First of all, I can't call the 22 hours and 180 miles across the Gulf a fun ride and after doing it once before a couple of years ago the adventure part of it has worn just a bit thin. 2 AM, waves crashing over the bow, cold, windy, can't see a damn thing, Chris tucked in after her shift and another hundred miles to go... Oh boy, isn't this fun. But, it's over and I'm sure that after a week I will be telling people how great the crossing was in such a way that people will actually want to give it a try themselves.
Recap. We sat in Carrabelle for 10 days waiting for the Gulf to give us a weather window. Last Sunday there was a reported window that we jumped at but turned around after a couple of miles. It was the right decision as the people who crossed that night got pretty beat up. So we waited. The window Friday by all reports was going to be decent and if not taken the Gulf would be rough for yet another week. 14 total boats jumped at the chance and off we went at 1:00 PM. We had ourselves a fleet although it split into 3 distinct routes with 2 variations towards the end. Some stayed close to the west coast of Fl, some took a direct path and some including us were somewhere in between. The two destinations were Tarpon Springs and the other Clearwater. Each variation has its advantages and disadvantages. Taking the direct route was shorter but rougher and following the coast would mean dodging crab pots all night but a bit smoother plus it gives some people a good feeling being closer to civilization. This being closer to shore for 'safety' is the worst reason as there is almost nowhere to pull in with deep water draft boats like ours especially at night. I guess it gives people a warm fuzzy.
So off we went like a herd of turtles. The prediction was for about 3 to 4 foot waves calming to 1 to 2's in the afternoon and further calming as the night came. Reality was 3 to 4's with some smaller at times and around 2am things stared to slowly calm down more. At least we were generally pointed into them throughout the trip. By inland boater standards, rough but by salt standards not all that bad.
The boat ran well for the crossing. I only took a short look in the bilge but everything looks fine. Today I'll take a long look but I'm not anticipating any problems. Our VHF radio on the flybridge is having trouble in sending mode but I'm thinking it has to do more with settings than an actual defect somewhere. It's probably something to do with the new intercom that I installed last week. A good or is it a bad problem showed up at night when we crossed. The new LED green navigation light on the starboard of the flybridge is too bright. Good for other boats to see us but so bright that the front deck lights up to the point that it messes up our night vision. I'm going to experiment with some sort of shield to keep the light doing its navigation job but take the beam off the front deck. Its red sister light on the port is OK as red lights does not mess up a persons night vision.
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