Saturday & Sunday, January 15 & 16, 2011

82° 49.463’ W

27° 58.557’ N

Clearwater Municipal Marina

Clearwater, Florida

What a GREAT crossing of the Gulf we just completed! The 188 mile crossing took 20 hours and 55 minutes! A lot of careful planning was done before departing the Moorings Marina in Carrabelle, Florida. After “Buddy” the weather guru gave his blessing to make our passage safely we departed the harbor with five other boats.

Leaving Carrabelle
Boats in front of us

The first fourteen hours went without incident. The waters of the gulf had lain down, and were gently rolling. Other than the cold, it was an enjoyable cruise before the seas started to build!



Boats behind us

The moon was almost full, and shinned down upon us between the scattered clouds. The light produced shimmered on the water giving us assurance to move forward. When the cloud cover became solid and blocked out the glow of the moon we experienced total darkness. There were no stars - nothing to illuminate us on the open waters of the Gulf! Literally one couldn’t see the cool 48 degree water next to the boat so the rocking and rolling we were feeling had to be associated with past boating experiences. The next four to five hours wasn’t very pleasant as all of the boats in our flotilla were rolling and pitching from side to side!



Sunset - Jan. 15th



For a period I lead the group forward with the rest of the boats spread out behind. The typical spacing between boats is a quarter of a mile. When looking back from our boat you could see all of the navigation and running lights against the black sky. It was very colorful and reassuring knowing that the other boaters were close by while out in the cold and empty Gulf of Mexico!

When approaching the west coast of Florida near Clearwater we encountered crab pot, floats! They were everywhere and numbered in the hundreds if not thousands depending how far one wanted to look! To maneuver a boat through the infested waters filled with such miserable items takes a lot of concentration and as many sets of good eyes as a boat can produce! Barb was great spotting floats that I didn’t see. If a float is snagged by your boats propeller it will lift the cage from the bottom of the Gulf floor and slam it into the bottom of the boat resulting in a damaged prop, rudder or something worse like punching a hole in the hull and sinking the boat! 


Entering Clearwater Harbor - Jan. 16th

 From the time we encountered the crab pots, it took a few hours to work our way through them into a buoyed channel leading us to the marina where we will stay for the night.

Most of the Captains and crews didn’t think much of experience until they had a chance to sit down and relax after their boat was secured for the night! I for one that was awake for thirty plus hours and slept hard for a few hours before returning to the dock and “celebrating” our safe and successful crossing!

The five boats that crossed with us were: QUEST, Ricki and Carl; A LITTL BIT O’ LIFE, Elizabeth and Nelson: DOUBLE TROUBLE x 4, Don, Marty and Gloria: RHO-JO, Rhonda and Joe: NOMAD, Marlene and Scott.