We returned to Carabelle on Monday November 22. The weather and waves report was shifting and the possibility to cross the gulf from Carabelle to Steinhatachee was improving. Most loopers were waiting to cross from Carabelle to Tarpon which is an overnight (in the very dark seas) crossing that takes about 20 hours. The overnight crossing weather window was opening up for Friday. Mike and I decided to take our chances crossing to Steinhatachee on November 23. This crossing takes about 9 hours and can be done in the daylight. We left the Moorings of Carrabelle on Tuesday, November 22, in the afternoon to anchor out of the channel and allow for more daylight hours for travel. It took 2 hours and 31 minutes to get to Alligator point anchorage. We had an uneventful night at anchor and on November 23, travel day 31, we were up early and headed to our next port, Steinhatachee, Sea Hag Marina. We did encounter some rolling waves but nothing over 2.5 feet and it was smooth sailing with 1 foot waves after the first 4 hours. We arrived at Sea Hag Marina in 7 hours and 43 minutes or as one of my friends always says it was now “Beer 30”!!
Sea Hag Marina! The shore power was not working! I’m getting good at boat camping!!
We rode our folding bikes to a local eatery, Crabbie Daddy’s and had dinner. The crew of “Sooner Express” came in and we enjoyed talking with them, Larry and Elke Murphy ended up being from Jefferson County and knew folks in Ste. Genevieve. It is a small wold! They ended up following us out to Cedar Key on Thanksgiving day and anchoring together. It is nice to have folks near by!
Travel Day 32, we left Sea Hag marina in light fog and traveled to Cedar key anchorage, 48.5 nautical miles and travel time was 6 hours and 50 minutes. Our buddy boat accompanied us. There were a lot of crab pots in this area and it took both of us being diligent to watch for them. Crab pots can ruin a propeller so we needed to avoid them. The setting was beautiful and calm at Cedar Key. We had lots of dolphin encounters during the day, they play and like to ride our waves, it is so fun and heart warming to watch them! A our anchorage, I watched dolphins and did get to paddle board. Mike grilled burgers. It was certainly not a typical Thanksgiving Day. Living in the present moment becomes the way of being on this adventure and I am thankful and grateful for my family, friends and all of God’s great gifts!
November 25, travel day 33. We traveled 71.8 Nautical miles from Cedar key to Clearwater Harbor anchorage. Our travel time was 5 hours and 49 minutes. The early morning fog was predicted to lift by 8:30, but we were not so lucky. We had fog till 1:00 in the afternoon requiring the use of radar to detect other boats and extreme diligence to spot crab pots. Captain Mike led the way and Sooner Express followed us. I talked to them on channel 17 to alert them of the crap pot fields. (ahoy, iceberg ahead!). My hair had salt in it from hanging my head out the window looking for crab pots! Salty roots!!!
November 26, Travel day 34!!! We left Clearwater Harbor as soon as we could see and headed to Marina Jack in Sarasota, Florida. My cousins Patrick and Greg have a beautiful home there and invited us to visit and have dinner. We had an absolutely fabulous visit. Greg and Pat are gracious hosts! They showed us the beautiful downtown area of Sarasota and we had a lovely cocktail poolside at their home followed by diner at their country club. Patrick has so many funny memories and stories about our families and parents, fun to catch up!
November 27, Travel day 35. We left Sarasota, Marina Jack marina in the morning. We had a small mishap and bumped a boat while getting out of our slip….yikes. The tide was going out and the wind pushed us a bit. The other boat owner pushed us out of the way before we really messed up! No harm, no foul. Wind, tide, weather….need constant attention! We headed to Ding Darling anchorage, 60.9 nautical miles. It took us 7 hours and 20 minutes to arrive. We traveled the ICW (Intercostal waterway), and saw beautiful homes and lots of bridges. Some of the bridges have to open to accommodate the boats below. Our height with antennas down is 17.5 foot. We had to call for multiple bridges to open. We did have a scare at 4:30 in the morning, our anchor alarm was going off, meaning we were moving! I had to wake Mike and we backed the boat up and reset the line. Since I was up I worked on the blog…more to come!!!
At the moment we have a good weather window to keep moving to our December goal of Key West Florida! We plan to stay there for the month of December and have some family and friends planning to visit. The area near Fort Myers had lots of homes with tarps for roofs and the sky line is full of building cranes. Sanibel island had one restaurant opening yesterday. We decided to take full advantage of our weather window and calm seas and keep moving with plans to visit those areas after recovery. Thanks for following the blog, I enjoy the comments! I must stop for now, crab pot watch has begun!