chores around 2:00, we decided to walk over to The Moorings marina to see the boaters over there. Before we could go though, we saw the start of a parade of looper boats starting out on their crossing of the Gulf.

One Bay at a Time following
American Pie as they head out to the Gulf

Next Chapter on their way

Ivory Lady traveling with Next Chapter

Clark pointed out that we needed to visit The Moorings marina to see who still remained that might be leaving tomorrow when we head on our way. Clark has been studying the wind and wave charts for hours and hours over the past few days to determine the best time for us to go. He felt that today was just a bit too soon since the winds and waves are projected to continue to settle down. He wants a smoother ride and is willing to wait an additional 24 hours to get it.

We walked over and found Kay from Plane 2 Sea walking her dog as the last step before pulling in lines and joining those who had already left port. When we got to her boat, we found the Oceanus crew there ready to say goodbye as Plane 2 Sea pulled out. We found out that Oceanus travels at similar speeds to ours and plans to make the trip tomorrow as well. I guess we found our "buddy boat" for the crossing! As we said our farewells to Plane 2 Sea, Sea to See and Namaste came in to dock for the night. They are both leaving tomorrow as well but will leave a couple of hours earlier than we will because they travel at a much slower pace.

As we walked back from The Moorings, we decided to stop at an ice cream shop, but when we got there, it was closed for the day. Instead of ice cream we ended up just going to the IGA grocery store to pick up some bread to make sandwiches for our crossing of the Gulf. We will leave the marina circa 4:00 p.m. tomorrow afternoon and travel all night long to arrive on the west coast of Florida hopefully around 10:00 a.m. Since we will be taking turns driving all night long, we need plenty of food to keep us awake and going.

Many people have made this trip before us and shared the best strategy for crossing. Following their lead, we will leave around 4:00 because we want to get out to the Gulf in daylight. We plan to arrive at the west coast a few hours after dawn so that we will not be blinded by the sun as we make our way into shore on the other side. Starting several miles out from shore we expect to encounter thousands of crab pots that we will need to navigate around. If we arrive too early, the sun will blind us to their presence, and the last thing we want to do is get entangled in crab pots after boating all night long.

The boaters who will be crossing at the same time as us will stay tuned to the same VHF radio channel as us so that we can stay in contact with each other as we cross. With these crossings, periodic radio check-ins / roll calls are recommended to make sure everyone is okay. Clark also plans to have a timer set to go off periodically as we take turns piloting and sleeping our way across the Gulf. Our destination is Tarpon Springs. Not all boats crossing have the same specific destination, so although we will cross together, we may or may not end up at the same towns / marinas.

I don't remember pulling an "all-nighter" since I was in college, so this experience should prove interesting. Expect my blogging to be delayed until after I get some sleep.

Note 1 on yesterday's post: I did post a photo of the finished flag project because we had not taken one before it got dark. I got a picture today.

New flagpole - doesn't it look grand!

Note 2 on yesterday's post: the microwave is growling again. Boo Hoo!