January 7-18, 2018
Back in Panama City, we reprovisioned the boat, and waited for the weather to clear. We get our break, though it’s a bit foggy. Thankful for radar, we head to the ocean once again, and head for Port St. Joe. We notice a vessel on radar, and as we approach at a safe distance, we are hailed on the VHF radio. The mystery boat in the fog is a government Special Ops boat performing a dive mission. They ask us to give them ¼ mile clearance, as they have two anchors out with 600 feet of scope each as well as divers in the water. We gladly oblige. The sun comes out and we have a beautiful day for a sail! It is very therapeutic to be back on the water, with the sun on your face, and the wind in your hair. We arrive to Port St. Joe and find a cute little town. We also run into several loopers who have evidently been here awhile, waiting to make the crossing. We arrived and were not even tied up to the dock when we were bombarded with a million questions and stories. It was quite the welcome!
“The crossing” can be a much anticipated and dreaded part of the Great Loop. It is an open water crossing of the Gulf of Mexico that takes slower boats like us over 24 hours to complete. Port St. Joe, Apalachicola, and Carrabelle were all full of loopers waiting to make the crossing to the eastern coast of Florida. This January weather was proving difficult to make the crossing, so many loopers were stacked up in these town, waiting for a good weather break. Many loopers cross the Gulf of Mexico to Tarpon Springs or Clearwater. We had hoped to avoid a long crossing for Rilee’s sake (since she refuses to use a potty pad on the boat), and instead hop down the forgotten coast. After talking to locals and getting more information, we decided most of the northern stops would be too shallow for us, especially with the extreme tides we were experiencing due to the Super Blue Blood Moon. Instead, we decided to head to Apalachicola and prepare for the shortest crossing possible, to Tarpon Springs.
Finally able to traverse the GIWW again, we head for Apalachicola. The weather is so cold and dreary, and I am starting to come down with something. I hold it together until we get to dock, and then I am off to a warm bed, thankful for electricity and heat tonight. I stayed in bed pretty much for the next several days, snuggled up with Rilee and watching old Friends episodes. I’ll let Chad take it from here and tell you all about Apalachicola!
Apalachicola was a super cool town on the forgotten coast of Florida! With Michelle sick, I entrusted second mate Rilee with watching and caring for Michelle’s well-being, Rilee’s first command of the trip. Michelle was so out of it I am not sure if she noticed the marina we stopped at was an old clam factory (also the nicest one in town)! I was busy trying to figure out the weather. It was so cold outside (29 degrees F) that is started to rain inside the boat when I turned on the heat to warm Michelle up. A couple that was just getting ready to start the loop lent me their pickup truck so I could go to the hardware store and get a dehumidifier, which saved the day!
Next I turned my attention to planning the crossing, which required several difficult days of going to the 4pm happy hour meeting with the other trapped and cold loopers. Everyone was studying the weather, hoping to get to Tarpon Springs soon. I was a good sport and enjoyed the oysters, so many oysters! Joel Craig, a friend from Michigan, happened to be on vacation in Florida, and let me know that if I needed any help crossing the open water of the Gulf he would love to help. I tried in vain to setup something, but the weather refused to cooperate, as well as the car rental company that wanted Michelle to show up in person to be added on the rental car contract.
Waiting on the weather, I spent the next few days exploring all the cool town had to offer including learning about the inventor of refrigeration (his Museum was closed for renovations). The Orman House Historic State Park was only $2 to get a guided tour of the haunted house! I even toured the harbor by dinghy when it warmed up one afternoon. The harbor is filled with oyster, shrimp, and crab boats offloading their catches to the processing buildings. This is the “real Florida” I have heard of.
Unexpectedly, the weather window opens for a crossing. Michelle is still feeling pretty crummy, so thankfully Joel is still on vacation in Florida, and offers to make the crossing after driving six hours to Apalachicola. Two more sailboats have made it to Apalachicola and are leaving on the same morning as us. Joel and I load his things on the boat, and Michelle and Rilee head to Tarpon Springs in Joel’s rental car. We head out towards the bay and negotiate the tricky Government Cut Pass to the Gulf of Mexico, saving four hours of additional travel time.
Once we are in the gulf we are forced to motor for the first several hours, as the wind is light. After 30ish miles the crab pots disappear and we are able to set the auto pilot for Tarpon Springs, while setting the sails as the wind picks up allowing us to motor sail for greater speed as land disappeared to aft. It is hard to describe the clarity of the sky in such a desolate and remote area. There was only two boats on 48 mile radar the whole night. One was a sailboat that had left before us and had no running lights on at all, only visible to our radar. I made lasagna in the oven to warm us up and then we took shifts to navigate through the night.
It did get cold, down to 34 degrees or so, but the full cockpit enclosure kept us fairly warm. In the early morning when I was sleeping, Joel had a dozen dolphins off the bow riding along with us. It was not long after that we first saw land, it was almost sad as this was the end of my first ocean crossing. Twenty six hours after beginning the crossing, we arrive in Tarpon Springs, and Michelle meets us at dock and helps tie us in.
Celebration is in order for another milestone of the trip completed!
Great Adventure