St Johns Pass Treasure Island

Well its not looking so good for a white Christmas this year.

Maybe a green one!

This is where we are at, if you look way to the far left.

This is our view across the way

And our view to the stern

Our neighbors off the bow

Christmas shopping

Weather report for the day, I guess we can take it.  But what about our white Christmas?  Well tomorrow is another day.

Tarpon Springs 78 degrees 5 days before X-Mas

Its beginning to look alot like Christmas

A winter wonderland

                                

Deck the hauls with boughs of Holly?

We returned to Tarpon Springs again with Ashley we thought it was pretty cool and she would enjoy it.



Since we rented a car to go to the airport we thought we would check out some points further south, we ended up at Treasure Island and found a dock to spend a couple of nights at when we leave Dunedin on Thursday morning.



The weather outside is frightful

Crossing the Gulf of Mexico, check!

Well it must be time to go, here is our buddy boat for the crossing,  Algonquin, 3 souls on board, Kathy, Garth, and ZEKE.  Hi Kathy! Glad to see Zeke is nice and relaxed for the trip on the bow.

This day will be filled with a bunch of firsts for us.  We are usually done traveling for the day before 4pm  but today it is the beginning of our day.  The plotter shows us heading out through the channel at 4:16 pm with an arrival time of 9:36am ( I sure do wish that was true.)
Traveling 170 miles in one shot, more than 12 hours of it in total darkness, no cell or internet service and no land in sight.

Algonquin leading the way.

Sunset was around 5:45ish

This is what the helm looked like all night.  There were plenty of stars to gaze at  and at 8.45pm the moon rose  but other than that we watched the single white light up ahead on Algonquin.  We did have others to talk to during the night but they were not in sight during the trip.  A group of 7 boats left ahead of us at 1pm they were the slower group.  Also at 4am that morning the Fast group of 2 left.  And the last 2. US traveling at moderate speed.

5.30am we had arrived a bit early and waited for the sun to light the way  as we would be heading toward land and also many crab pots.  

Sunrise!

Here we part ways with Algonquin as they are heading to Clearwater and we are heading into Tarpon Springs. It was nice traveling with them and I am sure we will see them down the waterway again at some point.  Merry Christmas Kathy and Garth, oh and Zeke too! 

Suns up time to make waves again.

All in all we had a pleasant crossing sometimes bumpy sometimes not so much.  But wouldn't it have been nice to have glass like this all night.

Total trip time was 20 hours  

Oh! and my Christmas tree travelled well, it didn't even fall over!  I did wire it up though.

Merry Christmas Everyone!  

Apalach to Carrabelle Fl

Today we traveled a short distance to the staging point where we will cross the Gulf there are several boats here at the C Quarter and more over at The Moorings next door not exactly sure how many but it looks as though we will have time to find out.  As of right now I believe we are looking at Thursday maybe Friday for a crossing.  We will find out more at the morning meeting.

The oyster were good here but even better at Papa Joes, Jim did think the cheesey shrimp and grits were the BEST ever.

That makes 6 dozen in as many days

Downtown Apalach

Panama City, Port St Joe and on to Apalachacola

Sunset in Panama City

These guys are so much fun to watch

Loopers doing what they do best!  Haughty Heron Port St. Joe

Gold loopers, Lollygag paying us a visit at Port St Joe 

Now thats a boat load of dogs.

We are currently in Apalach (as the locals call it) and will remain here for a couple of days before heading on to the staging area of Carrabelle to ready ourselves for the Gulf crossing.  We are hoping the weather will cooperate and we will make the crossing on Wed?  time will tell.  In the meantime its oyster heaven here on the forgotten coast.

Pensacola to Ft Walton Beach

Its so nice to be back in the the clear blue waters again.

Jeremiah leads the way

We are docked at a FREE dock in Walton Beach time for cocktails and oysters.  Jim bought 2 dozen oysters at a fish market for $7 such a deal and they were great.  Thanks to Al  from our homeport of Westport Ma opening them was a breeze.  Al had given us an oyster and a Quahog knife before we left home.

Local oysters plump and sweet.

this is the free dock with a nice park with picnic tables decorated for the season.

A free dock, fresh oysters, a cold Shiner Bock and this view.... ahhh Life is Good.

Orange Beach to Pensacola FL

Jeremiah leads NautiNell and SweetPea into Pensicola

Yesterday was one of the most enjoyable cruising days we have had in a long time, the scenery was beautiful, the sun was shining and the seas were calm.  We traveled from The Wharf in Orange Beach AL to Palafox Pier and Yacht Club in Pensacola Florida.  We are now in what is considered old town, first order of business OYSTERS, the gulf coast of FL is known to be the oyster capitol of the country, some say the world but so do others.  Our plan is to eat as many oysters as possible while on the panhandle, last night Jim, Mike and I each eat a dozen, and they were YUM!

Jeff and Linda
Aren't they just sweet!

We will spend 2 nights here as we are planing to go to the National Naval Aviation Museum here in Pensacola it is also home of the Blue Angels.

Considerations for the Gulf crossing and Winter itinerary

We are hoping to cross the Gulf of Mexico in the next week or so, this will give us some time to explore the Florida panhandle of which neither Jim nor I have seen.  We will travel via Orange Beach, Pensacola, Ft Walton Beach, Destin, Panama City, Port St. Joe, Apalachicola to Carrabelle where we stage ourselves for the Gulf crossing to Tarpon Springs.  Staging, this is where we wait for a weather window to cross 160 miles of open water, no stopping a straight shot so weather needs to be ideal.  When at the staging area there will be others waiting for the go to cross, this is where you will be matched up with other boats to cross with as some boats can move faster than others.  The crossing WILL include night travel, some boats may take up to 22 hours to cross while others can do it in say half the time, we are somewhere in between.  We certainly can do it in say 12 hours but that may or may not be a comfortable speed and we will still have to deal with the crab pots, at the beginning the pots are not as much of an issue so that's where you would leave at night.  Then the next consideration is you must be 30 miles offshore of Tarpon Springs in daylight so you can see the crab pots, BUT, it is advisable to not get there until after 10am as the sun will be in a position to blind you from the glare off the water.  So much to consider, I guess, in the end, once in the staging area we will see who our boat buddies will be and go from there. 
Once across, we will travel the west coast of Florida to the Keys during the remainder of Dec and get to the Key sometime in Jan. We will have company to share this leg of the trip to the Keys, from there we are hoping to cross our wake in Stuart sometime in Feb.  For our non boater friends, crossing your wake is when you arrive at the place you began.  This will be the completion of our loop and where we take down our white tattered burgee and replace it with a gold one which now signifies to other boaters we have completed The Great Loop. 
Whats next?  Possibly a trip to the Bahamas, a (70 mile trek) for a few weeks in the Abaco's and Exuma's.
But 1st we need to get out of  AlaBAMA which we hope to do today!  Florida here we come, time to get the sunshine on?