Crossing the Gulf of Mexico

Nothing is so invigorating as the wind in your face while standing on the bow of your boat after you have been in port for nearly one week!  There was not a cloud in the sky Friday afternoon...an absolutely beautiful day for cruising. 

Before we dropped the lines about 230p Cathy helped disconnect the electrical hook up.  We headed slowly through the No-Wake area to the channel in the bay.  

Once in the bay porpoises joined us playing all around the boat. The water was smooth and the air was just a bit cool......awesome afternoon!

Before we got to the Gulf waters Cathy stood on the bowsprit enjoying the view and the feeling of flying.  

After an hour we passed by the last beach and through an inlet and we were in the Gulf of Mexico.

Almost immediately we noticed a temperature change...... much cooler wind was blowing across the deck.   Daughter, Cathy, my friend, Karen and I were on the bow as Miss gg took on the rolling waves of the Gulf.   However, we knew the Captain wanted us back inside to put on life jackets if we were going to stay on the deck.  

The Sun sank into the water turning it all kinds of red & orange....

This is what loomed behind us outlined by the light of the setting sun...uh oh!  

Soon DARKNESS was upon us.... we could still see...at least we convinced ourselves we could see the line that separated the water from the sky.  We had two boats far up ahead of us...we altered our course twice to stay out of their paths.... we were having much difficulty seeing their navigational lights...at least one boat was near to invisible from the stern.....we knew he was there from seeing him on radar.  We noticed on our chart plotter that we could only “see” about one mile behind us on the radar.... so we thought they could not see us either.  So the Captain turned on our powerful spot light and moved it around that last boat and then quickly turned it off.  THIRTY minutes later!...we hear this call, “Vessel behind the 2 trawlers that waved his spotlight please identify yourself”!!  We had wondered how they could miss our light.   We told them we could barely see their lights.  The dimmest boat found out that his flag was keeping us and his boat buddy from clearly seeing him.....so he took it down and everyone was happier. They soon made the turn to go straight to Dunedin but ran into some higher waves by turning sooner than weather guru Tom had recommended... soon they were off our radar and it then seemed even darker.

At just after 10p a huge orange half moon rose out of the water to our port side...as it did it laid down a wide stream of light across the water to Miss gg...

This made a huge difference in our ability to see the horizon.   Before this the brightest object in the sky was the planet Venus which also put some light on the water... so many stars!

About 1230a some clouds moved in obscuring the moon......darkness again. We had not liked having other boats on our radar... had to make sure we were not in the way of a couple of large fishing boats but now with no moon and no one out front of us it was a bit intimidating.......questions like, “WHEN is the sunrise anyway?”, began to be heard on the bridge.

No one slept much... only a short nap now and then... I suppose the marinas where many Looper boats are docked today are used to seeing the blood shot eyes.

At 2a we made our turn toward the south... a little bumpier but still a good ride. About the same time I turned on the generator to make coffee for the Captain.....why were we thinking we could see our grand children time we arrived in Tarpon?!  At 3a.m. I had still not been able to sleep....I think I was afraid I might miss something....The Captain did nap a bit while the Girls took the helm... do you think he really did?? Funny, we never had to wake him … seems when the time for a turn came he was there on the bridge!

At 345a two large bottle nosed porpoises swam beside Miss gg jumping high in the air over and over again...... what fun...at first I thought it was a strange lone wave out a ways from the boat......but then they swam close and we saw them clearly on this magical night.

7:08a It was so good to see the Sunrise

What a beautiful Saturday! Clear green water as we neared the coast.

 Smileys on bridge were opened as we breathed in the salt air and Florida warmth.

At 7:15a we began dodging our first crab pots in 43 feet of water!!!  The normal range is 35 feet or less.  We probably approached the coast a couple of hours earlier than suggested as we had to stand up for a better view due to the glare of the early morning sun on the water.......each spotter was needed to find the crab pots....

Distracting us from the crab pots were three porpoises that joined us on the starboard side of the boat for a long distance.....I managed to snap a photo when one came up for air.  

The Captain had extended our track so we didn't have to make our final turn into the sun until later.... When he made the turn and it became really hard to see those floating balls... glad to have younger eyes spotting them. They can mess up props!

9:06a Crab Pots were EVERYWHERE!!!

920a On the radio we heard our friends on “Humbug” say that the dock master at Turtle Cove, where we had a reservation, said the channel into that marina was at dead low tide... 3 feet or less! Our draft (part of boat UNDER the water) is 3.5 feet. We were at least one hour away.......some boats called another marina and went on there .....Dock master said to wait at least until 11a or 1130a. But it took us that long to get up that long narrow channel... we ended up with plenty of water under us... 5 feet...and parked for the night.

I have fallen asleep three times while trying to write this blog so I think I will say good-night and thank you for your prayers for our safe journey.   OH! What a night!!